January 2014 -- the birthdays are coming!

[TobyLerone]

Just wrote a long message on the old thread only to have it not post because we'd filled it.

We really ought to do less chatting and more sleeping

Had a much better night last night. She only woke up at 4.40am and drank some milk and went back to sleep after a little 5 minute whinge. Didn't even need to open the nurofen!

That's good news felix, long may it continue!

I've just found out that a friend of mine who has been fighting cancer for four years is moving into a hospice . We've not been close since I left London 3 years ago, but I'm still gutted. I really thought she'd beat it, she has tried so bloody hard. She'll be in the same hospice my friend went into before she died last year

Can we move on to 2016 now please?

Oh Book that's so sad, sorry to hear about your friend

book I'm sorry

I'm sorry, book :(
You really have had a shitty start to the year, haven't you?

Yeah, it's been crap. She's only my age. I also got an invite to a memorial unveiling for my friend who died last year, so I've been a bit weepy about that too.

P seems to have an eye infection, so my counselling and craft session will probably have to be cancelled as neither creche can take sick children. It'll be a relief if it happens actually I think.

Sorry, I'm such a whinger!

Just wipe her eyes and deny all knowledge.

Poor P is it like conjunctivitis?

She rubbed snot in her eyes (and all over her face and hair) in the night felix. I had to pick some of it off, because it had sort of set. Her sheets had to be changed too.

Babies are disgusting.

Oh dear! She must have produced a lot of snot

Just a quick question - I generally give S food she can eat with her hands but still spoon feed her yoghurts or anything similar consistency. Do you all give a spoon for them to try and feed themselves or are they too young yet? I've bought a chunky plastic spoon and fork set to try but I'm not sure when you're meant to use it from.

I give M a spoon because she moans without one but she eats everything with her hands. Even yogurt. Which is why she only gets yogurt at dinnertime, because she has a bath almost straight after dinner every night. DH is disgusted by her :o

She can get a spoon/fork to.her mouth but she chooses not to. If I preload her fork, she removes the contents and puts them in her mouth with her fingers.

Babies are tiny little idiots.

Ooh I'll try it tomorrow then. I did salmon, sweet potato and broccoli tonight and she ate a tiny bit then threw the rest on the floor repeatedly

If I give P a spoon then she has a decent go, but she loses interest after a while and I have to load the spoon for her. We often do a sort of relay with two spoons - I load one spoon, hand it to her, and she eats it. She'll do her whole dinner like that. She is getting much better at scooping up food since we got a bowl that suckers on to the high chair tray.

Baked beans are still a finger food though

This evening M ate baked beans, scrambled egg, tomato and ham with her fingers. Then, when I was making DS's sandwiches she mithered me for a bit of bread with Philadelphia on. So I gave it to her and she picked all the Philadelphia off and ate it, then threw the bread on the floor and did the sign for cat. She throws food on the floor for the cat every mealtime. She thinks it's funny.

Hey all

book so sorry to hear about your friend. Life sucks sometimes. It just does. Hope your mum is doing ok.

million sometimes organisations work in very strange ways. My dad hasn't got the last 2 jobs he applied for (he works for one of the railway companies) but has ended up doing them both within 3 months of being turned down. Who knows what might happen but in the meantime hope you enjoy your time off and don't think about it too much.

E goes through stages of insisting on holding her own spoon but she can't scoop. So a lot of meals we eat like book described (2 spoon relay). It really annoys me as it takes a bloody age so am trying to add more foods she can feed herself to the repertoire.

(Self indulgent moan alert..feel free to look away now) ... It looks like I am going to have to go back to work. And proper work like I did in London, not nice retraining work like we had planned. Australia is more expensive than we could possibly have imagined and we went from two salaries to one when we moved here (and mine was three times the size of DHs). I feel really really shit about it and I sort of hate him for not earning enough money to 'look after' us. I've got a second interview for a 1 year contract at one of the Australian banks today and they are pretty desperate to fill the role. It's a much lower role than I was doing so it's not great money but it should mean I can do shorter hours and not have to work late. I also want to do 4 days but not sure if they will allow that. And am not sure if I should take it if they don't. Aghhhh paralysed by indecision.

So much about moving here hasnt worked out the way I imagined it. The house is crap and the money is crap and our dog is still in the UK and we don't do half the things j thought we would because we can't afford to and even thought it's stupid staying at home with E was the last piece of the 'dream' and I just feel crap that it might be over as well. Even though half the time we just sit at home and watch TV at least I could in theory do something Feels a little bit like a big expensive mistake right now. Blah blah blah.

Also I finished BFing Yesterday (we were only on 1 in the morning) and I don't think that is helping the hormones or generally feeling a bit poop about my mothering skills.

Rant over.

I've never given S beans! I wonder if she would like them.

Toby the cat thing is so funny. My MIL's dog has learnt that if he sits next to the high chair when we visit he gets fed well from S. She laughs her head off.

Sunshine sorry things aren't working out how you planned. I suppose it's just one of those things where you don't really know what it's going to be like until you're living it. The bank job sounds promising if you can do less days though. Then at least you'd get three days a week at home. I still love seeing your pics on FB as it looks fab over there. It's a shame everything is so expensive

I am seriously considering looking for work too. We are just managing money wise but I'm really struggling with the concept of literally no disposable income. It's stupid but I'm so used to being able to go out for a meal every so often or go for a day out somewhere on a whim, but now we have to really budget for every single thing and it's so depressing. I can't even drive down to visit my friends as its 2 hours each way and petrol and a meal out would cost too much. Arghhhh! The only problem is, I am not particularly skilled in anything and haven't got loads of work experience (I'm 24 and was in full time education until I was 20) so I don't even think I can get a job which would cover childcare costs for S. I am well and truly fucked. It's only really a temporary thing as DP will be finished with his degree in 2017 then his Dad is pretty much guaranteed to be able to get him a job abroad where he works which is really decent money. It just means struggling on for a couple of more years. I know we have it better than a lot of people but I'm just a bit down about it.

Sorry that ended up as a mega rant

felix that is exactly what is making me think about going back. We could move out to the cheaper suburbs and we could do a better job of budgeting but I hate having no disposable income. I want E to have nice things (not ridiculous amounts, I know things aren't that important, but one or two) and I want her to have a good work ethic and I want her to grow up in a nicer area and for us to pop out for lunch at the weekend because it's a nice thing to do. I also want her to have a good work ethic and know the value of money (I mean, she's one now so she should be there nearly right .... ) .
But then I don't want her to take her first steps at nursery without me being there to see it. Or other such stuff like that.
Wanting it all is my problem...

E loves baked beans. I have resorted to giving them to her every other evening when she has a strop at mealtimes. This week I am going to invest in salt reduced ones so I feel less guilty about it.

Anyway, off to the interview shortly. Will be sure to keep you updated as my rambling rankings continue

Another whiny tiny barsteward here! 1 week since MMR, and after a really good 3 hrs solid sleep on the sofa and I actually got to drink some wine and do a wee bit of crochet we then had the two hour waking between 10 and midnight. And not just being awake, feeding, going quiet, rolling off, then wanting to relatch, then maybe sleeping on own, then whinging, escalating into a cry. So pick up, commence feeding and repeat cycle. I was close to wits end. And am such a zombie this morning I found I'd been walking around with my back zip of my dress undone wondering why it was a wee bit chilly......

I really have to get off my bum in the evenings and make a concerted effort for little puggle to fall asleep in the co-sleeper cot to minimise the going upstiars wake up when I'm trying to go to bed, but I'm sooooo lazy.

and to flexi, sunseeker, million, book and everybody else. I think there must be something in the air - I've been thinking "there must be more to life than pack nursery bag, rush to nursery then work, rush home, repack bag, feed, bed, count down till weekend then repeat" Is it because the novelty of our respective situations has worn off?
Yay for Toby wanting to be a peer supporter for breastfeeding. A lovely lovely girl runs my local group and she helped so much, we also have a closed facebook group that's been v supportive in the middle of the night.

In my dream world I'd run a lovely garden centre or florists. Or a pressure washing business. I love pressure hosing!

Sunshine that's exactly the issue I have. It's weighing up having and doing the nice things with missing parts of her growing up

I hope the interview went well for you!

Puggle lots of for you too. I totally get what you mean with the novelty of the situation wearing off. That's another part of my issue

We have been to a new play group today which is about a 5 minute walk from my house. Everyone was very friendly and it was a 'dump the child and sit around and drink coffee' type of group which works for me. S slept well again last night and has just had a 2.5hr nap, so I've done all the housework, moved some things in to the garage and managed to re-wax my barbour coat which I've been putting off doing for aaaages. And I got a letter saying we are due a council tax rebate for our old place! Today is a good day

Humph. My last message was the second of two but the only one to actually post.

Never mind, imagine it was full of wisdom and humour

firethorn I think there's a disconnect between knowing what you ought to do, and doing it. It's hard, and you're doing amazingly well.

book sorry to hear about your mum and friend. Hope February marks a decided upturn in the year for you.

sunshine that sucks, and I totally understand. WHY CAN'T WE HAVE IT ALL? HMMMMMM?

puggle hugs to you too.

I'm kind of getting around the 'go back to shitty hateful job and earn (net) nothing' or 'stay at home and lose mind' dilemma by starting my own business from home. It's bloody hard work, but it beats working for the cockwomble I worked for before mat leave.

I, too, have tiny bastard on my hands. The one nap thing is shit - she's really really knackered in the mornings, but WILL NOT sleep. That means: shit mornings of whinging, hardly any lunch consumed, and not wanting to do morning activities as she's such a misery. Oh, and she sleeps the best part of the afternoon, so we don't do much then either. God, this phase can fuck right off now, I am SO done with it.

Had a friend visit for the weekend, and it was knackering and a bit shit - she's not likely to have kids, and has absolutely zero concept of what it's like, and therefore no tolerance, and no real interest. Which resulted in her going round various baby un-friendly exhibitions while I walked up and down outside in the rain with a howling baby. I'm kind of glad she's gone home!

Today I went for my first couch to 5 k run. It was ok.

I bought some running clothes with the first set of birthday money and then went for it. I'm determined to get fitter!

sunshine, that does sound hard. Did you do a cost analysis/comparison thing before you moved to Australia? My knowledge of this is entirely based on 'Wanted: Down Under', so forgive me if that's not really feasible in real life

Humpty, what will your new business be?

puggle, I remember the neverending cycle of the working mum so well. It's knackering and shit, and all of you who are doing it have my complete admiration.

Felix, glad the new playgroup was nice. It's so much more bearable when you can get out of the house.

Well done, million! You put me to shame.

I am in bed already. I know how to live it up when DH is away.

toby I thought of Wanted Down Under straight away too. Did you see the one with the two girls from Manchester who had not thought it through?

The business will be online tutoring in Egyptology, I'm really excited about it! Am learning a humungous amount about computers and the t'interweb.

million blimey, well done!