March 2013 - we're gonna need a bigger wine rack

[Plonkysaurus]

Ta da!

You're absolutely right Rainbow, I'm more than happy to be a bit gobby make a statement and make choices against cultural norms but DH, not so much, and it's up to the person that would have to make the change whether they want to or not. Good on you and your family for pushing for change though! You're obviously both very strong-willed!

I've just accidentally put DD down for a nap with a dirty nappy (she dropped very quickly before I could get to change it) and she was so solidly asleep I couldn't rouse her enough to change it. Fingers crossed her bum is ok when she wakes up! Bad Mummy once again!

Eco your outfits sound lovely, I do love a good dressing up opportunity!

Stormy you have a point there. DH's mother and sister are both refreshingly uncomplicated!

Plonky DH has similar view from the opposite direction about the toddle. Since starting to walk she has managed to learn the layout of a rather rambling complicated house, with 3 staircases and many random exciting cupboards in cubbyholes, the garden, both fields and the various walks we do to both the village and the swings. That's no mean feat, especially when you consider FIL still hasn't quite got the handle on how to get to the room he sleeps in. His theory is she's at navigational information overload, and talking is just one thing to many. But then he would have a theory wouldn't he... what with her being the most intelligent child on the planet and all

You're right about the builders. It has got to be an orchestrated farce, hasn't it??? Hasn't it ???!!! I haven't told you the half of it either, there is more, but there are limits to how much I can share without basically naming the lead characters.

Have just learned a valuable lesson in parenting. Do not ever take a nearly 15 month fully mobile small person to PC world without either a pram or a pen. Utter hell. The only good thing to come out of this trip was the realisation that our plans to fly to France later this summer were fundamentally flawed. We will be driving instead

doli i made that big mistake already but i let dh deal with ds running around. Is it too late to get rid of the builders and get a different team? I get stressed just reading your updates on the conservatory so god knows how you and dh feel.

stormy did dd finally get to sleep ok? Maybe its ww for her still.

Go rainbowtoddle on the new word AND its in context. We only have babbling and hand gestures as if explaining something very important. I meant to say before i think you have done great on potty training. You are very patient. How on earth do you keep a toddler on a potty for 45mins?!

eco i like the sound of your outfit. I bet you looked hot

betty you are a great mum. Sometimes things just happen. I keep knocking into ds and he bounces to the floor on his bum.

A top tip from me check the washing machine before putting a load on to wash. Me and dh watched his gym membership card whirling around in the machine. This morning i couldn't find my slippers and guess where they were. Yep in the washing machine.

Yummy I'm with you on the washing machine pre-check. Dolitoddle's shoes nearly joined a 60 degree wash last week. I'm so glad they didn't. They are purple, and much as I like the colour purple I prefer the sheets white.

Don't worry, we're not stressed about the conservatory. Well not much. It may be a farce, but the team (if a little comical) are at least straight up honest, local, and willing to sort it out. We've done enough building work here to know that isn't always the case. Plus the roofers are hot

On a building related note DH was astonished to discover butter removes tar. I was astonished to discover that he didn't already know this. Please tell me I'm not the only one who spent my childhood buttering my feet after running up and down the (slightly melty) street in summer...

I hope all toddles (bar mine) are in bed. Mine is out playing ball with the dogs. I suspect this may be bad parenting, but it beats listening to her yell abuse at us from her cot

yummy we only did one 45 min potty session when DD was 8 months and we had to catch a urine sample. She was pretty happy to sit and read stories back then as that's the kind of baby she is. Potty time now is no longer than 5mins until she she is done then she gets up! We moved on to pull ups nappies in the last couple of days as DD has been trying to copy me in pulling down her trousers when we go to the toilet so wanted to facilitate that for her. All great in theory till I had to change a poop in pull ups - not recommended!

Butter removes tar? Would that work on carpet ... Hmmmmm.

I can't remember anything so will just say hi and go to bed.

Uh. Day 3 of 5.30 wake ups. Come on, own up, who's nicked my magical sleeping baby? I blame the bloody dawn chorus. Never thought I'd be looking forward to the days getting shorter. (Actually, I take that back. I love long days, and would rather get up at 5.30 and have a summers day than 8.30 for winter)

We had day three of refusing to sleep until 9pm. Thought she'd gone down with zero fuss, until I realised the baby monitor was off. Whoops!

Gerry we were there with you again this morning. It's so humid and sticky though, there's no wonder he woke early.

Stormy we have no baby monitor. It gets brought out for grand occasions like staying at grandparents. I hate it. It's a tyrant.

Doli butter does what? How on earth did you make this discovery? I like DH's stance on Dolitoddle's reluctance to speak. DS's dad would probably make a similar argument for his lack of walking. Guess who else comes from an ASD prone family?

Wotta hello dear you sound like you need a sit down and

yummy I love loading the washing machine. I love it so much I've washed many many things they tell you not to, like cigarette lighters, bottle openers, and DS's plastic clicky joint monkey. All key items, you see. In your defence I seem to recall that you have a small child who's rather fond of putting potatoes in there.

We're off to get our wedding license later. I feel completely skint! Nursery fees, wedding license, council tax and now an nPower bill and I've just scraped the bottom of the a huge tub for the last of the peanut butter. I feel this is a sitting in the candle lit basement (if we had one) drinking bitter black coffee and listening to the Smiths kind of a day.

Oh, god, don't get me started on utility bills, Plonk. I had a letter from eon the other day. They've decided to increase my direct debit from 68 a month to 239 a month. I've decided they can go and fuck themselves. Must remember to ring them later and say as much.

Because clearly a house with a woman, baby and sometimes a man uses exactly that much energy per month. That's two thirds of our four month long bill period!

Stormy that's obscene! Must be a mistake surely? Our very drafty Victorian house which is full of cracks, single paned sash windows, half of which don't shut properly, has not much roof insulation, and a DH who keeps leaving the immersion on for days on end costs £150 a month for gas and electricity and that's bad enough!

Just sent off my letter of application for the full time promotion. Now nervous as I was led to believe the job was basically mine, so if I don't get it I'll feel like proper shit and be even more pissed off with my current place of work than I am at the moment. By the way- opinions please. Planning on getting the promotion, starting in September, then ttc from Christmas. This means in theory I will be in the job a year before maternity leave (this assumes it doesn't take us 2 years to conceive again, and that I don't get signed off at 28 weeks with spd...) I really want the job so I'm not ONLY going for it so that I get a pay rise and therefore more mat pay, but it is a consideration. Is it immoral to have those plans, or is that just the risk employers take when hiring a 29yo woman with a toddler? If it makes it any better we were going to start ttc in September but I would want to do a whole year before going off if I got the job so will delay.

I think that's ok gerry. I assume they must have considered the fact that you might want another baby!
especially another sleeper

Yes we are in a naice hotel plonk / eco. We've even had after 7am wake ups!!!!! Well- two in a row I've
jinxed that now

We have pointing here- I love it. Don't always know what he is pointing at but he looks so intense when he does it!
wotta how are you? All ok?
Yes eco let me know but obviously house move etc is a little more important.....

Right. Off to enjoy nap time. It's so nice not to be able to do any housework!!!!

Gerry, I'd say bugger the morality of it. It's the risk they take, and they can claim the basic back anyway. Morals and principles are all very well and good, but sometimes they have to go out of the window if you want control of your life. If it helps, remember I got pregnant on benefits, half the country thinks I'm scum, so next to me you're marvellously moral.

Eon want me to have a balance of zero by my annual review in September. Thanks to their cockup I owe them a couple of hundred from last year, and they've Bern estimating bills. Sods. Reduced it to 90, which sounds more reasonable - it's what I paid in the old house, which was the same size, same state of windows and insulation, etc.

And just to make my day even better, someone's alleged that I'm living with someone while claiming income support. Can I nail the letter box closed? Nothing fun ever comes through it.

I think it's perfectly acceptable Gerry. They'd have to be incredibly anti-everything to deny you the opportunity on the basis that you're building your family.

Shattered you lucky devil! Hope things continue in this vein.

Stormy bah. I hate dealing with huge companies. Sadly living off grid just isn't practical enough to be a reality, and everyone I know who's tried this has a screw loose. Appealing though on days like this!

I must be mad. I have this habit of taking on a hell of a lot of stuff, and when I'm bored of it I just fancy heaping another Thing onto the Me pile. As if toddler raising, working, house maintaining (ish) and wedding planning wasn't enough, I've found myself drifting on the Internet and looking at photography courses.

Gerry go for it. Employers are well aware of the possible implications of employing women of child bearing age, and you can't be expected to put your life on hold until you have completed your family, got them through school, and turfed them out into the world to fend for themselves! Good luck

I think my niece should win some sort of Demonstrating Clothes Sizes Are Ridiculous award...

She turned three the day my ovary released the egg that would become DD. When my sister heard I was pregnant, she started putting my niece's clothes aside as she outgrew them, and gave them to DD. I've just got round to sorting through them. Most are size 2-3y, as you'd expect. But there was one skirt - which my niece still fitted aged three - that was size 6-9m. Madness!

Where's everyone got to?

Mostly sitting on the toilet Stormy. I'm on day three of diarrhoea. Or dire-rear as it's known in this house. Yuck. Dh and Ecotod still well so no idea what's causing it. I've decided to BRAT today to try and calm it down. I've walked (hopefully) to shop this morning and got apple sauce and rice. I guess we'll be staying close to home today.

I say home, I mean Bedfordshire as we're down here for few days staring at the hovel that's not ours yet Plonky there's still no mortgage offer but our survey has been done so I'm hopeful. Job wise there's a job with the rspb who are based locally that I'm qualified well for but it's half salary that I was on in public sector (to be expected I guess) and is full time. Am going to email them and ask if they'd consider making it a job share. That's where we're at. I have some more consultancy days coming up for a council. Those will see me leave my babe overnight for the first time. And Plonky, did you get a grilling from the registrars when you got your license? I found that quite a thrilling experience. Made the wedding seem really real. Have you always been interested in photography? Lots of broody scenery around you to get your creative juices flowing.

Gerry, another well done from me for being a mum, losing weight, working AND managing to get a job application in. A year's a reasonable length of time in my opinion.

Shattered that all sounds very nice. Lie ins too! Whoop!

Doli I hope your conservatory roof is fixed, it's tipping it down here!

Oh dear eco I hope BRAT has you back to your usual non-toilet-bound self in no time. Three days? I'd be an emotional wreck!

Job with RSPB sounds interesting. I quite like birds and that, what with em being on my shoulder, and I enjoyed the picture of ecotod in a birdhide. And I'm crossing my fingers for the hovel! But you do realise when you move into it we'll have to stop referring to it as an 'ovel?

Bloody registrar. Meeting itself was exciting, as you say, but they've cocked it up! I told him where we were getting married and he decided to write 'Nottingham Registry Office'. No such place exists, so thanks to his country bumpkin-ery we have to schlep back there and stand over him while he writes the correct location. No idea why our presence is needed, we've already proven who we are and consensualousness etc. BARSTARDS.

I very nearly did an A-Level in Photography. I got one month into college and decided I wasn't nearly grown up enough for such an environment, so I pleaded with my old school to go back. And promptly failed my Psychology A-Level. Def should've stuck with pretty pictures. I think I will do a course, it's something I've been wanting to achieve for pretty much a decade. Best swot up so I can persuade DP it's a good idea then! (Any you've set me on a path!)

Plonky can I just say hats off to you. And Stormy, and yummy, and gerry and anyone else watching what they eat. I've decided to be strict with BRAT today to encourage to diarrhoea to go and it's not yet two o'clock and I'm frustrated by it. When you're at home with a child I'd say food is an important pleasure. Toast, apple sauce and banana not cutting it. Maybe my plain boiled rice dinner will liven things up

Plonky surely the registrars know the location of THEIR registry offices? Bah!

Is the photography path a possibility for the future business empire that you'll be at the helm of?

Speaking of which, it seems like to add a little more chaos to the mix (you inspire me plonk) the yurts are going up again sometime over the next couple of weeks. We've found a nice site on an organic farm in Berks. Very naice! To add to relocation, renovation and job hunt. Yippee

Eco that does sound dire. Feel better soon.

What's all this about grilling from registrars? When did that come in??? No one grilled me. We just posted the notice at the Registry office, and met the Registrar before the wedding ceremony to introduce ourselves. I didn't like our Registrar, He was an ar5e. I'd picked a reading. Dsis had spent ages practising said reading. He vetoed it on the basis it was an unusual choice. So what. The whole day was pretty unusual. We are an odd unusual couple.

this

I harbour a grudge well. Still mad cross, 14 years on

Plonky I say do the photography course! Do it fast enough and you could even take the photos on your big day. Although that said an album sans bride might be even odder than my choice of reading.

Eco when it comes to the roof, fixed is a relative term. It is more fixed than it was, but less fixed than it should be. I am taking that as positive progress!

Stormy was that an American 6-9month skirt? The baby clothes DM bought there were sized for small elephants.

It's sunny now, but the toddle is asleep. How very inconsiderate of her. She can't win can she poor child. She sleeps, I moan. She doesn't I complain!

Oh I love the sentiment of that song Doli. Don't recall our registrars caring what we had read out, except for being very thorough on whether it was god related at all. A big no no for a civil ceremony of course. We had a strange reading too. I'll try and find it.

I caved by the way. BRATS is now BRATDB. Digestive biscuits are ok surely?

Doli how bloody dare they? Yes it's an unusual choice for a reading, but it would've been perfect! Weddings are not funerals, so I don't see why everyone has to be so bloody stoic about them.

Why oh why our registrar couldn't get our venue right I do not know. We're only in the next county, our chosen venue is pretty major for the region. I can only assume he spends his spare time not putting up leaky roofs in Kent.

Eco hate to break it to you but those of us who are watching our weight don't just eat BRAT for dinner tonight we are having chicken and spelt. Me watching what I eat is basically how Doli eats everyday! That said, DBs are perfectly acceptable when dire rearing.
How long does it take to put a yurt up? Sounds lovely. I've been trying to convince dp to go glamping but you wouldn't like his Tory boy response.

The photography thing is currently a hobby. If I got good enough I'd like to do portrait/family photography on the side, but definitely need to brush up, hence wanting to do a course. Really I just want to work for myself who doesn't. Perhaps this is a way to do that.

Did anyone else see the thing about the secret life of babies? The more I learn about these tiny humans the more I am amazed.

What on earth is BRAT?

I've just been to the doctor's for an assortment of things. Microgynon's had a name change! And for those of you thinking to TTC number 2, a BMI over 30 warrants extra folic acid, which the doctor will provide. And (TMI) I don't have piles! I just have the mother of all skin tags.

DD clearly has pipe cleaners in place of bones. She was in the playpen, stuck her leg through, managed to stick her foot back in through a different gap, and then fell over. Lucky she didn't break a leg.