June 2013 (2) - attempting to get into a routine!

[MrsBri]

New thread for us ladies. :-)

Bloody hell, Sarah, we could buy a bloody mansion up here for that amount. :-/

I take it everything's progressing then? Maybe Phil and Kirstie can help you!

I bet. I should add that we are absolutely not super rich. The only way this is even remotely possible is because I bought a flat for 80K 13 years ago, which I can now ditch for 250K, and I inherited some money when my Dad died. It seems ridiculous that normal people earning normal amounts of money can't buy a decent family home without inheritence!

Bloody hell Sarah, my budget of £200k for a 4 bed detached seems minuscule up here!

Not got a bumbo but my mum bought ds the Summer 3 stage super seat which ds loves. He is only 12 wks though so although he can hold up his head well I wonder if it can do any damage?

Sarah, see, that's why we live outside the M25 - we were renting a 2 bed flat in Blackheath that was valued at over £400k when I was pregnant with DS, and we wanted a family home, so we moved out. If you are going to compromise on location, moving further out, look at going far out of London but on a fast train, it often can leave you with a similar length commute.

DH got the bumbo down from the loft this afternoon, but I was out with both DCs so DD's not tried it yet. Also fabulously, DH found the missing Baby Bjorn! I was considering buying another one, sooo glad it's turned up, shall use tomorrow.

Don'tmind we sat down and worked out that were we to move further out the cost of train travel would eat up any saving. In Barnet we pay as we go on the tube and train. I spend less than 150 quid a month that way. If we move to, say, Knebworth, its 400 quid a month for the train. A comparable house would save us a few hundred quid on the mortgage, but we'd not see that money because of the train fares. So we concluded that we would rather put several hundred quid into the mortgage a month rather than give it to First Capital Connect. I suppose there are quality of life improvements with moving further out but def advantages to being in town. Barnet is kind of the best of both worlds! Here's the link to our flat

Flat

Note the fact that Polly has a bed in every room:-)

Pfffft don't talk to me bout house prices. We were incredibly fortunate to buy our house in W12 on the literal day we did, think it must've been the worst day of the market during the slump. Reckon even a month later we'd have been priced out. That was 2.5yrs ago and next door (exact same as ours, if not v slightly smaller) has just sold for £170k more than we paid, at £735k. For a bog-standard 3-bed Victorian terrace with tiny garden. They are just not worth it!!! But I guess people are willing to pay. It's insane....But I do feel a little trapped here now - although we've lots of equity in the house, to move would cost so so so much I can't see how it's worth it, even though we could do with an actual proper garden and some more room.

Bumbo is on the go here but most popular is the bloody HEINOUS Rainforest jumperoo thing. J loves it. It's awful. He's also moved unto his cot in the next door room. Bit scary but all good. He's clearly sleeping better in there, much more comfortable. Am just worried bout keeping him warm enough without cooking him! Two cellular blankets & a terry towelling sleep suit seems the go.

Can't wait for Oz - lovely spring weather ago-go! Got a stash of disposable bottles for the plane journeys. Expensive but worth it, I reckon.

Been visiting nurseries as J's nanny is moving on after I finish this contract in two weeks, gutted - she is aces. Nurseries are petrifying.

Oli we looked at the jumperoo but they are so expensive. What she range would you say it's for?

age not she

I think on the blurb online it says from 4 months generally, but really once they have good head control and stability it's fine. J is in it prob 3 times a day from 5-8mins each time. We've a big fat book under it at the moment so he can bounce off it. His favourite thing is to stand...

When can I expect head control? Keir is 11 weeks, but not quite there yet.

Feel for you re London house prices. Edinburgh is bad enough. We are going to have to think about these things next year when we see what our budget is once have decided how many days I'll do at work. We have 2 bedrooms and no garden (though do have a beach!) at the mo, and I guess a private garden becomes indispensable once they are walking.

oscar went to bed at 8 so far I think he has been asleep for one hour in total yawn.
I want a jumperoo as he loves being upright and being bounced but they are pricey if they don't like them.

Sarah, we're the same, and decided we didn't want to miss out on any essential criteria so sold our house and are having a rental stop gap while we bump our deposit up a bit. We actually pay £2500 per month in rent. Every bloody month. Prices are absolutely ludicrous, my house is nothing special!

Bugger me those prices! £2500 on rent is ridiculous! I thoroughly recommend Edinburgh to you all. All the trappings of a capital city at the fraction of the cost. We moved out of the city a year ago to a small village just outside. We went from a 2 bed flat with ok shitty-- neighbours to a gorgeous 3 bed house with garage and soooo many bathrooms. Our new neighbours are fab. In fact we're organising our second street party and a group outing to the Singing Kettle.

Sorry that sounds smug but we were so unhappy wherewe used to live and now we are so so happy.

georgie where are you?

Can't keep up here, just so much to do right now. Thankfully evie is sleeping well at night, from about 8.30 till 6 or 5 if ds sets his alarm clock and wakes her up like this morning. We don't have a gumbo - used to have one but ds could never fit into it - I had to literally squeeze his thighs into the tiny gaps and then it would take two of us to get him out again! So we gave it away. He did enjoy a jumperoo but probably only for a few months so I sold it for about the same as we'd bought it for (second hand). I didn't like how much floor space it took up.

Phew Georgie, I hope you're living in a mansion for that rent! We've just found out our shipping is arriving a month sooner than expected, so need to find somewhere to live by mid-october. I am a bit gutted as its actually been really nice living at my parents. Its been great having the help while me and dh do a seemingly endless list of errands. I was hoping for w bit more time for us to get back on our feet, whereas now we'll be rushing to find a house, while still trying to open bank accounts, find doctors, buy a car and all that. As we're also planning on moving somewhere we've never really been before I was hoping for more time to check it all out.

Georgie - wow that's a lot of rent!

I love Edinburgh, been so many times....it's my favourite city in the UK.

London prices just exist within a ridiculous bubble. Positive is, I guess, that you are at much less risk of losing any money on your property.

Aloha where are you looking to move to?

I'd move to Edinburgh if it weren't for the fact the Scottish legal system is entirely alien and I'm not qualified to work there! My equivalent in Scottish government gets paid 5k less and for that they still live in city centre flats and have an excellent quality of life.

Anyone been seriously sick yet? I've laryngitis. I have no voice and a horrible cough. Just to help my normally magical sleeping baby woke at one and then I felt too rubbish to get back to sleep. So now I'm beyond exhausted, feel utterly awful, and can't even speak to the girl. Really wish I had people to call upon to help right now.

Sarah - in Ewell, in Surrey. And definitely not a mansion, a very normal semi detached house unfortunately!

We've had four nights in a row of perfect night sleeping so fingers crossed it will continue. Daytime sleeps are still a constant struggle though...

Those of you that have a jumperoo, how many weeks are your DC? I was going to get one for Sephy for Christmas when she'll be 6 months, is that too late?

It's absolutely freezing here today... Feels very Christmassy, might forget its September and watch a movie with DD1

Sorry you're sick Sarah, it's really hard with babies. I put my back out badly last week and DH had to take three days off of work.

Ah so near Kingston etc hence the rent level. Nice round there. And you can come for our mumsnet London meet up gin and tonic which is taking place between 16th and 29th October:-) Need to agree a date guys. Could we do a Thursday?

Yeah sucks being sick. Polly can't work out why mummy isn't talking!

Sarah that sucks! I live in fear of either me or J getting ill before we fly out. Hope it's a brief episode.

Whilst J is very straightforward in every way, despite his tricky scary start, we are not yet onto full nights of sleep. Really it's not too bad as he feeds at 7 and 11pm, then 3 and 7am (and we are only offering him 120ml at the 3am feed). Last night, though, he was restless every two hours. Maybe it's the fact he's new to the cot. Anyway I did all the feeds last night as the boyfriend came home jolly from a book launch thingy. Am knackered now! not sure I should be in charge of J at baby swim.

In other news, I might be more appreciative of J if he didn't greet the dawning of each new day with a literal shit-eating grin....

Hope you feel better soon Sarah. Not much sleep happening here last night, he seemed to wake every time I lay him down so ended up with him sleeping on my chest in the end for the second time this week but don't want to make a habit of it. I am not too worried about him as he is a jolly little sausage and has napped in the day whereas I am turning into a zombie ! OH keeps suggesting formula but I really don't want to and if it doesn't work and my supply is effected we are worse off

oh my goodness im glad I live where we do! my rent was 395 a month and we bought in january for 112,000 and that's 3 bed with a massive garden!

im currently steaming us both in the bathroom ethan had a reqlly bad night bringing mucous up que lots of crying and no sleep for me because I thought he would choke. ive read that steam and sitting up can help so he's in his bouncer with the shower on hot so hopefully it will cheer him up some and im going out to get one of those suckers for when he coughs and more up

Aww Oli I love the fact that she wakes with a smile and a giggle. Wipes away any residual grumpiness I might have.

If anyone has any issues with getting DH to do stuff to help out may I suggest talking loudly to the dog about the various jobs that need doing. Turns out DH can hear me and has started chipping in with various things. Woo hoo!