June 2013 Commando crawlers vs Baby slugs

[SunnyL]

Hi all - the old thread was about to run out so I started a new one.

Little Miss was up to mischief last night. Thankfully it's DHs day off today so he took her into bed with him while I slept in the spare room. She is just so excitable when she wakes up at night. It can can 90 minutes to scrape her off the ceiling.

I would. I agree that it's not what it once was; there isn't job security any more and there are regular restructures where I work. Pay rises aren't great but the salaries aren't so bad; I get paid more than I would doing the same job in the private sector. The maternity leave package is also great. Flexibility is a major positive (depending on role etc): flexi-time, term term only working if you have kids, small bonuses (in our section - I know not all areas great them), career breaks to bring up children etc. Where I work it's quite easy to work your way up if that's what you want.

We never have date nights, but then we never did before baby arrived! We haven't been out anywhere alone since baby arrived (but that doesn't bother us).

get them, not great them.

Exciting times Sunny. How does the commute compare to your current one?

Does anyone bother with indoor shoes/slipper sock/similar for their babies? We just use normal socks at the moment which DS pulls off several times a day but I wonder if something with a bit of grip would help him with crawling. Worth it? Or a waste of pennies?

Do you have wooden floors, Mrs? Something grippy may help then (it's still a bit chilly for no socks, IMO!).

DD wears normal socks too and they are fine (when they're on!).

Thanks ladies. Currently I have an idyllic walk to work through a nature reserve that takes me 30mins or its a 5 minute drive. The job I've seen is a 45 minute drive down the M8 BUT it would be almost £20k payrise . I think I'm going to apply as its such a long process I might have sorted out all the stuff that is annoying me at work.

On the sock front we've been wearing Gap socks with the sticky bits on the bottom which are good on our laminate floor. I've just bought her a couple of pairs of soft shoes though since she is determined to walk. Boys have a much better selection than girls. H&M was good as was Primark.

We only have normal socks, but they're pointless as they stay on for mere seconds before M yanks them off and throws them whichever way the wind is blowing. Gap socks are grippy and quite good (and more difficult than most to remove IME!). So it's mostly bare feet round these parts.

DD had a pair of very soft leather pram shoes which were great for this stage. Sadly they're pink so I haven't inflicted them on either of the boys :o and I've no idea where they came from other than "America" (it's a big place!) as they were a gift.

Sunny - good luck with the application!

Good luck Sunny

Thanks for the sock advice. I'll take a look in H&M and Gap this week. We don't have wooden floors but I think something with a smidge more grip than he currently has might just help him go forwards (rather than forever going backwards).
DS has a new habit this weekend: tooth grinding. It's dreadful and makes me want to cover my ears. Fingers crossed he moves onto the next thing pretty damn quick!

DD wears tights or normal socks. Sock ons (brilliant invention) have to be put over her socks though, otherwise they come off. We have wooden floors, but we've put a large play mat down that has grip.

Sunny - £20k and less stress for losing an extra 30 minutes a day? go for it!!!

And yes, next time you have a night stuck in London, let me konw, I shall get the train up and wear non-sick covered clothes and everything!

I think I've decided to resign and be a SAHM. Yes, I know, this is getting a bit boring. But I feel like decision made. So just need to resign this week then. That feels a bit scary...

DD has another tooth coming through, I can just see it at the top. I really hope it arrives soon, she's a dribbly, snotty mess and just wants to chew everything, including my toes. (yes really).

I tried a variety of different priced socks when we had DS, I came to the conclusion you will just have to keep losing/replacing them until they are in proper shoes. (and at 4 he still prefers to take his socks off at any given opportunity)

Eek, I find out which school he's got (and therefore where we'll eventually send DD) on Wednesday. Bit less stressful now I know I'm not going back to work (I had childcare lined up for the rest of the summer, then from september I had a childminder who'd do the run to the first choice of primary school, if we got 2nd or 3rd, I was going to have to find someone fast and do the sums to see if I would make a profit or a loss with working and see if it was possible to get to the station for the 08:03 after dropping both).

Mary - it's really scary resigning! I had my resignation letter written and everything, ready to send in (on the last possible day). 3 days before I sent it, they phoned and asked me in for a meeting, where they proceeded to make me redundant the swines! At least it meant I got paid to leave :o

We're on the wait for DS1's school place too - he should get in as a sibling at DD's school, but I'm still nervous! Bloody London school place nightmare...

Good luck Sunny and Mary! Exciting on both counts albeit in different ways.

We've been talking about possibly moving to Kent or East Sussex in the long term future. Don't get me wrong I absolutely LOVE living in central London but I would like the kids to have more outdoor time and nature around. I would like more nature too. It would require us to earn our money in a different way though, as we currently really need to be in London for our business, so we're talking about probably several years' time (I'm working really hard trying to develop my art, not currently a business, but hoping for it to become so), but the thought is exciting. Seeing what we can get with our money in the countryside is just amazing (for example a kitchen that you can also fit a kitchen table into! the very thought!!).

DS2 is a bit under the weather and just had a 3 hour nap! It was nice as I got to do some crafts with DS1. We cut up bits of paper as he's obsessed with scissors (he once nicked a pair of scissors from nursery).

Sunny when you do your application let a civil service friend have a look. That way you can ensure it's peppered with all the wanky buzz words you need!

Yay to London night out, when are you next down here?

rrreow - depending where you are in Kent, you don't need to give up your London jobs, a lot of my friends in the local villages do still have DH's who commute in daily, just drive/bike ride to the main station at Sevenoaks then get the fast train in. (which is less than 30 mins to Cannon street, so fine for city jobs). I like that DS can see the Downs from his bedroom window, yet we are close enough for DH to commute daily. It's a nice compromise (and yes ,your money goes a lot further!)

Resigning feels really odd without something to go to. I need ot write the letter and have a phone call. Think I'll be brave and call first thing tomorrow.

Good idea about getting wanky buzz words. I'm a consultant so a queen of wanky buzzwords but they're probably the wrong ones.

Good luck with resigning. Bet you feel lighter after doing it. Sometimes just making a decision - even if it might be wrong - things feel better.

I'm actually in London next Monday but I expect I'll already be a little pickled already. I'm at a posh function at Edinburgh Castle during the day then getting the train to London for work. As its my day off I decided I would make them pay for first class so I could make the most of the free bar!

Trying to keep up. On holiday with the in laws and sil and family in the isle of Wight. But staying in a house with no wifi . fortunately nearby pub has t'internet. Mind you weather is ace right now so not all bad!

We have wooden floors so I got E soft shoes with a bit more grip than socks. Also slightly harder to get off. Inch blue are popular but expensive (£20?) But I got some on eBay for 99p. Plus got tula2shoes which are the same type of thing, they're £8 if you get from ebay and v cute.

Well done on the decision mary, hope its a weight off your mind.

Wow, impressed with all the decisions being made! Ladies, one thing I have come to realise recently is, we can only regret the things we didn't do. We have to do whatever makes us happy, be that short or long term!

Dd has her top two teeth and her other bottom one coming through at the moment. Her furniture surfing is quickly moving on to reaching further between the gaps!
She has socks or tights on mainly indoors, and she does have a little soft pair of shoes from next, which she loves to have on.

Mary we run our business from home. For now we need to be in London as we have freelancers picking up gear for filming jobs that are in London or home counties (and paying for office space would be prohibitively expensive). If I can work more on my art business then we won't have to be very location specific which would be awesome.

I was feeling inspired and positive yesterday so have signed up to a couple of women in business groups and am going to a mastermind session in May. Wow! This is big stuff for me as for most of my life I've not really felt very self-motivated or can-do. I'm really wanting to make this work!

On another note, I am getting tired of being covered in snot. DS2 hates having his nose wiped but happily nuzzles on my clothes and in so doing wipes his snotty nose all over it.

so I resigned today... HR lady was lovely, asked me to keep in touch, if I wanted to do some cover for extra money and could sort childcare, let her know as pretty much constantly she needs people, that if they were hiring in a dedicated, non-float role, she'll call me first rather than advertise, that if I change my mind and want to go back, call and she'll see what she can do, and to make sure I date my resignation letter the last day of my maternity leave as I'll get the maximum amount of holiday pay then. So as nice as it could be.

rrreow - tiny flat in London as work base, family home in the country?

Turd in the kitchen, there's a turd in the kitchen!

That might spell the end of nappy free time

DS1 is going to school with DD in September :o :o

Only 3 years till M can join them... :o

Mary - hurrah for handing in your resignation. It sounds like it went as well as it could do...
And phew Rue, I bet you're relieved about the schools. It must be such a stress trying to sort it out.

I hope you have a cleaner kitchen day today Sunny! We never do nappy free time - DS is too much of a widdler. Luckily nappy rash is rare so I feel less guilty about it.

He decided that 5am was a good time to get up today. I would beg to disagree. Anyway, he's now asleep, the cat is snoring next to me, and I'm wide awake. Whoever ever said "sleep when baby sleeps" should be shot. And on that merry note, happy Thursdays all : )

Morning all. I've been absent for a week or so as my cat was seriously ill with acute kidney failure. Thought I was going to lose him and have been beyond distraught. He has been in vet hospital in Edinburgh (wonderful, wonderful place) and has made remarkable progress and came home yesterday. Got to go back for regular checks so not out the woods yet but one v happy owner here. Sorry to make a lot of this when I know others have v serious life issues going on, but he means the world to me
Glad to hear about the resignation going well, the school place got, and hoping the turd is now safely disposed of!!

Oh Sunbeam I work just next to the Dick Vet. They are fabulous in there. If you need anything let me know since I'm so near by.

Kitchen is now free if turds. It's my minimum standard of cleanliness really

That's all I ask of my kitchen, Sunny. Anything else goes!!!
Awwwwww, thanks so much re Dick Vets. Am full of love for them. Love that area - very pretty. We should hook up with the kiddos sometime! Is anyone else in the Edinburgh area too?