Stepping and chatting, stepping and chatting!

[CamperWidow]

Thought I'd Shiny a new chat thread for us!

There's and , help yourselves!

Ha ha!

Oh yes, I can see how the more you have the less you appreciate. But those presents often include clothes, coats, and lots of books. In the grand scheme of things I don't think Toddler has that many toys especially compared to some of his contemporaries and other only children I know. Most toys he has get played with at some point though his trains and stroller are by far his favorites.

I think it is different when they are so young and get clothes.

Clothes are a huge deal to dd now but when she was little it was me who enjoyed the clothes, not her.

There is only so much you can do to stem the tide of gifts as well and it is lovely to have people around who want to help out. I think it has taken me too long to appreciate that.

I say, in regards to grandparents, it's their prerogative to spoil if they can and want to. However, both sets of grandparents realize that we live in a matchbox so will often ask what I'd like for Toddler and then decide from the list what to get (and usually tell me so I don't duplicate). Mom and Dad don't do as much as they'd like to simply because of shipping costs or making sure we have enough space/weight in the suitcases to bring gifts back.

I am very appreciative of any gifts Toddler receives, whether it's clothes or toys. Even those "out of the blue, I saw this and wanted to give it to Toddler" gifts (MiL is good at those they're usually clothes, knitted cardis and books). I always feel , though, on Christmas when Toddler's gift pile from my PiL is 2-3x the size of the piles of his cousins. But as my MiL says there's five (soon six) of them, they have oodles of toys and clothes that get shared among them, and Toddler doesn't have any of that so needs toys and clothes and I shouldn't feel guilty. And because of those wise words I refuse to feel guilty that we do for Toddler what we can (like getting him a Brio train set as his first wooden railway instead of a compatible set once he had his Brio set anything else can be compatible but MrScout insisted the first be an authentic one).

I am to say I haven't always been appreciative of toys given by my dparents. I realised they were given with love but they got into the habit of having a store of gifts at their house and practically giving them a toy a week. I understood how happy my dparents were to have grandchildren (mine are the oldest although I am the youngest iykwim) but it got out of hand. It wasn't until they realised that the dcs were looking for their gift after every visit that they got the message. It is not nice to create that.

They then moved on to magazines but gave them so many that many of them never left their polythene bags which made me feel horribly guilty. I ended up giving them to the local nursery.

Now they give those little blind packs of Moshi Monsters or Lego men and don't do it every time they see the dcs which seems to be our compromise.

I must sound like a right brat but there can be too much "kindness" sometimes.

What swung it for my dparents entirely was realising that my dcs saw it as a huge treat to get to go to theirs after school on their own, even if they didn't give any gift at all. ie that my dcs loved them and spending time with them, not the loot.

Scout your PIL are right though. My dcs play with each others' stuff and some of dd's joggers, snow gear etc can be handed down to him so they end up with access to much more stuff once there is more than one of them.

Oh, yes, I would struggle with gifts at every visit, too, carrots. Unfortunately it's going to work out that way in regards to my parents since we only see them once a year (mid/end November for Thanskgiving). Last year my parents had a couple of presents for Toddler's birthday (end of October) waiting for him and after we arrived they took him to the shop and let him pick out another one or two toys to finish off his birthday presents so that way he had toys to play with at their house. (Toddler is the only grandchild so they don't have a store of toys at theirs like my in-laws do since they have five older grandchildren who live down the road.) Mom finished her Christmas shopping for TS with me in tow (though had ordered a couple of things from his amazon wish list prior to Thanksgiving) so I could say "yes/no" in regards to room in the suitcase. I then wrapped all of the presents once we got back to the UK. Knowing how many presents he'd have under the tree from in in-laws I did a separate pile of presents from the Americans and Toddler opened them on Christmas Eve so he had a full day of playing with them before the madness of Christmas.

morning everyone

dd2 was up at 5.30!

the cot has gone down a storm
it was ds whowas stunned by lack pile booty and snifed he hoped for more
dd2 put him in his place,although did add dads bring a few more things

the fact i made the bedding seems to have really pleased her and she keeps taking out the quilt and hugging it

scout we dont have any Gp on my side,sadly.i have very little contact with my siblings

i managed to rag roll her hair last night,adding enough hairspray she went to bed smelling like a tarts handbag!

she is very happy it has "taken" and has curls and ringlets all over her head

right im orf to make breakfast...ds and little zoo got up 6.30 so are hungry.i can hear mine and dd2s tummys growling!!!!

Happy birthday! To zoo DD.
Glad she likes the present.

We have good news!! We have tax credit money in the bank so can now go and buy food . I never thought I would be so happy to be able to go food shopping.

YAY CATS!!!!! Whew! I kept thinking if I was local I could have taken you milk. Milk is the one thing I try to never, ever run out of.

Happy Birthday to zoo's DD. Your doll cot and accessories sounds fab. I'm glad it was well received.

Not sure what to do today. I thought about taking Toddler swimming but I'm not sure I can be bothered. Swimming class starts again next week but he was asking yesterday about swimming. But I might just have an at-home day since we haven't had one for about two weeks.

yay.cats
go and buy lots of lovlliness and chocolate

HAPPY BIRTHDAY ZOO'S DD2!

I am so glad she liked her gift and appreciated the effort you had put into it. That shows that you are raising her with the right values zoo.

Scout I dreamt about you last night. We were making cardboard cut out models together

Cats Hurrah! on the money front. When dh's pay comes in get 4 envelopes and put a food budget into each one and hide it in a high up kitchen cupboard - don't even tell him it is there. Then you will know you have that covered, if only on a basic level.

I have had a bit of a morning. Ds woke up with a nose bleed which was all over his pjs, sheets, bedroom floor, landing, staircase, bathroom... you get the picture.

The bathroom is cleaned and mopped and the carpet has been cleaned although I won't know how successful it really was until it dries (salt and cold water method).

I am only now sitting down to breakfast and my first and I feel like I have done a day's work.

Dh very helpfully decided to go for a run

Have decided to skip swimming, at least for now. Toddler is very happily playing with his trains. I really should go to the other thread and do my list but might just wait until TS goes for his nap.

at carrots dream -- were they at least hunky cut out models?

(Toddler keeps saying "Hello crane, hello crane!" as he attaches his new crane piece to his track and plays with it.)

Sorry Scout they were animals

Morning all! Glad the new thread is working!!!
Well, walked Lollipop into nursery and took Muddles to the Drs as she's had a hacking cough. Turns out she's got the start of bronchalitis so that's a lovely load of rubbish heading my way!
Yay to money!!!!! Cats I know what's it's like, I'm eking out the milk and cheese and bread this week, never mind nappies and wipes!!!! Fortunatly, Lollipop is doing really well on the potty so that is helping
Happy birthday to Zoos' DD2!!! Well done on making the pressies! You have given her a double gift, a wonderful dolls playset, and the idea that things don't have to cost a fortune to be given with love.

Hi Camper. What is bronchalitis dare I ask? I assume it is unpleasant and involves coughing up vile stuff. Poor kid

I am trying really hard not to ead dh's Mars bar.

He is loading my car with loads and loads of bags of "clean" rubbish iykwim from the dcs bedrooms and cardboard stored in the garage which has to be taken to the tip.

Dd has a friend round and they are very quiet upstairs so I am leaving them to it. I know I will regret that but it is peaceful just now finally.

Hi all, I'm just having a . Have been doing sort of room rescues this morning and trying to put things where they belong.

Gonna have lunch soon then do a shopping list.

Forgot to say "Thanks for the new thread" Camper

I am trying to summon the motivation to do some ebay listing. I seem to be in shock from my early morning floor scrubbing and now I have sat down I can't get going.

I have started a summer holiday ideas thread. It is not really getting off the ground for now but if it gets going I will link to it.

Toddler's down for a rest, I've just had a half a bacon sandwich and am now having a bit of chocolate egg. Toddler discovered the joys of chocolate egg and I am his favorite Mommy ever. "Yummmm, chee-ott egg" he said.

Have decided to sit on my bum for a few more minutes then get up and get going again.

I have just fed the troops - dd's friend has a limited diet so it was cheese sandwiches, yogurts and crisps.

Ds and I are just about to play some board games or on the wii.

His cousin is coming for a sleepover tomorrow so he is really excited.

He has been feeling a bit lonely as dd has had friends a few times and he has had no one. This seems to have cheered him up.

Thank goodness we have tidied his bedroom as my dsil is very, very houseproud.

Dd's friends mum dropped her dd this morning and commented on the mess and how she never lets it build up like that. That was after we had spent an hour tidying up getting ready for them coming.

I am so glad she didn't go in the lounge

I'm a little bit lonely and a lot bored/restless.

I have just stopped for a before I go and do dinner. We have been and done our shopping and now I feel spoilt for choice!

We decided to go to 2 different shops rather than the supermarket. we ended up going to the supermarket for a few bits after the other 2 shops cause there were a few bits we couldn't get. I think we may have brought the usual bill down a little by shopping at cheaper shops.
I will have to do that more often.