Dec 2011 - Do that again, and you're getting sold on Ebay.....

[Aethelfleda]

Shiny new thread with no listing fees!

Well today has been interesting I've been offered that job I interviewed for earlier in the week, slight pay rise, car allowance, bupa cover and extra 3 days holiday BUT it's initial 9 month contract gone to my bosses who've offered promotion which means a £1k increase on top of my already agreed salary review which was also £1k and a car allowance it will make me most senior person in not only my team but our region . Feel loyal to stay where I am which now pays a bit more than the other co. But the other job is more appealing. Very confused tonight as to what to do erring towards better the devil u know and staying where I am as with it effectively being temp to perm if I do well and with dh job a bit wobbly not sure it's right time to take chance.

Oh wise mumsnet I need guidance what do u think?

Belated happy birthday seven. I hope it was a good one

Kat I?m pleased to hear the 20 week scan went well. Now, get yourself that trolley! I?m sure you?re already doing more than enough lumping DS about, without carrying big sacks of post too.

xiao I love that imagery. I?ll have to get DS a silk hankie . I can?t comment on the reusables, but I would say you?ll probably have two in nappies for quite a while. From the small sample of DD and her friends, they?ve started potty training anywhere between age 2 and 3, and it?s not easy. You need to be able to devote a lot of time and attention to the oldest child initially, which is hard to do when you also have a newborn, especially one BFing. It?s really not that bad having two in nappies. DD was 2.5 when we started with her (after a couple of failed earlier attempts) and DS was 9 months then. There was many a time when I wished I?d never started potty training! All you ever hear is people saying it only took a week. That was not the case here.

Queen Pleased to hear Sky is doing better now

zombie How are you now? Still suffering with back / throat / head? I love the sound of Octoboy?s dancing, it sounds hilarious

Easily I hope DS is over the ear infection soon

Figgy Congratulations on being so in demand. It?s certainly a tricky one, but I guess you need to go with your gut. If you?re not unhappy where you are, and with the other one being temp, I?d probably go with better the devil you know. But then I?m quite a pessimist!

Random event of the day: Patsy Palmer (Bianca from EastEnders) nearly knocked DD?s block off with a curtain pole in a well-known Swedish furniture emporium. She was very apologetic!

Great news about sky!

Potty training - urg! DM can definitely control but won't sit on his potty or the loo. He has spots where he likes to go sigh and then tries to clean it up (thankfully only wee!)

DM got new reins today, my dad lost the ones that were here, he's gone 10 days without walking and it was getting cruel on both of us! He ran around and wore himself out and went back to his normal bedtime yay!!!

My dad fed him soy yesterday so he was up all night, grouchy most of today apart from the hour running around and I'm expecting to be up most of tonight again :(

Tonight was Hopes first word ?pengwen Bomber?

Its what Air runs round shouting from the lego batman game

She is a.chatterbox but its still mostly sounds except for yep, mummy, Daddy and Aaon most important mummymilk.

She likes climbing and spinning around but she copies Air alot so not.dancing but can play with cars going brumm brumm and xbox controler or any remotes with buttons is her current fav things.

She has learned to throw so we all have to watch her and duck from flying toys.

She has started to scream and stamp her feet.in a paddy if she doesnt get her own way. She has started to take her top off and leggings down.

I got her a doll and she wants me to take the clothes on and off all the time -she is lazy just like me lol

Yeasterday she wanted me to bf a car and she.has started to twiddle :(
She can climb on and off the bed (we are cosleeping now), pull her self up on sofa and.climb in the toy box lol

I love love love this stage

I want to get Airs old slide, ride on motobike, ballpool, sandpit and mega bloxs out and the wall paper for hand and feet painting in the garden when the weather warms up.

Aaron trys to pretend play with her and she looks at him like its so cute. ?Its a cup but no drink, why are you trying to drink out of an empty cup ?

She can tell you where her nose is and ours and her feet, hands, eyes, mouth, teeth and hair is. She trys to put her and our shoes on herself and our hats and tops.

She wants to try all our food, we cant eat anything without her wanting some or her trying to feed us.

It really is the best stage of toddlerhood. She has started giving kisses to us now and she will go to Aaron and kiss him on the nose and its so cute.

Forgot to say i also like Ashlyn for a girl.

Air monkey is like that with food - that's why he's FF in his pram again, it's the only time I get to eat stuff he's allergic too

I also need to eat when he has his meals or he won't eat :-/ he's in biscuit stealing mode ATM too, no mummy you need a diet they're mine!

Hope is allergic to egg but Aaron is not so me,dh and Aaron all hide in the kitchen to eat cake. He is only 4 but understands egg hurts her so he needs to wash his hands and not make crumbs.

Hope also has excema and needs creamimg up four times a day but she still has a flare up on her side and when Aaron saw it he cried because he didnt want Hope to be hurt :(

Its hard work keeping the allergy trigger away and the creamimg up and all the normal day to day stuff.

My dh is disabled so i do all the childcare but he helps as much as he can and the inlaws help look after Aaron and take him to school some days.

Everyone is asleep but me :( I just cant switch off tonight

Got a slightly slower morning; I'm staying in to greet a friend who's flying in from the Middle East...only problem is I'd forgot I'm interviewing this morning, so have totally made a mess . Muppet.

Hope you got some sleep in the end air, it's horrible when your brain won't let you turn off. I agree I'm loving this age too, it's ACE..though DP is just recovering from finding DS sitting on the doorstep having learnt to open the front door!

On the subject of names, my friend who's just pregnant mentioned her favourite name for a girl...it's massively unusual, and unfortunately the name of the most insane person I ever had to deal with in my job (seriously, the blue light services had to have national meetings about this woman). So I broke the MN rule and just went 'nooooooooo'! And then apologised, as the only acceptable response is 'oooh, how lovely'

For girls, I like Naomi, Isabelle, and Rose, and if I have another boy he will be Keir.

Figgy, I'd be tempted to stay with what you know- it's clear from this that you can walk into any job in you sector, and if you want to have another DC you're better staying in your established job. Good effort with the 'fling' at the weekend though !

Morning ladies! I wish I had more time to post, then I wouldn't have to try to remember everything!
I absolutely agree that I am loving this stage when they are discovering so much and learning so much. I am totally in awe of the BOi.
Figgy - go with your gut instinct. Your post tends to lean towards the stay loyal, stay where you are. But only you can decide.
Love the names ideas. A lot of them are too far out for me. I have no idea what our next would be called. Other favourites at the same time as Alistair, were Max and Gabriel. I really like gabriel, but DH thinks the first syllable will mark him down for bullying...
If BOi was not a BOi, he would have been Eden. But I'm not sure that number 2 would automatically get this if she were to be a GOirl.
Talking of which, DH has two horrid cold sores atm so TTC has been put on hold. I aint kissing that! Which is a shame as I'm bizarrely very much in the mood...(Sorry for TMI!)

Just forego the kissing and go for it oi. Both of our DC's were conceived when I was Very Much In The Mood and pounced on DH

I think the 'very much in the mood' might be hormonal. I was over the top in the mood last month and then realised I had ovulated on both sides (well I had mittelschmerz on both sides so I'm assuming I did)! was v careful to use contraception as don't want twins :) but I think my over the top gagging for it was clearly related to my cycle. Mother nature is a wily old thing!

Thanks for the birthday well wishes, we went shopping but didnt buy me anything, DH has instead ordered me a very beautiful food mixer for the new kitchen, it should hopefully arrive today. DS however was unwell and suddenly developed an explosive bottom while we were shopping, thankfully just before we came home and had to sit in the car on the way home with no trousers on.

janey we're not far from the start-rite factory so never pay more than £18 for shoes, even for DS who's 4.

queen glad Sky is feeling better.

gary well remembered, yes we've decided on Beatrice Ann, the Ann is after my mum as we're quite traditional and like to middle-name after family. I really wanted Elizabeth, but would hate it being shortened to Liz/Lizzie, and also her initials would be EAR. I also like Arwen, and a boy would have been James.

xiao its not worth thinking about potty training until 2.5, but generally the longer you wait the easier and quicker it will be. DS was 3 as we waited until we thought he was ready and it only took a few days for him to be dry, poos took a good couple of months though. I have 20 motherease one-size, I'm just going to order a few more once DD2 is big enough and use disposables until then. I'm a bit funny about other people's used nappies so wouldn't rent, and worked out its cheaper just to use disposables until she's a bit bigger. £45 sounds very good if you're happy for them to not be new though :)

Sorry to everyone I've not name checked. Got the HV coming in an hour for the ante-natal visit, must get back to tidying!

faffin DH had a horrendous cold when DS was conceived, after nearly 2 years of trying he wasn't getting out of it by being ill when I was fertile!

Love startrite, I wince at having paid £26 for his first cruisers from there that though, same from clarks but they got lots of wear as slippers! The factory shop had a Boxing Day sale so his first proper pair cost me £8! And they keep a better selection of sizes, whenever I to the normal clarks they only have 1 or 2 pairs.

Food processor sounds like a great gift.

Loving this stage too, monkey does something new everyday - today he woke up, went and sat down and started singing! Yesterday it was climbing onto the coffee table and then onto the window ledge though, not so sweet.

Well the new company have gone from a 6 month to a 9 month contract and now I've turned it down theyve offered me a perm job going to stay where I am still but nice to feel in demand even if I feel very mercenary about how I'm getting a pay rise out of it and another member of team is going to lose their job.

DS slept for 2.5hrs he now playing with his new peppa pig talking blocks they r very cool there are 4 blocks each with pictures of different things, characters numbers instruments which when placed on the base omit says what the picture is he is transfixed .......not sure if that's a good thing

Hi everyone - just managed to read through everything (in a few chunks) since the Easter weekend but can't remember enough to name check everyone - sorry, you have certainly all been chatty.

One week of Easter holidays survived - one more to go! We postponed camping till May - it was just too cold and luckily we did as Freya was ill (yet again). Grumpy, non sleeping and just when you have had enough you discover they have an ear infection and feel guilty for being horrid! We did a few day trips instead, including a cold day out with Thomas which DS loved. We went to the circus yesterday instead - it was fun. Freya loved the lights and music.

If Freya was a boy I liked Dominic,DH didnt so much and he liked Luke, which I didnt as much, so it was lucky she was a girl! Sophie and Emily were other girls names we liked.

Evening! Am trying to settle DS in his cot for the whole night with varying success: last night I checked he was OK at 4 am then left him to wail and he slept through til seven

He will now say reliably "ta" if you give him chocolate . lots of use of signs now too, he asked for dinner today by making the "food" sign for the first time (yay). I agree it's a lovely stage at the moment.

Hope everyone has a more exciting Friday night than me, I'm eating Spag Bol freezer food and reading the Evening Standard while DH has a night in with some friends of ours....and may do a little sneaky DIY if kids permit. Have a nice shiny new front door and doorstep this week, but still a huge to-do list....

Not so much on the speaking from here. He has elder minions to do his bidding. He will point and imperiously proclaim 'dat!' though. He is a stereotypical third child, dragging himself up while we rush about living a hectic life >_< :o

Do not be fooled Zombie, that there are many words going on at this end! The standard rhetoric is "dadadadadadaaaaa" and "go go gogo" with the occasional pointing and shouting "duck!" (this may occasionally represent an actual duck but more often is something totally Not Duck).
He signs "milk" (a lot) and occasional "again" (meaning feed me more stuff), and "all gone" , and brings shoes or points to the door/stairgate. I think when a child older siblings there is less need for verbosity, and as you say also less one-on-one stimulation. I joke that I should have called him King Edward as he spends so much time being hauled about like the proverbial sack of spuds.

Ooh and well done figgy, sounds like you are seriously in demand!

Right, I'm off to bed, having painted the back doorstep, repainted the propagator a tasteful shade of black, and repaired the dining room threshold (I recommend buying shares in No More Nails,as I am seriously increasing their capital at the moment.) night all!

No more nails is superb stuff. Between that and ready made polyfilla houses can be tamed:o

Hi all.

Sky is really on the mend now had another really wet nappy this morning still have to coax her to drink some fluids but we are getting there and she is being demanding so seems like she is getting back to herself.
Sky has her elder minion Darcie to collect stuff for her by pointing and says that! Her other words are dad dad dad, dar dar dar, pooh bear, (G)randad, then just generally babbling.

We have start rite shoes here because of Darcie's hypermobility. We had :( afternoon yesterday. Darcie announced the reason she behaves so badly is because she doesn't want a daddy..just mummy. DH was broken at that statement, he went & had a bath and I think he cried a bit :(

I feel stressed, tired, major back ache..I think my fibromyalgia has flared up due to stress :(

As for names..if DD1 didn't suit a Darcie she would of been Gabrielle. If she was a boy she would of been Charlie David.

If DD2 didn't suit Sky she would of been Nicole or Robyn. If a boy Noah David or Robin David.

Still love Robyn/Robin so will be on our shortlist for no3.

Sorry to hear that queen. I guess there's nothing that can really help, you just both have to make it clear that her behaviour isn't acceptable and it isn't up to her, daddy isn't optional. It seems very odd for an 8yo (?) though to say things like that. Do any of her closest friends only have mummy, this attitude surely has to be coming from somewhere.

On the talking front here we have daddy, bear (said to bears and quite a lot else), juus (juice) and shuus (shoes). She also makes a grunting noise for a pig and says oof oof for a dog.

Seven thanks. A lot of Darcie's classmates are from single mom families & I used to live on my own with her when she was first born. Hmmm stressed much!