December 2011: The one where DSM gets married...

[LittleMissFlustered]

:o

Blimey seven, sounds such a pita. Is it you that's doing the home ed now- how's it gone this first few weeks?

Hey jiggle, good to see you too. Sorry things are still not brilliant but sounds like you're getting through OK- looks like you've got a good balance with work, childcare and family though.

aethel, tell me, did you intend to combine three different meals in one to achieve the ultimate diet-buster?! Well DONE that woman! Hope the viewing goes OK today- must feel like you're having an interview and trying to justify your interior design choices to picky strangers

Sorry I made you 'fess Oi, will not be so naughty again !

With regard to ears figgy, I've been (and I'm sure this will make aethel go cross-eyed in horror) been using a little stick- not a garden one!!- just to go round the entrance to the ear canal to scoop up any wax, but going nowhere near into it, nor using buds, as I think the risk is that you shove it in and impact it. It's worked here and I get a weird pleasure from doing it and getting bogies I admit

We're going to make the most of the sun and go into the next town along, wander round, and DP is taking me out for a meal (he got a little bunce from some shares). We'd normally do an early dinner, but DS has been so tired from nursery we don't want to risk it, so will probably do a mid afternoon munch !

Hi everyone, not been posting much as SO. TIRED. But I think we may maaaaaayyyyy have cracked the sleeping. I hit the wall and made DH get up with her for a few nights while I slept in the spare room. After the first night when she screamed for mummy A LOT she seems to have decided that Daddy is not worth waking up for!

So she is now finally moving into her own room today! Yay! I couldn't face walking to the other end of the house every time she woke up so haven't done it before now. Now she better not go back to hourly wakings!

Sorry for lack of personals, need to catch up on the thread!

gee so pleased you think she's finally got sleeping sussed, hope the room moving goes to plan.

northern yes its us. We've known since he was 18 months we'd home ed, he's never been to nursery we've just been doing 'educational' stuff at home so it's more just a continuation of that. He's doing really well though, he's now reading first books on his own, he only turned 4 in June :o. We only really do 1-2 hours a day too as you can cover things so much faster one-to-one than in a class of 30.

Oh go for it Gee, you deserve so much admiration for making it this far! Really hope it works out and you get some proper sleep over consecutive nights.

We've had a lovely afternoon out, but in true accordance with the laws of sod...
...really enjoyed my pizza and glass of wine, and we even stopped at a nice place on the walk home so we could give DS his bottle, we had another drink and I could go to the loo. He fell asleep, as planned, on the way home, but not till really close to the house. As he's our little pfb, I volunteered just to sit on the steps, in the sun and read the paper outside so he could complete his nap.
Our lovely neighbours turn up, mother and two girls 9 and 11ish, and today is the first day they want to hold DS. Today is the first day his nappy has leaked from a poo-splosion in about four months, which of course I don't notice til I hand him over.

So to them, they have an alky neighbour sitting on her house steps handing over her poo-ey baby...oh the !

Hey aethel did the viewers seem positive?
seven great that your buyers are back and things are progressing. :)

Woops Northern! I have to say that as much as I really don't mind dealing with my own DCs poo, the thought of another baby's poo makes me feel "a bit yuck" as my DS would say.

seven I am very intrigued by homeschooling. I spent a few months in southern US and it was really common in the local community, I was quite shocked at first as I had never come across it before but was very much won over as the students I met were all very positive about learning, self-motivated and had gOod social skills too. It taught me not to be so prejudiced! I also have a lot of memories of being bored out of my mind at school and could definitely have fit in all of the work in an hour, at least up until the age of about 12/13.

Sleep-addled brain can't remember what else I wanted to say, but hope all goes well with the house sales aethel and seven.

Well, both DCs quietly asleep in their rooms and we have our own bedroom back after 9 months, wahoo! I am going to celebrate by going to bed now and enjoying the luxury of reading in bed :)

Night everyone!

having had a couple of weeks of better sleeping, f is teething again in a major way and was up between 1.50 and 5 last night on and off. had to settle him again already this evening and one of our neighbours is having a raucous party so am sure i'll be back in there again before too long.

argh need some thoughts about house moving. we're currently in a south london terrace but both DH and I grew up in the country side and both harbour thoughts of moving back somewhere rural so our boys can have the same type of upbringing. unfortunately both of us work in central london currently. stupidly i've done a little idle rightmove browsing and found an amazing place a couple of miles down the road from where i grew up which has major major plus points for DH and I and would be perfect if only it wasn't where it was given our current jobs. we currently both have a commute of 30 mins so DH can see the boys for breakfast and bathtime even though he works pretty long hours in between and when i'm back at work, I can do 9.30 to 5.30 in an office (with quite a hefty workload) but can still not spend too long away from the boys on the three days I work.

if we did move to the perfect house, there would be many other benefits to the boys including proximity of my parents (who they adore), space and freedom to explore, good state schools whereas for several reasons we are currently looking at private schools in london (ouch on the finances) but and its a big but, the commute would be in the region of 90mins for DH and possibly more for me. so I would pretty much have to give up work and DH may not see the boys during the week. he might be able to wangle a day working at home a week but as he is used to seeing them every day for a good portion is this too much of a sacrifice? Long term i think he would move out of london and work for a regional practice so would be able to see them druing the week but he has only just started to work for his current firm so isn't ready to do that yet.

Reading that it sounds easy but this place is A-M-A-Z-I-N-G. should we just ditch the idea of it and wait until we are ready to move (at least early next year) or cease the day as the perfect house doesn't come up very often? oh dear am totally smitten with it already and if we don't go for it and it goes then we'll have to drive past it every time we go to visit my parents...

lordy lord that is a long and self indulgent rant - apologies to those who have actual real problems. hmm little too much wine - must head bedwards

Hooray to bedroom reclaimage gee!

I am ashamed to say that I've not chased the agents about the viewing as I really don't feel prepared for an offer yet! We camped out at my Dad's for the day which was lovely, then Came back and have been prepping for DD1s (belated) bday party tomorrow. Am rather pleased with her Moshi Monster themed cake . I seem incapable of producing these things until ten oclock the night before... Hopefully the party will be fun and then we can get back to clearing up to Travelodge level (which is what I will have to keep house at while we're viewing.)

Oh, and have booked a few viewings for next week to get us going. Rather frustratingly found a "dream house" (a bit like Springfield really, a detatched 4 bed Georgian number which was surprisingly affordable), but on ringing up it's "temporarily not on the market"....sigh. Oh well, sounds like there are Isshoos with the seller, will cross my fingers and prod the agent in case it comes back on again while we're looking....

Ooh, cross- post hawthers. How weird, cos it sounds like we are planning to swap lives!!! We live in a nice area, smallish hiuse but near my dad and where I grew up, good schools,p, BUT DH has a 90 min commute. It was OK when the girls were small but since they hit 3-4 it has become an incraseing issue re the lack of family time. So we are moving away from parental support, to an area with less sorted school setup, potential job/childcare issues for me, but we're doing it to get a 30-40 min commute which is the holy grail for us. Like I said, bit weird! I suppose it's a grass-is-greener type thing but like you DH needs to commute for at least 10 years in his current thang.
Good luck whatever you decide, it's not easy this parenting lark, is it!!

The moving house thing is a hard choice Hawthers, we live just outside of London and DH works in central London and commutes by train every day. The train is only 25-30 minutes, but we add on another half an hour as it's 10-15 minutes to the train station in the morning and 10-15 minutes tohis office, so an hour door to door.

We discussed moving closer to his job when he was working at his old job, but he was very against it as he didn't like the area (near Heathrow), and would rather commute during the week and enjoy where we live in the evenings and weekends. This is also the area he has grown up in and done his first jobs, so we have a lot of friends here and I think that was more important to DH than the commute time.

I would prefer DH to get home earlier as he gets back at 6.45pm, but we both accept if you work in London you get paid more and if you want higher pay you have to make some sacrifices and work harder. Luckily his boss knows he only gets 15-30 minutes with DS in the evening, so he doesn't get pressured to stay late at work and he gets his work done before he finishes anyway. He's always been very good at leaving work on time and leaving work at work. He did take a lot of phone calls whilst I was having DS etc, but he'd rather they phoned than leave a mess for him when he gets back.

Just dropping in to say we all full of the cold in figgy towers and DS has protected ne from a very small but no less vicious looking spider by squashing it with one of his books. I did try to save it but was too late he is quite violent with his books and toys at the moment.

Sloping off back to bed as soon as DS agrees

My choice would always be for the shorter commute. I've commuted, and seen my family do it, and my partner's done it, and in every instance the grind of it wears you down. Add children into the mix and it's even worse- my Dad barely saw my siblings for years, my brother looked like a panda permanently owning to staying up to see his parents. My view hawthers, entirely personal, would be to wait until your DH found work in the regions, and then move with it- there are lots of brilliant homes, maybe not as good as the one you're looking at, but still good. Maximising time with the kids is more important.

We're thinking about moving in the not-too-distant too; all the rellies bar my Dad are hundreds of miles away and ill/rather life-limited so it would be good to go back. DP is now however rather keen on the better weather down South, so not sure: may just do the 'lap of the Gods' thing and see where my work takes us....

Weird one today- the person at the deli counter told me that I reminded her "in a good way!" of Bridget Jones should I take this well or be offended?

Hi all, not posted for ages lots going on, but hope you're all doing ok.

Been very busy back at work, really enjoying it but finding it exhausting. DS seems to be enjoying nursey, so much so that he'll only have two 20 min naps in ten hours and then passes out on the way home!

Sleep still a bit rubbish, but GP has just changed DS's formula again to Nutramigan AA and we're waiting for a dietitian appointment. I'm hoping once the formula etc is sorted he might sleep better.

Will try and keep up, now that i've posted again

Hi bjr welcome back

We've put DS onto follow milk this week and now he's only had very small poos since Thursday I'm assuming the 2 are linked should we go back or carry on with hope of adjustment? We moved because it was an offer wasn't going to bother!

I've got a cold and a bugger of an AF I started having cramps on Wednesday by last night with no sign of AF starting id convinced self it was implantation cramps and was pg over active imagination much boy was I glad to see AF this morning.

WB to Xiao & BJR

It's raining a lot here in St Lucia, along with high winds thankful that's it's near the end of our honeymoon tho. 2 more sleeps then we head home. Missing my babies xx

Hi BJR

DS has learned to clap (sort of!) I confess I have no idea at all when the DDs learned. Slatternly mummy....

Hope everyone's doing OK, it's all a bit mad over here what with return to work, house stuff, and trying to get my head around moving ishoos. Fortunately my SIL is being very supportive and my Dad is encourageing rather than giving me a guilt trip for trying to move away!

Just been watching another retro DVD with the DDs "the Trouble with T-Bag" from ITV of the eighties. It is quite dated but they loved it!

I know what you mean figgy, I think that now we've been pregnant it's a lot easier to think 'oh I am again'

Just done a load of batch cooking for DS, mince with potatoes and veg, and a pasta with roasted veg, cream cheese and tomato sauce. Hope he's goes for them, he's got enough... he didn't like the last lot as I'd accidentally bought the gluten free mock-pasta shapes, so really hope he enjoyed this more.

Can I ask folks, what sort of things are you giving your DCs for their main cooked meal? Owing to times and who gets home when, and us eating about 8pm, I've got to batch cook into little portions so I can give DS his at 6pm, so just wondering what others are serving up.

Good to see you BJR; I think a lot of us are pushed for time now we're back at work. Glad to hear that you're doing fine with it, given the inauspicious start with them being awkward, and that your DS is having fun at nursery!

DS is thinking that 5.20am is a good time to wake for the day. He is very, very wrong. Did mean that we were all so knackered that the three of us crawled into bed mid morning and slept for 1.5 hours, all curled up.

Bliss

T-Bag!! I remember T-Bag, I loved that too! Can I come round to yours when you get settled aethel and catch up on my childhood TV?

Northern I batch cook too. Currently in the freezer: chicken and apricot curry, beef and apple casserole, and coley, butternut squash & cheese. All are in mushed up form! Also apple, pear & apricot purée. She has 2 pots of savoury a day plus 2 pots of fruit and for breakfast some plain Greek yoghurt. Snacks are mini rice cakes and the odd baby biscuit. She often has one of my toast soldiers at breakfast also.

Hi bjr!

Northen I did a load of batch cooking last weekend and made about 30/40 baby portions out of the leftovers! On Friday I did a mild Dahl with lots of onions/carrots/celery/lentils and added baby pasta. On Saturday did a Coq au vin and pureed it with noodles for DD (intended to give her mash with it but ran out of potatoes and the noodles were the quickest thing around!). On Sunday did a mild beef chilli with butternut squash, sweet potaot and swede (sounds weird but they make it really sweet which goes well with the spices). Her favourite has been the Coq au vin, but she loves thewm all! I tend to give finger food at lunch with the odd jar if I'm out or in a rush, then defrost a frozen homemade portion for dinner and give it to her alongside some fdinger food to occupy her eg peach slices/cold pasta shapes/rice cakes etc.

I've been using leftovers when we have a roast Gee, it's been great just to do loads of extra veg and then just mash it up with the chicken/beef, etc. Yours and mopsy's curries sound good- we eat loads (some beef madras is bubbling away as I type ) but what do you do about making it mild enough- just buy a korma mix or make it yourself?

I've not used rice owing to the re-heating issues; DS loves spuds and I'm hoping he'll go for the pasta, but noodles are a good idea, ta.

I can maybe use the remnants of this chicken I'm sacrificing to make sure DS doesn't wake at stupid o'clock tomorrow

Tea!

I tend to make things up as I go along, I'm not a recipe follower! The Dhal had garlic, ginger, turmeric, cumin and some mild chilli powder I think. The beef chilli had cumin, black pepper, mild chilli and um...something else I'm sure! You can get a mild curry powder mix though eg from Sainsburys that I remember using for DS and he loved it. Not very authentic or sophisticated but tastes good anyway! I don't have a huge spice selection.

Other than the Coq au vin DD's favourite meal has been chicken, potatoes, carrots and dried apricots. I do lots in the slow cooker as I find it saves loads of time and make the meat really tender too. I freeze it in small ziploc freezer bags then just defrost and heat in the microwave, so everyday meal prep takes 5 mins from when I get in the door to on the table! She then usually hoovers it up in about 15 mins so mealtimes are really quick.

In non-foodie news, DD did a proper crawl across the floor today! Maybe it means she will sleep through tonight (clutching at straws!!).

Morning all, we have a new tooth. This is number three, and this time it's on top. And he slept really well last night. So he WILL go back into his room tonight. (we are so soft!)
I do a 45 min-1 hour commute (not in London) and that's enough. I finish at 4.45 though, so can often get home at 5.45, in time to have dinner together, before winding down to bathtime and bed. He has whatever we're having for dinner. We had friends around last night, and it worked really well. I'd done moussaka with lots of veg. I got BOi busy with a stick of carrot whilst we started to eat and his dinner cooled down a bit, then fed him some moussaka, then gave him another carrot stick and a green bean, whilst I had more of my dinner, and so on.
Quite often we eat much later when BOi has gone to bed, but then he gets whatever we've had the next night, microwaved... The few times when it wouldn't work, he gets half a tin of heinz ravioli, or something.
right, I'd better put some make up on and get myself a coffee before the masses arrive.

For dinners I have been using the BLW Cookbook and making home made chilli con carne, shepherds pie, cottage pie, lemon & tarragon chicken, tomato chicken, Moroccan chicken, runs and tomato pasta, home made burgers - these are all easy to make and good to freeze. I also do ommlettes for quick dinners/lunch, and tuna pasta with green veg and natural yoghurt mixed in, roast dinner. That seems to be what we are eating at the moment. I do use jars of baby food if we are out sometimes, the only problem with BLW when you're out is the mess and it takes a long time too!

WRT your question hawthers - you all know about my hideous 1h45 (on a good day) commute which means even if I get out of the office "early" at 6pm I'm not home till 7.45, by which time DS is either asleep or so grumpy that the only thing to do is latch him straight on and then into bed. I'd never commute like this again by choice, ever ever ever - even for the nicest house in the world. The only reason we're here is for DH's job (which comes with a free house and free school fees) - there's no way we would be out here paying £300/month plus mortage for the privilege of commuting. Even dropping down to 3 days a week in October I'm not sure it will be sustainable for me long-term.

The worst thing is when you live far out, even if the train is fast/direct, is when things go wrong. On Friday night on my way home from work I was turfed off the train at Richmond station when they decided we were going no further and nor were any other trains that evening, thanks to a broken train ahead of us. It was too late to go back into London and try another more round-about way of getting home so I ended up taking a taxi from Richmond to Eton at a cost of £80, and didn't get home till 12.15am.

If I were you I'd pour all your energy into finding jobs really close to where you want to live, preferably with a commute that is cycle-able or even walkable so you can have total control over getting home to your family (it's the lack of control that is the most frustrating - traffic jams, signal failures, etc) and then move - lovely places will be available in future.