April 2011 - silence might be golden but the April ladies are diamond so chat on

[GlaikitFizzog]

Ta Dah!

Well finally R can crawl!! Pity she mastered that while I was at work, so another first that I've missed! It's cute though, she just goes very slowly and wobbles a bit! The downside to this is that when she wakes in the night now she goes for a crawl around the cot (or tries to as much as a sleeping bag will allow) instead of just rolling over and going back to sleep! So was up at 2.30 and 6 settling her last night/this morning [yawn]
Never mind 3 more shifts to do then off for my first weekend since starting back at work.

Well done R! I attempts to crawl in his grobag at stupid o'clock too

Oh, and with the whole house cleaning things. I have recently bought a steam mop. It's great on the tiled floors. So much better than a mop and bucket as the it is pretty much dry as soon as you have run the mop over the floor.

I can't believe I get excited over a fecking steam mop!

I have a cleaner And things are still disastrous! She comes once a fortnight and does everything so I just have to run the hoover round a few times in between and keep the bathroom looking ok.

It isn't even the cleaning, it is the cooking, planning meals, shopping, organising all the day to day things plus any 'extras' like birthdays, or getting photos into frames, or picking up dry cleaning or - I don't know, just life stuff.
I spend so many hours changing nappies or wiping bums, folding bloody clean washing and putting it away, that there isn't time for anything else.
I really want to start taking T to a toddler group or a class or something, we don't do anything like that and it would be lovely to spend some proper focused time with him. When I'm going to fit that in I have no idea!!

ILike - I have a steam mop and I love it

GSY - I am also expecting great things of myself once DS1 starts school in September I am trying not to wish it away though, because I will miss him being around I know.

And well done R for crawling! The crawling in the night thing will wear off

Well done R. There will be no stopping her now!

P is bored of crawling in the cot now. Instead she summons us in the night by standing at the end of it, shrieking and banging her hands on the outside edge I'm hoping the novelty of this trick will wear off soon...

In other news, she's teething like a demon at the moment, so sleep has been in short supply of late. I'm hoping she'll get a few coming through in one go and then we might get a break for a bit.

Our house is nowhere near as clean as I'd like it to be either. However I have been comforted by reading some of the 'Confessions of a slattern' threads in Chat of late. I've got a long way to go before I get as bad as some of them!!

I'm normal then with my house in the brink of chaos! Thank gof for that!

I git a steam mop a few weeks ago. that combined with my mini dyson means at least the floors are cleaned and hovered every day I'm home.

I scalded my hand at work this morning. Bloody hurts. I'm such a clutz sometimes.

I'm impressed with floors cleaned and hoovered every day you're home Fizz ours get done maybe once a week . Who knows what our house would be like if we had 2 DCs . M's favourite room at the moment is the kitchen which is a real pain when trying to cook, as it's so small. I could do with DH putting one of the safety gates on it but for some reason a woman at the Children's Centre said they didn't recommend them for kitchens and to use the high chair . Maybe that was for people with bigger kitchens with a high chair in the kitchen? I liked it when M couldn't work out the step into the kitchen - she'd sit at it and watch me - very cute. I'm thinking she could stand at a gate and watch, or maybe I should put the washer on more - she seems to be scared of it

Part of my lack of housework is that I'm always out at baby groups, thoguh I'm thinking of only going to morning things next week - M seems to want to nap as afternoon groups start, I really should follow her lead more. Maybe that would lead to better nighttime sleep? [ever hopeful]

Well done R for crawling.

Fizz hope your hand gets better - I scalded my finger on steam getting M's lunch out of the microwave. Don't worry, it had a long cooling period before she was offered it. Then it went in the food waste as she's eating virtually nothing at the moment :(

Chilli I had a gate on the kitchen before and I will again. Bit at your advice after all in tiny tears ways they have gates on the kitchen
And handy with the step too I would think.
I would follow her lead re naps, M sleeps better when she's chosen when & how long to nap.

Fizz ouch!

ILike I like the sound of that mop, my cleaner does the mopping once a week but it takes aaages to dry so it's v annoying, I keep thinking there must be a better way.
We have an uneven slate floor in the kitchen & laminate in the hallway do you think it would be good for that? I keep seeing bissell ads on tv and getting tempted.

And Ali- the first year of ds2's life was like yours now, 2 boys at home a lot. It's a blur now tbh
Lots of nappy changing bum wiping Jose wiping and not much else!
It's only now with those 2 out all day that I get stuff done like you describe and even then it's not that much.

Oh, JKS I lost 4lb with the bug :o

I've got the Lakeland own brand steam mop. It should be fine on uneven tiles, not so sure about the laminate though as the high temp of the steam may make it warp?

I have a gate on the kitchen and it will stay that way for a few years yet. If we just had ds2 I reckon it would have come off around about now.

Ali - do you batch cook? I find that a lifesaver for dinners, and at the moment we probably have about 10 easy dinners that run on a loop. A lot of people also recommend meal planning, but I don't seem to have the time to plan

I would love to try new meals more often than I do, but I just don't have the time. I also don't bake very often now, less so than when I was a newborn.

With stuff like putting pictures in frames etc, I do little bits here and there. For example, i bought the frame/s, then one night I chose the pictures I wanted a copy of, the next evening I ordered them off t'internet. Then when they arrived I decided what goes where, then the next night I would put them in. What should take a matter of hours probably takes days/weeks, but that's ok because I have lowered my expectations!

I buy a years worth of birthday cards and wrapping paper in one go (a friend does Pheonix cards). I also have a box with an assortment of children's gifts in which I buy as and when I see stuff in the sale. Also at the start of each month I see what birthdays I have in the next month and buy the presents all in one go wherever possible.

I really need to get someone in to clean the oven as every time I turn it on it starts to smell and smoke I feel that it is a job I should do,but realistically I know that I won't get round to doing it. I'll just have to sell some of the baby stuff that is no longer used to pay for the oven cleaner!

Ladies thanks for the tips I have got a grip a bit today, T is currently entertained with a saucepan and wooden spoon while I dish up dinner for the boys.

ILike I do batch cook, but where we've all been unwell and then away 2 weekends on the trot we have used up a lot of what I had cooked. The freezer is bursting, but with things that need making into meals!
Tonight's offering is a roast chicken with jackets and veg - boring but easy and they will both eat it.

Also managed to get a few admin things done earlier while DS1 was at preschool - which incidentally he is more than fine with this week! He was hurrying me out of the door this morning and running up the path chuntering about how excited he was. Phew!

JKS yes that is it - dealing with bodily fluids is the sum total some days

Ali I'm with you on the meals thing, I don't mind the cooking, it's the having to think of what to cook that I hate!

Ilike Skirting boards..? I didn't know they were meant to be cleaned!! I read Never Let Me Go just before Christmas, took me a couple of days to get into it but then enjoyed it.

Our house always looks like a grenade went off, recently it looks more like a bomb went off, have managed to get the dishwasher on and the washer going and that's about it. Having said that I do have a Flash powermop that has saved my life! We have laminate and tiles downstairs so I can do everything all in one go with it (and means the weetabix is gone before it turns to cement!).

I have just bought a 'Magic Eraser' thanks to a chat thread, it's meant to work miracles on just about anything, I'm putting my faith (and £4.99) into it, when I eventually get around to housework!

Fizz hope the hand is ok, constantly have a collection of steam scalds on my arms, you'd think I'd of figured out that it hurts by now!

S does the middle of night crawling, or he did and has now progressed to trying to stand, in his sleeping bag...the collection of bruises on his forehead is quite the colour spectrum!

(No more upchucking touch wood, at least from S, though he has passed it to DH. S still isn't 100% and he's still off his food, but he's still managing to pull the living room apart in 5 mins flat!).

Jose wiping? Wtf was he getting in on the act for?! Nose obv

Chilli yey a silver lining!

Knackered after long & busy day night all

Ds pulled himself up to standing this morning, but done it just the once. However, he just done it again for the second time and also cruised along the sofa. Oh crap.

Well done Baby I!

Haha ILike! Well done baby I!

DD is so slow honestly. Though she can move to some degree.
I sit her on her mat several feet away from me in the church hall for orchestra and somehow she ends up grabbing my music stand yet you never see her move!

Baby I was just like that a couple of weeks ago JKS. He managed to move from one side of the room to the other, yet there was no obvious motion. It was all a bit of a mystery!

I think my iron levels are a little low at the moment so I've started taking a supplement again. The past few weeks I have been getting progressively tired, even though I'm getting enough sleep. It then dawned on me the other night that it is the type of tiredness I feel when I have low iron levels. I have also been getting breathless when ds is in the sling. I know he is a biffa, but I haven't had a problem before.

ILike I had Madness 'welcome to the house of fun' in my head reading your post

T is teething today, poor chap is really suffering but OMG he is grumpy!

Welcome to march everyone.

I've been lurking but works been busy so no time to post.

Hope everyone's ok.

We are off to the zoo today then telling the friend that caused my recent name change!

Almost 11 weeks now. Scan is Wednesday.

Nice to see you OutMe , I can't believe you have a scan next week already

I hate to spend your money for you, but for those of you who remember those Mocci's I was telling you about, they currently have some designs with 40% off. They don't show you on the website what designs they are, but if you PM me your email address I will send you the email I just received from them. I am very very tempted. I need to get ds2 first pair out of storage and see if they fit baby I, if they are too big I may be making a purchase today

Oh yes, and I meant to say 'can't believe it's March already' my baby is 1 NEXT MONTH

Gaaaaah babies are 1 next month No, no, no, no it's too soon!!

Last day at work for the weekend today, roll on 9pm! :)

My baby is 1 this month!!!!

OutMe - I cannot believe you have got your scan already! How exciting!