jan 2013- No, I will not have a new nappy

[OohQuack]

Ta daaaaa new home feel at home already.

[OohQuack]

The thought of any kind of train track or car tracks give me the shivers, we have so many cars already and iI hate with a passion the ones that are supposed to join up, because my old kicks in and I have to pair them, but child doesn't seem to think things should stay with theirpartner. He can have them at the grandparents

[JuniperTisane]

Really lolli? That would be great if you would. What you see is what we have as ds1 never bothered with it much. No chance you live in the southeast is there? I could collect if you arent too far away. Otherwise I will pay postage of course.

He is funny with the carriages, all happy choo-chooing until he gets one the wrong way round and the magnets repel at which point he goew into full meltdown with screaming, teara and flinging of track etc across the room. I'm not laughing, honest

[AppleCrumples]

lolli my ds1 loved those too.Still have them and ds1 still plays with them but...shhh We have bilkions if cars as ds2 was mad on them.

glorious that sounds hard. I would second part time. I worked part time when dss were little and it did feel like the best of both worlds.

Have been at sports days for the last 2 days, so haven't managed to do anything else that i needed to. Ivy has been having a lovely time getting in the way of the events. Monday was too long thogh and ended in a total.meltdown on Ivys part after i removed a squashed banana from he sticky littke hands.

[Lostbobbles]

Hello All

Been MIA again but good to finally catch up on some of your news, glad I'm not the only one with a tantrum throwing mini delinquent I'm sure she is going to be the first toddler to be expelled from nursery come September

RL has been manic lately more so because I'm SO unorganised been so much going on and I go away for a month a week on Saturday. DD1 breaks up tomorrow, so going to be fun fun fun having both at home next week when trying to pack .

We are also in the early stages of putting our house on the market but I'm really not sure I can deal with the stress of it all.

Will try put recent pic up, when get a chance to pop on laptop.

[Lostbobbles]

Oh cupcakes one of DD1's little friends I made from baby group was out of nappies day and night by 18 months

[lollipoppi]

Juniper, of course, il get some together for you and send it your way, I'm north west so il post it, il will happily pay the postage if it means getting rid of some

Lost a month away sounds lovely, where you going? Good luck with the packing

Glorious before ds1 I was a sales & marketing manager, I returned part time but had the same problem as you, wayyyyy too much pressure and too many hours, so I left and worked part time at DPs business
It has it's pros and cons, still have to work evenings doing paperwork, invoicing and ordering but it's so flexible, if the kids are ill I don't have to worry

[JuniperTisane]

Oh thank you Lolli that would be brilliant. I will PM my address in a bit.

I am a bad mother this morning. I left Dan to come down the last few stairs by himself as he has lots of times and he fell and banged his head and gave himself a nosebleed . I was on the phone to nursery at the time. They heard his wails and then I cut the phone off as I went to sort him out so they must think all sorts of things .

He's ok now though.

[AppleCrumples]

glorious after ds1 i worked 9-2.30 4 days as a medical secretary. Was absolutely perfect but was mafe redundant after ds2 :(

juniper poor dan.

[MsBug]

Poor dan :-(

i work four days a week as an administrator. It kind of works. It's the same job i did before dd full time, i just do everything more slowly and don't volunteer for extra work. The culture here is quite good and people mostly leave on time. However the pay isn't great and its quite dull.

[BuntyCollocks]

Poor Dan :( Love seeing all the pictures, they're growing up too quickly, though! I'm surprisingly un-broody atm, I think I just have too much going on, maybe when life is more settled and less hectic.

C has been sent home from nursery with conjunctivitis in both eyes, so I'm attempting working from home this afternoon. Hmm. I don't think much work will be getting done. She's away for a nap just now, DFS man is coming to look at my sofa, and then i need to go to the supermarket for bits, and to pick up her eyedrops.

cupcakes C has a moover pram, although they're a bit pricey, but she loves it.

lolli is yours a little madam as well? We have full on tantrums with tears and foot stamping I laugh a lot

[CreepyCrawly]

We certainly have a beautiful bunch don't we?!

glorious, that does sound tough. I only work 3 and a half days a week (and the occasional Saturday) as a support worker for a mental health charity. Very flexible hours which is prefect because DH has Nancy on the days I'm working.

No tantrums here thankfully, she's pretty easy going. Although she's getting quite stressed with her inability to jump at the moment :D

[OohQuack]

I have a pushchair q for the experts, I may sound stupid but here goes....

Can I use the harness without attaching the shoulder straps? So just the crotch and waist straps are connected? Or is this really unsafe? I'm sure I've seen kids in chairs like this, or am I imagining it?

How's Dan? :-(

I recommend you each buy a fly swat, it's dexters current favourite non toy

[AppleCrumples]

oohquack Ivy removes the shoulder straps in the hauck so she can try to stand whilst on the move. It worries me because if it tipped she wouldn't be secure. Its the main reason i want to stop using it but she never looks comfy in the other pushchair.

[meringue33]

Glorious I think I know where you work and I can guess how you feel. Is everything "highly political" and "has to be ready tomorrow"?!

Could you ask for a 50-50 job share? That's my plan for after baby no.2. I don't see otherwise how the role would get done.

Also do you have a cleaner? Could you increase her hours?? How's your DH doing these days?

All the babies are looking so adorable. We have tantrums a plenty here .

Bunty have you moved yet?

[Angielka]

Creepy I think the funniest thing Molly does at the mo is 'jumping'. She stands on her tippy toes, lifts her shoulders and then goes 'boom' and stats in exactly the same place. Very proud she is too
I'm 80% managing a project. Same org as before kids but very flexible - sounds like you need a change

[glorious]

Thanks for the info everyone, I will have a good think about what other roles might work. Job share is an option I'm exploring too but I'm not sure it'd be enough if I continue in a role like my current one.

We do have a cleaner but could look at more help, that's a good thought. DH is a bit better but also working incredibly hard which doesn't help.

I've reported my last post in a paranoid moment just in case you wonder what happened when it's (hopefully) deleted. I'll pm you meringue.

[MsBug]

Quack we do that with the harness but dd faces me in the buggy and I wouldn't leave her like it unattended

[JuniperTisane]

I only let DS1 have just crotch straps from about 2.5 onwards when I could more or less rely on him to stay put and only when he was in it for needing a seat rather than us trying to get somewhere. No way on earth would I attempt it with Dan - he's just too much of a fighter as it is and would be standing trying to climb out at the first opportunity.

Just had nursery sports day for DS1 - he came first in the balancing race! (and last in everything else bless him ). Dan behaved impeccably ran round and round the benches getting under everyones legs chasing his playmates and getting hot and bothered and tantrummy.

That sounds very cute Angie

Poor C, Bunty conjunctivitis is horrible for them, they keep scrubbing at their eyes. Hope she's better soon.

Glorious I'm not working so haven't been in your situation. I hope you can find a way to tip the balance a bit more in favour of you and your family's happiness and sanity. You only get one life after all.

[BuntyCollocks]

Thanks, juniper, she's very clingy bless her, and I had to pop her back into nursery today as I have a snowball's hope in hell of working whilst she's there. :( Feel v guilty, but this is my second to last week in the office, and I don't want to part ways with people thinking I'm taking the piss.

meringue not yet! I finish up next Friday, taking the kids and our various accroutements, what I can fit in two cars anyway, up on the 14th with my inlaws, then back down to Chester to supervise packing on 23rd, loading on 24th getting loaded on 24th for our leaving night and then driving up for good on 25th horribly hungover.

New job on 28th - eek!

[meringue33]

Exciting!!! Hope it all goes well!!!! :-) x

[glorious]

Wow bunty really soon now. I don't envy the packing. Are you excited or is it just all a bit stressful?

I really do appreciate all the advice everyone, thank you so much. I am trying to remember as well that at least we're lucky to have well paid jobs and so not worrying about money on top of it all. And we have nice families and a good relationship. So lots of positives, just need to get a better balance.

I must have a look at all these pictures when I can use the computer.

[Birdies]

Keep getting out of the habit if posting here. I've had a look through all the photos and have to agree with someone above, we do have a gorgeous bunch of babies. Will post one of X in a min. And will try and catch up on everything as well.....

In the meantime, apple and fourlegs and anyone else with a good routine and a good sleeper - what's your routine now? X has been up every night for ages and awake early. Sigh. Not sure what I'm doing wrong routine-wise.

Also - X can feed herself with a spoon but she puts the spoon in her little mouth upside down so I'm only giving her the spoon with sticky stuff that won't fall off. How do I move on to her being able to keep the spoon the right way up?

Thanks

[Birdies]

Here we go. Likes sniffing pens at the mo :) Non-toxic ones (mostly....she managed to get hold of what I thought was a dodgy one this week and walked in the room with a different coloured nose and funny little smile....I got all paranoid she was lightheaded....was fine tho, was non-smelly )

[AppleCrumples]

birdies aww she looks so sweet! Ivy once got hold if some tat models dd1 had brought home and chewed and licjed it so she ended uo with a green tongue, i had to check with her teacher that were definately non toxic.

Re routine its currently:

6.30 wake up, can hear her chatting but as long as shes happy we don't get up till after 7

7.30 water and some fruit, yoghurt or toast is chucked in her direction

9.00 breakfast

11.30(ish) lunch

12-1 goes for nap, is up after 2 hours or woken up for school run if shes gone up late

5.30 dinner

7 teeth, wash, pjs story, bed. She chats for a bit but is generally asleep by 7.30

Obviously this is flexible, if we're out she will sleep in buggy etc. Also she is kind of an 'accessory' a lot of the time so just fits in with everyone else.