August/September 2019 babies - #3

[Stroan]

Just spotted we were about to finish the last thread....

Yeh kitchen is a good idea. That's on our Christmas list as is one of these:
www.wingreen.co.uk/knights/knights-castle.html

Haven't decided on what type to get yet cause there's a gingerbread house, pirate shack, toy shop etc but they look so cute although quite pricey

Here's some photos for you @yevans. The rocket is the biggest hit although it does annoy me a bit as the bottom two pieces are only held on by a rocket man on the inside so of he's not in there, they just slide off

Hi guys I only just found out about this via the new nursery. Previous Nursery didn't mention it. Basically the government gives you tax free childcare so for every £8 you pay the government tops it up by £2 to make £10.
You create an account and add in your childcare provider via their search button. You then pay the nursery fees into that account and then the nursery gets paid automatically with the top up.
Nifty eh?!
And you don't have to be on UC or benefits etc. You just need to earn more than £139 a week and less than £100k a year.
Well, this is Scotland but there's also sections for England, Ireland and Wales too so please check it out.

www.childcarechoices.gov.uk/

Hi everyone, I am a Master's student studying developmental psychology. I am looking for participants to complete an online questionnaire regarding language development in 12-18 month olds. If you are a parent/carer of a child between these ages you can take part!- completely anonymous process!

All help is greatly appreciated!!

Here is the link to the study: unioflincoln.eu.qualtrics.com/jfe/form/SV_38amfqGAKcugeX3

TIA :D

@horehound it is so rubbish that isn't more wildly promoted, it's such a big thing! we should really get info on it during maternity appointments. We are switching from our existing childcare voucher scheme to the tax free childcare account as it is marginally better for two kids.

I've gotten Alice some megablox (cheap from Aldi) and a Toot Toot airport + helicopter.

@Horehound We're also going to get the IKEA kitchen playset for Christmas. And the trainset. And oh so many other things.

I was going to only buy a couple of presents for Felicity but it’s escalated already.

So far:
Sand and water table
4 wooden toys from Lidl including the same rocket as @Horehound so I’m glad it’s gone down well
A water drawing mat - also Lidl
Some felt tips for 12m+
3 board books
Some handmade clothes by Karigan who was on this thread (she makes amazing things).

Plus I’m on the hunt for a secondhand Scuttlebug as not convinced she’d like it but they seem to come up used frequently so happy to spend £10-£15 on one.

Christmas is all about the Ikea kitchen here too-I really want it now but it’s too soon for Felicity but hopefully by Christmas it’ll be good. Her nursery has them too.

I also want some wooden cars, more Grapat and a Grimms rainbow but too poor until back at work!

Happy birthday Nate @Geegrl19! Not quite the 27th here, but sending love anyway. Hope you all have a lovely day. ❤️

Happy Birthday Nate!

@Megan2018 our new scuttlebug was only £20!

@Megan2018 I bought this rainbow which is practically the same but cheaper. They are waiting on stock so it hasn't arrived for his birthday o will now give for Xmas:
www.earlyyearsresources.co.uk/construction-c9/wooden-construction-c1714/12-piece-rainbow-stacking-arches-p88258
It's £58inc VAT.

I can let you know about the quality when it arrives if you like? I love that website!

It's so hard to stick to only a few things because there's so many lovely toys and books out there!

Happy birthday Nate @Geegrl19

Happy Birthday Nate! @Geegrl19

@yevans Sorry you're feeling rough. I know it's rough, but I will say that you don't need to stress about the socialisation etc too much, when I was expecting DD2 I had HG and struggled to do anything with DD1 (who was just over one when I conceived) and she spent far more time than I ever wanted watching CBeebies and playing with toys at home but she is now a delightful, chatty, sociable 3 year old!!
I have no idea what we're going to do for Catherine's first birthday, we still have everything from her big sisters first which she can play with, so the big items like ride on bug and toy kitchen are totally unnecessary. Her sister wants to get her a cuddly teletubby 🙄 I think from the grandparents we may ask for more experience presents like membership to the local farm or similar!

@Littlehouseinthebigcity thank you, I think kids adapt so well, much better than us parents!! 😂

Ooh farm experience is a great idea. I love experience type presents, me and DH always try to buy those for each other instead of 'things' if there's nothing we particularly want.

Happy birthday Nate!! @Geegrl19

@Littlehouseinthebigcity we had the same issue and also didn't want to be even more inundated with stuff so we got him a double swing and slide for the garden, all the family chipped in. Both kids love it and will have years of fun.

Two kids has made me surprisingly minimalist. I'm so fed up of storing unwanted piles of plastic just because they were gifts. That obviously sounds really ungrateful, but I hate the waste.

@Stroan I know what you mean about feeling ungrateful! It's so hard not to sound rude but also say 'please don't buy any more plastic tat' 😂 Because of my accident we live in a bungalow and the girls share a bedroom (in theory, C is still in with us at the minute) which is also their playroom so space really is of a premium! My parents are pretty good at understanding that but my inlaws like buying 'fun' presents which aren't on the wishlist 🙈 It's so sweet of them but we just don't have the space! And we have quite a small garden too which has a slide, a little fold away swing and a sandpit so no need for further outdoor toys!!

Thanks for Nate's birthday wishes everyone. He's had a good day. He was at daycare but I picked him up a bit early. They made him cupcakes which he enjoyed. Can't say he was overwhelmed with his presents as he kept crawling off, lol. Didn't go overboard for once as he has so much plastic tat already. Can't believe he's one already!

My big thing i feel 'ungrateful' about is hand me down clothes. Three people recently have given us things for the dc and i don't really want them not because i think there is anything wrong with second hand but i would rather choose their things myself! I feel rude saying no so i normally just take them and then charity shop them.

Ah we live in hand me downs @THATbasicrebelBITCH ! Dd 1 had pretty much all second hand other than gifts and Dd2 now wears all the same stuff. I'm sad because now DD1 is in 3-4 I'm running out of hand me downs we were given. Had to buy a big bundle on Facebook marketplace

I am quite picky about clothing i think, and i enjoy picking out the dcs things. Some things we have been given i would never in a million years buy e.g. cropped tshirts for a 7 year old

Haha yeh that's fair, I had the luxury of being given a LOT of hand me downs and therefore could pick out the bits I liked. Some people definitely have ... different taste 😂 I'm with you on crop tops. Also I never understood stiff trousers/jeans for a child who's still in nappies - just makes life hard!

Agreed

Although i will hold my hands up and admit that 20 year old me dressed my first born in jeans littlest ds is usually found rocking some nice ribbed leggings how times change!

I will say though we do do hand me downs within our own house. Oldest two are both boys close in age, youngest two are both boys close in age! Feel much more justified buying my 3 year old a £30 coat as i know his brother can use it too! Dc5 has had very few new clothes tbh

I don't mind second hand clothes at all. We recently got given a big bag from a neighbour and I'll use them for Arthur's nursery days.
I also have night Arthur made to order clothes and stuff from shops so we have a good mix. But really, they aren't in clothes for long so second hand is perfectly fine. Especially if they're Gona get mucky.

We have also had tonnes of toys from my aunty and uncle who's boys are 7 and 3. They also kitted us out with the Moses basket, jumparoo, car seat at the start so they have been so generous to us. We will use all again for our second if we have and then pass on to the next person in our family. We have plenty space to store it all thankfully.

I do agree about gifts from folk though. For Arthur's birthday my PIL gave him a wooden walker FIL made and a rocking horse that was made by MIL father for my husband. Both are very sweet but big so just as well we so have space but if this continues every bday and Xmas we will run out rapidly. mil messaged suggesting they give Arthur a book display cabinet for Xmas. I've said thanks but no as we might move house in the near future so won't know about what kind of space we will have.
I feel like this is going to be a sign of things to come..

Ohh I'm a big ebayer and Facebook marketplacer. You can get some really good quality kids bundles often! Occasionally you get the odd bit in them that's not great so I'll usually pack that onto a charity shop.

I always hope people ask for a birthday list or something, it makes it so much easier to make sure you don't get things that won't get used!

I love facebay for toys but am with @THATbasicrebelBITCH with clothes. And for the same reason, I have no issue at all with hand me downs, god I lived in my sisters old clothes growing up. But I love picking things out for him myself.

We got lots of my nephews old stuff and it's just not my style. Lots of rigid jeans etc. We've kept any clothes we've bought for the next one though

Sigh, one of the reasons I love handmedowns is that my friends have (mostly) similar taste in baby clothes to me, unlike my MIL, who sends such a volume of new, awful (to my mind) clothes that I do sometimes drop the whole parcel straight to the charity shop. Sometimes even she doesn't like the stuff "oh, they didn't have anything nice, so I bought this". Just leave it in the shop!!!

We buy second hand as much as possible-especially plastic toys. I don’t think we’ve bought any new plastic-it’s all gifted used things or facebook/ebay.

We had lots of second hand clothes up until recently, but I found once you get to 9 months up a lot is very stained from weaning so we have bought a fair bit new since 9-12.
As we use cloth nappies there are makes I prefer for fit but we have a mix of supermarket cheap stuff and lovely organic cotton premium things too. Sainsburys fits Felicity well and washes brilliantly for the price-especially the vests, and we like Frugi, Kite, Blade and Rose and Joules. I’m currently bidding on 11 things on ebay for nursery wear!

I do steer clear of bundles though unless all the right make as when I bought mixed bundles before very little fitted so it was still a waste eg George at Asda doesn’t fit her right at all now. We had a lot from there when she was teeny but now she’s a fatty with a cloth bum it’s hopeless (we went from under 2nd centile to 75th with weaning as Felicity ate all the pies and anything else bot nailed down).

I do pick out at least 3-4 favourite outfits each size though. Just so I have some bits I absolutely love. And I don’t keep anything I’m given or buy in a bundle that I hate, I just give it on.
No jeans etc here, or anything I consider tacky. But I find the cloth nappy friendly clothes are generally good anyway for style.