May 2009 - Don't forget to wear your good shoes...

[belgina]

Right, new thread...

Sorry about the title

Cocktail anyone?

younger - I fear my farm may soon wither too... Am in denial atm though!

flippin - great that you got A the alternative jab and a follow up for the egg allergy

I'm off to bed now. I'm exhausted and I'm not back at work yet Maybe it was the red wine

Hi there,

Glad you all had a good time at the meet up on Friday!

Dandy Sounds like you had an eventful weekend with your dd and her friends ;) Hope you manage to work out things with your childminder.

Good luck to those starting back to work. I'm going back in 2 weeks time. It'll be fine at the time, but at the moment I just have this sense of dread hanging over me. I'm also lamenting all the things I didn't do when on mat leave

Fi Hope you're all feeling better.

Jael Hope you get over your sick feeling too!

Febes hope you get a better night tonight. I'm also chuckling at your mil's parcel - but I understand your pain. My inlaws are South African too. I've discovered that Christmas & Bday presents don't really figure on their radar. Unless you are my MIL - we have had boxes and boxes of stuff sent (mainly when I'm expecting). Bottles, clothes and toys! I hardly had to buy any clothes for ds1 until recently because of this. She must have spent in the region of 500quid just on postage. Mind you the cost of postage from SA is ridiculous!! On the other hand we were staying with my FIL, Grandmother etc for DS1's 1st bday - what presents did he get from then - nothing!!

Ds2 is very proud of himself at the moment - he can stand by himself for a few seconds and has a grin from ear to ear when he does it

Sorry I've not name checked properly - I'm shattered and heading to bed soon. Ds2 is waking several times a night. I'm going to sleep next to his cot on some cushions for the next few nights, to see if it has any effect

Dandy the pro-bono work sounds like it could be interesting.

younger as I said, the one day a week worked just fine for us. Actually, it was less than one day a week as I used to leave him there for half a day. It couldn't have been too bad because DS1 still talks about his time there and asks to go back, and he hasn't been there for a year. So he must have settled!

work clothes I had a whole thread on it a few months ago. I have no idea what to wear to work, and I actually have nothing suitable to wear. I've decided to book myself some time with the personal shopper at John Lewis and House of Fraser and go from there. My MIL (bless her) has given me some money and as of this month I shall be paid again so I am looking forward to getting suited and booted again. But I am very sure that pop socks will be included. Oh, and new shoes!

evening all, i'm sorry i'm too tired to namecheck

All this talk of work is actually making me feel a little jealous, but I suppose i'll be leaving my baby in September, so my time will come...

I'm feeling a little too I cannot remember what any of you did for your jobs before our babies!

Hope poorly ones feel better soon, I still feel bleugh too

Night Night X

Hello everyone

Llare congrats on the running. I did the same for work clothes and it was fab. I now have a capsule work wardrobe a-la-Gok ! It is nice not to have to worry about what I look like. Only trouble is that I've since lost a stone and a half, so the clothes look much more 'drapey' on me now.

Dandy blimey, what an eventful weekend for you. I did laugh at DD playing in your study.

Pula so glad you are getting some results with the sleep training.

Febes LOL at bubble machine

Younger thinking of you going back to work soon

Fi hope you and yours are feeling better very soon

Belgina IKWYM about doing stuff to make the ap's life easier. It's a difficult balance between doing what you want to do, and changing things to make it easier for the ap. I'm pretty sure I haven't got the balance right for me and my nanny, because I run around at night sorting things out to make her life easier. It's the wrong way around I think !

Well, speaking of the Nanny, she is off sick today and probably tomorrow too, which is ultra crap timing for work. And I'm (probably unreasonably) annoyed that she had Friday and all weekend off feeling ill but only visited the Dr this morning. So DH was off today looking after the DC, and he was a total nightmare. I reckon I got a phone call every 15 minutes, asking where something was or when to do something . I came back home at 3pm to find he had shipped a friend over to help with the childcare, so I could have stayed for another hour at work which would have been really helpful. So now I am at home with DC tomorrow whilst he works. Fingers crossed she is back on Wednesday, otherwise I am going to have more problems with my boss.

muddled, well done to your ds2 for standing. hope he (and you) gets sleep tonight.

llare, dd1 never got used to nursery and she went 2 days (started at 3) for 3 years. dd2 loved it from the start, never looked back - she goes 1.5 days. we'll see how dd3/H takes to it.

oh, can't think of what to say or write. don't feel like pottytraining tales, or complaining about my dds' whingeing, or waking up in the middle of the night...

I'm going to try to go to sleep, hope all of you rest well tonight.

xposted Tumm, hope work is going well despite today's childcare fiasco. Hope nanny is back wed.

Sleep well younger Winge away, BTW. I feel that all I do is winge on here. And when speaking to friends, family and hubby, and DC. God I bore myself sometimes ! I just can't get positive ATM. Anyway, sending sleeping vibes to the younger household

Tummum Younger Sorry you are both a bit down ATM. Please whinge here we are here to listen. I have had a months of whinging but luckily feel actually quite good for the past few weeks. Not sure what has changed as I am still getting interupted sleep every few hours, whingy, clingy, sicky kids etc but I'm enjoying feeling happy.

Well we had a better night here but R still had 2 feeds and DD still woke and ended up in our bed but I got way more sleep than last night. DH is been working loads as its Fashion Week in London so loads of events on. He got home at 4am and is leaving in about 10mins to go back in. Last night he was setting up a show in Selfridges carpark. It takes hours to build everything and the show only lasts 15mins and then he is breaking it down today. He said it costs 100,000 for a 15min show!!!! What recession?????

Good morning all.

I am hurrying to post on here before my internet connection falls over again .

Waves all round, S is clapping for you all (because she can and thinks she's clever).

Re work, I am due to start back in April, I am still waiting to have a meeting to discuss whether they will allow me to go back pt. I'm getting more than a little frustrated, as I need to sort out childcare and whatnot and they are drifting about, 'ooh yes, I'll run that by X and get back to you'. Grrrrrr. And as for work clothes . Not sure leggings, jumper dresses and Uggs are on the menu. I do have some horrendous work shirts avec company logo that are polyester and horrid. I am not wearing them!!

Hang on, someone is smelly! I am off to change a nappy, back later.

Happy day all!

Morning,

singing have just posted on your fb page, happy birthday me dear x

younger and tum sorry you are feeling down. Please do offload on us if you need/want to.

febes glad you are feeling happy your DH's job sounds exciting, am I right in thinking he is the lucky man who has met Dermot O'leary too?

work clothes I have got about as far as pop socks tbh! I am too scared to see if my old work stuff fits, I can get away with a dress and tights/leggings though as long as I have a jacket to shove on in case any scary parents turn up demanding a meeting! I'd love a personal shopping session but just can't afford it atm.

Jael what are you going to be doing in September? Am I right in thinking you are going to college?

muddled WOW at the standing!

Oops, A awake and I've done nothing remotely useful with her 40min nap time

M is having a morning snooze and I am sitting here at the laptop in my bath towel watching (and listening to) the next door's scaffolding going up. Just as we want to sell . DH gave me a list of pre-requisites to tell them, as they are using our side alleyway. One was no poles on the drive. They said there might be one in the corner.

AAAAAAAHHHHHH it's HUGE and in the middle on the side, not the corner. DH is going to go berserk.

Popsockspopsockspopsocks. They do sound very groovy. What am I going to weeeeeaaaar tomorrow?! Like singing I don't think leggings, jumper dress and (fake) uggs will go down too well. Arse. Should have gone shopping.

M's morning poo was ridiculously huge. I mean, where does it all come from? Her bowels are tiny. I do poos smaller than that

singin - HAPPY BIRTHDAY!!! Are you doing anything exciting to celebrate?

saus - know what you mean about the poos. I think O's are worse atm because of teething. Nursery told me yesterday that he'd had 2 exploding ones. Is it bad that a small part of me was that they had to deal with it?!

muddled - v impressed by the standing unaided. O stands holding on with one hand and then lets go and just drops to the floor!

Febes - great that things are feeling better. I always find Jan and early Feb tough and I guess this year we've had poorly LOs too.

Tummum - hope your day at home is going ok and nanny is back tomorrow

younger - having a good old moan and offload is an essential part of this thread so feel free. Hope you had a good night?

I've had a morning to myself with O at nursery and I don't know where the time's gone! I did manage to have a lovely long hot shower and actually get some moisturiser out

Hi everyone,

I'm not even going to attempt to name check everyone. MN is doing it's freezing trick again, so I don't think I can get a NC post in before it freezes

muddled @ the unaided standing. How clever is he!

singing Do I hear there's a b'day to celebrate? Have a good day today. Get yourself pampered

ses @ your DH's stories about the fashion show.

tummum as my ap is worried about not enough work. Still about that. I might not do anything to make her life easier. That should make a few extra jobs for her . Like most new aps we've had, she's now shattered and feeling a bit unwell. Most girls seem to have that in their 1st week with us.

I hope headless is getting along all right at work today.

singing Also v. annoying about your work taking so long to get back. Hope you know more soon.

flippin Great news about your AL pay. I'm going to get mine in 1 lump sum too. In march. So I think I'm in line for double pay in march

Well, C's still not well. The vommitting and diarhoea seems to have gone, but she's now got a temp and looks generally unwell. She's still off her solids, but not off her milk, so that's OK. She slept really restlessly last night, so didn't get much sleep. Other than that we're OK here now.

My uniform has been sorted and I can collect it tomorrow, yay. It's a different colour from my old work, grey , which is very unusual for a mw uniform IMO. Around where I lived mws always wore blue, no matter what pay scale, so now I wont be able to wear my old dresses. Don't really know what to do with them now.

Thank you for the happy birthday wishes! I am in the midst of making a very retro trifle instead of a birthday cake, with swiss roll, jelly and fruit cocktail. The swiss roll is a proper old-fashioned one with gritty sugar on top. It shall be decorated with flaked almonds and pink sparkles. Better than a cake any day!

DH brought me coffee and croissants in bed.

Good.

Then he gave me a Sainsburys reusable shopping bag with the words 'forgot wrapping paper. Soz'.

Bad.

Inside was a bottle of malibu , a book I bought for myself at Christmas after he forgot to buy it for me and a Gordon Ramsey book (hate Gordon Ramsey but the recipes look ok). He'd bought them at Tesco on his way home last night. I feel so special

AIBU to be slightly miffed by this? The Malibu is excellent, the GR book I wll happily read etc but he could at least have wrapped the presents. I always buy him little gifts from the girls as well, he didn't bother and they were both really upset. However, they had made cards for me which were utterly fabulous.

Whinge over.

Oh and 37 if anyone's interested

And baby pooh? Tons of the stuff here, it's like mucking out a horse sometimes. Amazing!

I need some outside advice please

DD goes to nursery in the afternoons, and in her group there are about 12 children. She's been going there since September. And has made some really good friends, one in particular, who we have regular playdates with.
Well as you know I've been going at DD's pace and carrying on her learning at home. I've had a meeting today with DD's teacher, who has now seen how advanced DD is. (the meeting was supposed to be about me wanting to borrow books to start DD reading) It has taken a few months but the school have now realised that DD is above where she should be. Mrs X told me that she has started a group with the Morning nursery children, who will go for 15 minutes everyday to Mrs Y, the reception teacher, to do extra work on Phonics/reading etc. And is very keen for DD to start the group. However, this means moving DD into Morning nursery, where she knows 2 children briefly out of 25! The class size is double her current class size also. I really don't know what to do. I don't feel this decision can be purely left up to DD...Do I keep her where she is? Mrs X said she will be starting letter sounds soon with DD's class, whereas DD is alot further ahead than this, and is putting letters together, knows all her high frequency words, and is reading....Or Move her into the Morning session, where she knows "no-one", but can do extra work for 15 mins a day with 8 other children that are of similar ability to DD Help me please

I don't know what to do!

I've just read my post back and God I sound like an ungrateful old cow (apologies). Poor DH, I did smile sweetly and thank him though.

I'm sitting here looking through the GR book and DRROOOOOOLING.

jael I'm pondering your situation. I think it depends on your DD. Is she really sociable and outgoing? If so, I would consider moving her and seeing if it helps her (very rapid) progress. If she's a bit shy I would be tempted to leave her. That's just me though. You must be so proud of her though . DD1 read early, DD2 was much slower but is now racing through all her books. DD1 was a shy, introverted little bee (and still is really) and I would have kept her in afternoons if it were her in your DD's place. DD2 however, I would have moved as (as momi/younger will attest), she's a rather loud and confident bee. I'm betting your DD is a confident young miss though

I'm no help but I wanted to say something

Jael I would move her. At her age I would imagine that she would make new friends easily and you could still continue to try to have playdates with her 'best' friends from the afternoon session. The worry is if you leave her in a class where she is way ahead of the other students then she might get a bit bored and switched off.

Alternatively, the smaller class size does sound nice! Sorry that doesn't help you make a decision does it?! Perhaps if you leave her in the afternoon then you could ask if they have any classroom assistants who could maybe do some extra/differentiated work with her when the teacher is doing things your DD has already done with the class.

singin I would be a bit more at the lack of pressies from the DDs rather than the lack of wrapping paper (I have been known to wrap DH's pressies in a carrier bag )

belg hope C feels better soon.

ses lol at the moisturiser, its those little things that seem like a luxury when you get me time doesn't it

I agree with SingingHinny. If she is sociable and outgoing then she'll thrive on the new challenge and the bigger class. But if she is shy and quiet then the smaller afternoon class will probably suit her better.

Do you have the Jolly Phonics CD with the songs? DS loves it and sings along quite happily. He is beginning to "learn" to read and likes to play with the handwriting books and the jolly phonics CD. I'm reluctant to do too much with him because he loves books and reading and I don't want to turn him off something that he finds so pleasurable. He loves pretending to read to DS2 so I encourage that.

Thanks for your feedback, I've had a talk with her and she seemed very excited about going in with the "Morning Children" I'm still not convinced...DD isn't the shy type at all. But she's got her head on her shoulders if you know what I mean, also known as "Bossy" at times...but in the best possible way one particular time that stands out was a time that she was being observed funny enough, and she was playing mommys and daddys with a doll, when another LO came along, snatched the baby off DD and put it in the oven DD told the LO off for not playing properly

I worry that starting a nursery group where friendship groups have already been formed may stop her from making friends But on the other hand children everywhere are starting nursery now into nurseries where children may have been for months+ soooo am I worrying about nothing?

Off to prepare dinner Thanks for your responses again

Evening all,

v quick post from me

headless hope your first day back went ok.

dandy go with your gut instinct - I think you sound like you'd be happier with the second. If the first is messing you about now, esp re the payment, etc. it doesn't bode well.

Hope everyone else is ok, I have to go and sort stuff out for tomorrow so will try to pop back sometime later in the week.