July 2010: Tantrums R Us

[Woodlands]

Here you go! Sorry for crappy title. My one chance in the limelight and I can't think of anything good and I have to go and collect J from nursery right now...

yy, i don't think tesco is good for boy's stuff at all. weird huh? agree sainsburys is better but sadly still not as good as tesco is for girls.

h&m for girls and gap for both are my other 2 faves.

very sad about the end of the baby age. makes me feel a bit tearful actually!

right, i really must sleep while i can! night all x

I'm not sad about moving out of the baby phase. I would love another child, but the 'baby bit' is just what I'd have to get through to have a bigger family.

I can't see it happening anyway as unfortunately I think said 'baby bit' would be the end of me.

Most of my kids' clothes are 2nd/3rd/4th hand but of it all I think the Geoerge stuff has lasted the best. The mini mode stuff is pretty good too.

I'm full of cold this morning :( The boys' cold has finally caught up with me.

I use a miture of shops to keep my food bills as low as possible, namely Asda, Aldi and a very occassional trip to Tesco (which is only if I have reward points to use) Pasta in Aldi is 49p I think. It also has the cheapest chopped tomatoes of any of the supermarkets at 33p [sad cow emoticon] and the 'fruit and veg of the week' can be a great bargain. I got a bag of sweet potatoes for £1.25 in Asda but when I went into Aldi the following day a bag was 59p.

See the cheapest stuff here seems to be about twice the price of the cheapest stuff in the UK. Cheapest tinned tomatoes ever get to is 4 tins for $5, which is $1.20 a tin, which is 60p. I go to butchers and fruit and veg shop as they are cheaper then the supermarket and everything I buy from the supermarket is either own brand or on offer. Bake my own bread, etc etc.

Ive got loads of 18-24 month clothes from eBay for D. I quite like some of the things in Tesco. I love Zara baby clothes but some of them are the same price as adult clothes!
Boots are v good and Gap pjs are the best I've ever come across. We got a pair for Xmas but to buy new are £18 each!

We've got painters coming round today, FILs idea (I think it's a stupid one but there you go) so I've got to go out for the whole day. Well I don't have to buy they won't be able to do a thing with D around. I've got to tidy up alot a bit but I'm leaving it up to them to move furniture because I seem to have crippled my back it hurts SO much.

I seem to suffer from the same condition, Cake. Won't buy 'slogan' tops for M, or cartoon characters and spend a huge amount of time avoiding pink. She seems to suit red, so I tend to go for that mostly!

Both fortunately and unfortunately, M is the first child for a generation on both sides of the family. So she gets a lot of clothes bought for her by well meaning relatives. Great because it saves my finances and she gets lovely new clothes, bad because they're often not my taste! M doesn't care, but I tend to swap bits round to put the character t-shirt under a dress or split the pink up with blues and greens.

It's sometimes a bit hit and miss, but some of my favourite clothes for M have come from Matalan. They tend to be relatively hard wearing, as well as quite cheap! I get quite a few things from H&M too, normally separates for matching in like plain tops or leggings. Tesco and Boots have some nice things especially when bought with points/vouchers.

I love the clothes in Gap and Monsoon for children, but I can't afford them without remortgaging! If I see a sale though I tend to pop in and have found a few bargains. I might have to go visit the outlet at Junction 32 before summer.

Barely spend anything on clothes for me... I have two sets of work clothes that I alternate, and in the evenings/weekends I have three pairs of jeans and a lot of t-shirts that get rotated. I'm very dull and a fashion disaster.

I have some nicer clothes, but they're in the next size down and I can't fit in them at the moment. Until life and my diet get sorted, I'm unlikely to! But I won't let myself buy any new clothes at the larger size.

we have a couple odd tees with characters on from other people, dh's aunt bought a Timmy Time top that went straight to charity, L loves tops with tractors and boats on, my favourite is Sainnburys, I like him in greys and browns most, if I had a choice I would have him in flat caps and tweed but dh doesnt like me dressing him like an old man! My grandad gives me £20 to spend on myself every week which normally goes on L and then once a month gives me £40 to spend on L.
The thing we seem to wear through the most is pj's, he needs 18-24 tops or ever 2-3 but 12-18 bottoms still fall down, and I like him in matching so I have gone back to baby grows!
cakes Boots were putting out a range of navy clothes when I went in.I love navy on girls

L was up loads before 1, dh and I ended up argueing and then L slept from 1.30 til 7, we lay in bed reading books til gone half 8! he still wont eat!

I love character tops I bought D a mickey mouse jumper for Xmas last year.
memphis D loves timmy time I would've had that top!

I'm watching a couple of things on eBay for me but generally don't buy clothes for myself much. Judging by the state of my jeans I need to invest in some new ones!

memph J still often wears babygrows too at night! he has a couple of pairs of Primark pjs but the legs always seem to come off in the night.

tsc what trousers do you put F in if not jogging pants? They are so comfy! I have always dressed J in jeans quite often but I reckon he's probably more comfortable in tracksuit bottoms.

dh L has picked up on my hatred for Timmy Time and when it comes on he bring the controller saying noooo!
tsc your DD1 has taste!
I used to love L wearing retro batman tees and the Beatles, Rolling Stones Tee's but I cant seem to find them in shops in his size now.
I dont save any clothes for hand me downs either I just get rid! only because I know if we had another my family would get loads of clothes for it.

I have binned a whole bag of toys while L has napped and sorted a black bag of toys that he has outgrown for the loft.

woodlands L doesnt wear joggers, he wears lined jeans, and ive just bought him black cords as they were soft, he only owned one pair of joggers that he has outgrown now.

ah tis good we all have different taste, dh, it's what makes the world an interesting place.

tsc oooh sportswear... i'd forgotten that even was a thing. but yeah, am with you on that too. the only time F has worn 'sportswear' was when he needed a second change of clothes at nursery once so he came home in their grey marl joggers which i'm still trying to recover from a year on

mind you - are we excluding polo and rugby shirts in that classification? i'm partial to the odd one of those on F. his fave top at the mo is a gorgeous blue and orange Joules 'rumpy' top .

memph i rather like the english gent look for F and he likes it too (he rocked a linen blazer and straw boater last summer) but i guess it's a balance between that and them still looking like a toddler, iykwim?

our two don't get bought much clothes-wise by family spirael and i'm sometimes thankful for that when i hear your horror stories

woodland F wears mainly cords but also has a few soft pairs of jeans. he wears linen or cotton trews or shorts in the summer.

cakes I love polo and rugby shirts!, the clothes I get bought for L im with him at the time unless its dh's family then they just go back to the shop, no politeness of keeping them here!

I just remembered he does have a pair of gap fleece trousers he wears when we are in the house that we bought when he had an explotion and they had no jeans I liked in his size! and a gap hoody but I have never thought of it as sportswear!

F's got cords in most sludge colours (chocolate, tan, khaki etc). M&S, John Lewis and Next do decent cords with the waist button thingies inside. Randomly I also found C&A in Bruge and bought some fab ones there.

ooh i do like those swedish stretchy legging trews for boys but they never suited F. My friend's son lived in those but her dh has put his foot down and said he's too old for them now (he's F's age but looks about 6!)

like these: polarnopyret.co.uk/long-johns-po-p-stripe-child

they last for yonks cos you can fold them up

I would balk paying £9 for a pair of trousers for the kids, nevermind £19!!!

Mine wear jeans most days. They wear joggers for playgroups sometimes because (a) they're comfy and (b) I don't care if they get pitted. Never a full tracksuit E has one pair of cords but he never wears them as I hate them. They're his 'going to church' or 'any other posh occassion' trousers and that's it. Like tsc I will probably get him some trainers for the summer. They will be whatever is on sale in Brantano when I go

My friend dresses her two up to the nines. Always in pale pink white for her little girl and her boy is always in designer gear. I feal really sorry for him. He's not allowed to get dirty, splash in puddles, walk in mud...anything that little boys want to do. I'm not saying that I think that's what any of you putting them in posh gear do, I just feel for them iyswim. Their mother's dislike of dirt is one thing, it's unfair to expect kids to not play just so they don't get dirty.

I would rather see my boys dirty and happy, having fun, than dressed smart and not doing what they want to do :)

Although I take exception to E riding his bike into the deepest puddle he could find yesterday and the mud and water going right up his leg and into his boots on the way home from school

tsc L got his first Gazelles at xmas, just like his Daddy, but I woulnt dress L like his dad, he wears shorts everyday!
mlic my aunty dresses her kids up terribly, her ladused to wear a shirt, designer jeans and a Ralph Lauren jumper to play at home everyday at less than a year old, I remember her ringing me angry becuase her neighbour had commented that he had seen him in 4 outfits in one day and that boys should be dirty, but one bit of dirt and he is changed, her dd is 1 now and has been put in tutu's and furcoats since birth (actually leaving hospital in it) she wears a tutu and headband everyday , L loves puddles and doesnt mind being dirty on his clothes but gets upset if he has dirt on his hands and he cant get it off!

I don't like character clothes either. E wears jeggings and jeans mostly. She does have a tracksuit as dp's brother bought it for her so I only put it on her when she's going to that house as she plays outside there and I don't mind it getting mucky! She does wear gap zip up hoodie tops and actually I just remembered my friend bought her a gap tracksuit last week but she wears it with uggs and it looks lovely! I find tesco brilliant for clothes for her too! I love navy too she actually has a bloody lovely jumper in today but I don't try and stay away from pink but don't like her in too much pink!
Had her developmental this morn and she was very happy with her. She's avove average weight wise and I don't know how with how little she eats! She told me to try and drop the morning time bottle as thats probably filling her. She was really impressed with her speech and gave a few suggestions for her sleep but nothing I didn't know.
Chulita how is S now?
Cake your night sounds dreadful!

I hate character and slogan clothes. They both obviously have a few that have been given to them and they're painting/messy play tops but on the whole I can't stand them. L likes her joggers and asks for them whenever her pink sparkly skirt is in the wash, S has one pair and wears them quite a lot cos they're easy and I don't care what happens to them.
Y'see cake I think those legging-things are hideous like you say, that's what makes the world interesting!

S is ok now thanks fairy although not eating anything other than weetabix again...

I just tried putting their new tractor together and forgot a bit, unscrewed the wheels and then tried rescrewing them and now they just turn but don't bite cos I've already cut the groove...anyone have any tips on how to solve it? otherwise I've buggered up a brand new toy before I've even got all 4 wheels on it

No advice from me, sorry

Me neither sorry!

S won't stop whinging L won't stop chattering, nothing wrong with her chatter but you never, ever, ever, ever get a break and she insists on getting my attention so she can tell me there aren't any wurzels or trolls under her bed or something equally useless.
I'm in such a bad mood and have no idea what to cook for tea, not that it matters cos S won't eat it anyway. Aaaaarrrrgggghhhh!!!!