June 07 - Do we smell? Yes bumper, I'm talking to YOU!!!!

[LackaDAISYcal]

oh yes DH says to go back to it, in about 10 years he wants another two.
yeah right...

my logic on it is that i want to spend 5 years training once the new baby starts school full time, and i dont want to then only have 1 or 2 years before stopping work to have another baby.
i think im happy with just the three to be honest, but will see, im awful for getting broody and letting my hormones run away with me.

(someone remind me of this conversation when new baby hits first birthday and i start talking about another)

3 is perfect. 4 is relentless. Too much time wasted on here listening to "once you have 3, another makes no difference". fuck off with that load of shite, I say.

Anyway, I am obviously not in a very good mood.

Parking ticket on my friends care after I used my residents discount card to pay for car parking. Arse.

Sports centre coaches let my boys and their friend go before I got there. Caught them on their way to the park to look for me (I was in the park after dropping them at activity at 10am FFS). Fucking Arse.

They aren't eating their dinner. Again. But at least they haven't been snatched/mowed down/lost.

I am very angry about it.

arse foxy! right you are to be peed off

Foxy that is shit.
They are horrid in London for parking.

Butterfly, I got a Panasonic LX3. I have fallen in love already. It's the point and shoot for a camera snob

for you foxy.

yeah butterfly that what i was thinking, im normally broody now, but holding my friends new baby all i could think was "what the hell am i doing?"

ive not had that reaction ever before, even when tom was 12 months and my friend had a baby, i was just excited that ellen was only 4 weeks away.
to be honest i am worried i wont cope, i dont know why but last few weeks i am thinking thank god ive got another 4 months yet.

that makes me sound really ungrateful. i am pleased, just scared.

You'll have 3 3 and under won't you Natty?

Its doable. You get moments of bliss, like when baby is asleep in the afternoon and the others are alseep/playing/occupied in someway. And you can just take a breath.

It is bloody hard work. But if you are organised its all fine. Make the tea in the morning, or the night before. Always make double and freeze. One day (a fortnight) we change half the beds, other beds the next week. Tidy up once a day. Have blasts where you run around like a whirlwind and get all your jobs done. You need about three a day.

My top tip was not to put the baby to bed at bedtime. I found it really helpful to have the baby on an 11 - 11ish sleep. That way I can be up with the older ones getting them sorted. Baby went to bed when I did. Once the others have gone to bed, you can sit with the baby and gaze. It eases a lot of the guilt IME. Also, DH can step up to the mark in the morning and do breakfast/dressing.

Sorry you had a shitty day Foxy. And you too Natty - sorry they wouldn't see you

And yes 3 really does sound like hard work, but I'm sure there will wonderful bits too. And think of all the love that there will be in your household

Jamlet quite unsettled tonight. She was howling a few minutes ago like you wouldn't believe. I had to go and sit with her for ages and ages to calm her down enough to put back to bed, and still had to leave her crying to settle herself

yes 3 3 and under.. scary prospect.
tom is so much easier atm, he is rude instead of unmanageable. which doesnt sound better, but it doesnt make me want to run out the house screaming after a day of it, tho i do sometimes get close to clouting him for the cheek.
ellen is an angel, even when she is being naughty she is adorable, and her tantrums etc are easily and predictably managed (not at all like thomas was at that age)

and not forgetting come september thomas will be at nursery, and i do have DH home this time. when ellen was born 7am-11pm i was on my own, and even when DH was home he was so tired he was useless.

am glad im not the only one to have wobbly weeks, im so not used to this, im a "take everything in my stride" kinda woman normally.

three under three

I am barely coping with three under seven/two under two.

bumble only naps in the day for 20mins at a time and DD isn't napping at all thse days so I can't get anythng done. the house looks like a bomb has struck by the time DH comes home. Of course I manage to get a bit of MNetting done whilst supervising them, but one has to get one's priorities right

butterfly, I somehow had you pegged as older than 27. You are obviously wise beyond your years

camera looks good fury. Mine is fab too; not as fancy as yours, but pefectly fine for what I want it to do, and it has managed well with kiddie action shots including DS1 on his rope sing, and bumble in the toddler swing. It has a "kids and pets" function

Daisy the LX3 isn't really fancy. It has a crappy zoom (2.5x) and 10MP which is hardly top of the range. It doesn't have anything particularly snazzy about it, all it has really is a really good quality lens that works well in low light - which was important to me.
Also, it's very customisable, meaning if I want to play with aperture/shutter/etc I can. A lot of them don't do that.

Given your Ixus is so good, I suspect mine is a lemon. My Ixus made me think that they really are crap but clearly it's just mine as they still get good reviews.

I can fiddle with mine a bit but haven't really worked it out yet....I'm happy with it all on automatic though. I was playing with the macro earlier and it was doing quite well. The image stabilisation is also good. I took a fair pic of Dd with bumble hanging onto the strap and waving it about! And it's powder blue and lovely

Ha
Interesting
Benn looking at Amazon, it seems that a handful of people have had the same issues with their Ixus as me - looks like a quality control issue, and that yes, I did indeed get a dud.
Too bad, it's a shame, because I thought it was a nice camera, easy to use, just ALL the shots were shit.

As a result though I have been properly put off Canon compacts!

If only I had realised earlier, I could have sent it back, but 18 months after purchase seems a bit of a stretch

God help me.

IL's are coming to stay. FOR SIX WEEKS.

OMG fury

you are soooo fucked heh heh heh Fury

lmao @ foxy

farking hell fury; what have you done to deserve that???

I am toying with the idea of going back to work . Have been checking out the childcare situation and it would be cheaper for us to employ a nanny than use a childminder or nursery. how middle class is that? My family already think I'm a bit up myself; that would be the cherry on the cake for them!!

lol daisy how posh! a nanny eh
my mum thinks i have "ideas above my station" cos i was talking about retraining.

reckon its jealousy daisy

blimey.

Poor you fury (or do you get on well? I couldn't cope with MIL for 6 hours!)

ooh, get you daisy!

although reading all your comments on childcare I'm not surprised that is the cheaper option. I know I couldn't afford to work NMW would not cover three different types of childcare for the boys (although I don't think there's much provision once they're at secondary school). We have one CM in the village, but she has the market cornered and no-one else seems to make a go of it. With DHs hours it would be a logisitcal nightmre too.(when he's properly working) and it takes away the option of a late shift in the Co-Op or whatever. Maybe I could do an Early Years degree (like everyone else) and go back to working in the out-of-school club when baggins is at school but I think you have to pay for your own kids to go while you work now, I didn't when I worked there before.

I suppose I should get signed up to that course, then I'm doing something, but I have got back inot trashy novels

Bloody hell....6 weeks. My MIL is allowed in this house for 2 nights MAX.....even then both DH and I have had enough and bitch about her non-stop.

Ria - do you finish that course you were on?

We contemplated a nanny (we know someone that runs an agency as well), but with 2, the nursery won hands down. DD is very happy there (even though she had a tantrum about going in this morning) and I like the social aspect of it as well. I suspect that when DD goes to school, then we will have to change to CM....but I will change my working pattern as well to fit in.

How about an au pair Daisy? Would you go back full time? The flexible working legislation has worked really well for me and my other friends in a similar situation. Also remember that vouchers save a lot of money in tax / NI - especially if you're in a higher tax bracket.

Right nice quiet day for me (I hope - fingers crossed). DD at nursery, which means I can get the house tidy, have a bath in peace, meet DH for lunch and catch up on some work this afternoon.