August Birthdays and the Fledglings are a nattering

[DarkEvilMoon]

Ok so here is the August thread.

Another chat thread.

Going to be completely half arsed with this.

launch pad from here is all the linky poos which few of us look at anyway
But we are following Fly lady principles. sort of 15 mins decluttering, babysteps and all that.

Oh we are a long running thread, we may seem clicky but we have been around the wrong side of half a decade. We do welcome newbies, and some of the flock joined us only recently.

If you have any questions on the fly lady system do ask and we will try to answer them. Hopefully back to normal service and regular linkies in September after the hols.

So nerh...

Ooh thanks DEM I'll have a think about triggers. I do have some 'reasonable adjustments' (thankfully the council Occ Health dept were willing to view ME and POTS as disabilities) like being allowed a chair instead of standing but they have said there can't really be any more because it'll mean I'm barely doing my job anymore! I'm just a bit worried because it's been a really long time (about a year I guess) since I was off for this long, and they've been really nice not starting the whole absence meetings yet (they were willing to wait until I'd had further tests - but I've had them now) so a bit scared of what's coming up now!

I really like my job, and financially we would surely struggle without it, but sometimes it just feels too much.

Was hoping to shove stuff in boxes out of sight spruce up the house a bit before friend drops DCs back but need to stop every few minutes today. Thankfully DH is off tomorrow. Family Support Worker coming in the morning too so might ask for her thoughts on the matter.

(and the fact that my manager was really against me HEing - I know it's nobody's business and I have ABSOLUTELY done the right thing for my DCs' needs, but I do worry that they'll take this absence as 'I told you so' :()

Pretty much Everybody is against HE unless they are HEing ime, perhaps you also need to include a list of how HEing is reducing the issues that cause the triggers.
eg my triggers are to do with lights, stress, sleep, activity, but some useful advice on here has helped me and it would seem that I was very low in B vitamins, Folic Acid and Vit D because suppliments in this has really improved my mood and my health. It is a bit of a one step forwards one back as the better I feel the more I do so I still feel a bit rubbish but I am heading back to normal function and definitely feel emotionally better. And it has seriously helped my sleeping which is a huge trigger for me. Mind you so has changing the way I eat with an exclusion diet to find the pain triggers even if I chose to ignore them sometimes. Knowing that they trigger means that I can keep an eye on the over all trigger load so I can prevent overloading with triggers and the crash better.

Oh fuzz, no wonder you are feeling stressed. I didn't realise you had made a recent change to HomeEd. And frankly unless you manager is a mental health and physical health professional, they can fuck off with their opinions on how you live your home and private life. If none of their bloody business.

It is outrageously unfair that mental health issues are not given the same serious approach that physical ill health is. The insinuation that you timed it with holidays really gets my goat. It doesn't take a genius to think that school holidays and Christmas are seriously difficult to manage with changes of routine, hyper children, extra financial pressures and no chance to actually treat these holidays as a break for yourself. FFS. Am feeling very angry for you.

Sorry if this is TMI, warning, a it icky

DS who is 2.7 followed me into the loo, as toddlers do and as its my TOTM observed the whole tampon thing. He thought it was a worm, then "Mummy, what's that? Mummy what are you doing?" Repeat repeat etc.

I wasn't expecting him to be making these observations just yet! I wasn't really sure what to say to him, but I know I want him to understand this stuff and not be embarrassed by it. Can any of you with similar age DC or those who remember this, give me any tips? Any age appropriate books to read together?

Sorry. TMI!

No book that I found, ds was like that and loud and public. red poo he used to call it I told ds it was something that happened to girls when they turn into grown ups, it was natural and not something we discussed. As he got older we have discussed it more. He knows about it, understands it can make girls fragile, and that there is nothing they can do about it. fwiw he is glad he is a boy until i told him about the random errection part of puberty

Just keep it simple, gradual and not a big deal. Although the private and NOT discussed but it does happen was something that had to be stressed as he would ask if people had red poo I think i meantioned it was important wrt having babies but can't remember tbh. We are on to more exciting talk politics of relationships urgh and that is worse than the rest of it.

Fuzz pig,
I am green at he pp. green. Can't think of anything better for doc and parents. Green.

ta da
move - this was tricky this morning.
get involved with far too much on line stuff.
put a load of washing on
scare ds so he no longer wants to eat anything hidden veg discussion
work on tackling ds' room

Grey - similar thing happened to me with DS1. I just told him the basics as calmly as possible. He was absolutely fine about it. The problem was that we were at a loo in a restaurant and he then came back to the table with me and announced loudly to our friend that "Mummy was bleeding, but it's ok, it happens every month" .

Lots of Flying this morning as MIL was coming round at 11, which galvanised me. Then DH and I went out for lunch to celebrate our anniversary. Had two hours' free time, which was lovely, but am now home, slightly sozzled after one large glass of wine, with DS2 begging me to take him to the playground.

:o at 'red poo' and all the other stories :o

Happy anniversary Toffee glad you got an opportunity for child free celebration :o

Thanks folks for all the kind words, I am feeling a little braver now. It's just the fact my manager was instantly worried about how HE would affect my health (ie my attendance), that's what's making me panic really, even though I know logically it's nothing to do with work (I'm just lucky that there haven't been any childcare issues in term time). But yes there have certainly been massive advantages to my health from HE too - eg the fact I've had no bugs since (used to pick up all sorts both from the hive of germs that is the infant school classroom, and from having to walk a long way in all weathers, I expect). I talked to my family support worker today and she was very supportive too.

Incidentally she immediately noticed the improvement in the living room and commented very positively! She's not coming back til September now to give us longer to carry on getting into a routine. I did tell her that the main reason it looked tidier was that a lot of the stuff had been shoved elsewhere (I panic tidied yesterday as I thought my friend would be dropping the DCs home - in fact she dropped them at DH's work so a bit pointless really!) BUT as soon as the FSW had gone we brought down all the boxes and actually sorted through them! So... about 8 boxes of random shit all sorted. Just trying to get the energy to power through the last bit now. Without caffeine. Now that's a challenge.

Without Caffeine? Are you crazy?! ignores fact will suffer later for the fact she has drunk 4 cups today

Yep. Mad I know :( I don't like tea or coffee, and am trying to kick my Dr Pepper habit. Which at times like this I deeply regret!

And now I'm off to face the hell that is the living room floor... basically it's all the stuff left over from the boxes that doesn't really fit anywhere. But I'm determined not to just shove it back in a box like I usually do!

Dark evil, if that frown was at me then I was unclear. I was expressing my admiration for anyone who he's. I have an educational background and I think that he is the best way if you have the spirit. I regret that the circumstances were not right for me to do it.
Sorry

It's ok Fish just you snuck out of lurking and I was wondering what on earth all the green was about. btw it is a confused face not a frown

I tried to jump off a big rock i had been climbing, caught my toe, tripped and nearly face planted earlier. Ankle is now very sore :(

Btw Fish you are welcome to chat if you would like, newbies are always welcome.

Sorry to hear about sore ankle DEM hope it mends quickly.

Was the green meant to be maybe?

Happy Anniversary, Toffee

We have survived the day despite the boys doing their best to kill each other on several occasions, and everything is packed ready for a departure at silly o'clock tomorrow morning... Seems to have gone too well and I'm now worried!

Have a lovely time blue hopefully they will have fixed mn by the time you have come back. Not impressed with the imposing of colours

Hi
I have lurked and sometimes posted for ages.

I was posting today because I have almost done home blessing. I just noticed the he ed post and had to comment. I can't see an asterisk on the iPad so 'green' was meant to mean green with envy. Not frown.

Sorry about misunderstanding

Stuck now because Roomba will not cooperate.

Youngest has just left. It suddenly seems finite.

:)

Yes, confused face not frown; I see.

And it all makes sense

Thanks fish :) it's going reasonably well, of course it's now summer holidays for all their school friends, so a bit more relaxed ATM, but will be increasing the amount of structured work in Sept. It's made a huge difference to DS in particular (lifelong speech disorder mysteriously vanished within a few months, and he can now read as well!). (Sorry for repeating that when I've posted it several times before - I just still can't believe it :o)

I didn't quite manage to finish everything from the boxes last night, I just crashed in an epic way, stuck on the floor etc not great. But when I was sitting on the bed later in the evening I grabbed a lot of random crap from the floor and sorted that. So it evens out I think. But the living room floor is still a mess and it's all stuff I have no idea where to put. Argh.

DEM ouch! Hope you're recovering today!

Hahahahaha. Ds is back. He is being very much a pre-teen but also cos i did miss him.

Just remember to take it easy fuzzpig burnout is far too easy to get and far too much effort to get rid of. Ankle is much better today or just everything else hurts so one bit hurting is less noticable, i can't make my mind up Gentle kinda day planned. Good luck with the lounge floor.

ta da
food shopping
library for the reading challenge thingy
wall paper stripping with ds
play tech support to ds
nap

Now to finish the wall paper stripping and clear up the mess. Early nights all around tonight.

Glad DS is back home with you again, DEM.

fuzz - how wonderful that home ed had such a good impact, so quickly . Sounds like you are making good progress at tidying clutter, even if it's happening more slowly than you'd like.

fish - welcome out of the lurking zone. Nice to hear someone be so positive about home ed (another one here, although my boys are both going back to school in September).

Have had a bit of a non-stop day:

Breakfast for cats and children
Dropped Ds2 at friend's house
Took cats to vet (weight-loss diet instigated for one)
To work
Shopping (food)
Collected DS2
Home for late afternoon lunch
Unpacked shopping and put away

DH has just taken DS2 out to the hairdressers. I need to tackle the kitchen, as last night's washing up is still in the sink. Various other stuff to do, which is all on my 'Remember the Milk' app.

The cats are very upset because I'm keeping them in separate rooms whilst their Advocate soaks in (otherwise they groom each other and lick it all off, which is dangerous). Lots of yowling going on.