AVIDLY addressing the key questions that WISE women ask....like 'full refund or credit note only?' and 'what this would item actually be on a cost-per-wear basis?'

[notyummy]

Hello all!

Thanks Hopefully I will need to find something similar if that is the case.

They are for wearing with New Look Marant copies boots.

While I`m here congratulations on your new DD lovely name and fingers crossed for swift safe labours to MIM and Icey.

I`ll be Avidly taking Wise Notes for my Spring buys.. wanders off to lurk again

Congratulations to Blue that should read Mumsnet ate my last message.

Oooh Annie, all DD's stuff from Massimo Dutti arrived and I can't wait for her to come home and try them on. Can you check the Boden dress against one that she has that you know fits?

The wooden wedges that I ordered for me have arrived too and I love them!

Slaymill - 'I`ll be Avidly taking Wise Notes for my Spring buys...'. I love this . Do pop in from time to time if you don't have the 'stamina' to be a regular . I used to take my jeans in along the inside seam to make them skinner - it depends where they need adjusting.

Amber, you sound like you need a break - some time without the DCs. Do tell DH how shattered and fed up you are and discuss the possibility of you having the weekend off to go and visit a friend.

Please can you link again to your wooden wedges again Pickled?

Amber I really agree with Pickled. Could DH even have an early finish one Friday to give you an afternoon into evening out into potential lie-in if you are not keen on being away for a weekend? If you aren't spelling it out to him but are still looking so great and doing everything around the house, he will choose to believe all is fine, surely? You must be shattered.

Well done to DD on the dummy front Icey. We promised we'd never use one, and think caved with DS on night 5. Got rid of it at about 6 months fairly painlessly, DD is a thumb sucker but would have happily given her a dummy. Whatever makes things easier, I say!

Well done your DH annie. Can I come and live with you?! All these big evening gatherings sound lovely! Great birthday bits for DD, am sure she'll love it all.

How did you go MiM? Have everything crossed for you.

Blue I am totally stealing your outfit.

Am confused - have you bought a Burberry Trench Bloss?!

I ordered some Aggies in tan yesterday at £36. Looking forward to them arriving.

I have gone into supermum mode, implementing all sorts of charts, different role play etc etc and it is paying off already. DH and I had a really long talk last night and know that neither of us have been on our A-game; stressy and so on. DS is such a lovely little boy and I'm a bit annoyed with myself for not giving him the attention he needs. Am trying harder!

Lovely wooden wedges Red. I was just thinking yesterday how very wisely you had reacted to the 'complaint' from the Nursery. You have to make choices as a parent as to which of your DCs needs are greatest at any given time and it was right that N took up a lot of your time and attention. As DS gets older he will come to understand this idea and you won't have to beat youself up quite so much .

Welcome Slay!

Oooh - World Book Day. Sorry - can't help with DS, Marsha....but am so proud of DD as she has her own idea and has found all her own props! She is going as Dorothy from The Wizard of Oz - wearing Gingham blue school summer dress, red crocs (for ruby slippers...), little basket with The Wizard of Oz book in, a map of the Yellow Brick Road that she has drawn, Gilda the good witches wand, and the evil witches hat. Job done.

Have just been tearing around Nottingham to lots of different meetings in Nougat blue/grey dress, grey opaques and boots and Deigual coat. Will be so glad when its the end of the week! We are really busy socially at the moment which is great, but tiring. Not a single weekend free until mid May.

Desigual

Ooh nice wedges Pickled.

Red meant say great work on your writing!

NY thanks . Clever dd, the girls look great at ds's school too. I am so last minute. He went as Wally from Where's Wally last year. Had to make a scarf out of paper, fluoro orange and white. Was quite inspired really . Need something else!

Ooh they are lovely Pickled, I would like something very similar in a bright colour. Thank you - it's following DH's prompts really; I react emotionally neurotically to these things and then he is very level-headed and reasons stuff out with me and we come up with strategies together. It's been like this since he was training me to teach!

Nice outfit NY and well done your DD on her creativity.

Apuski we won't be needing the decorator till late April when the bathroom has been done, so yes please to any reccs you can discover! Have you made any MU travel plans as of yet? Am booked an a 9.30ish train if you fancy travelling together.

Thank you Annie that`s kind of you to say.

I do agree with a cleaner, ours is one of our tennants ( lucky us). I don`t know what she does different to me but, the house is always more "Sparkly" after she visits.

Great Advice Pickled think I`ll take a risk on the Notify jeans. Is the return procedure at Outnet same as NAP ?. i do admire the W&A stamina not sure I measure up.

Thank you NY your DD will look wonderful love the sound of all the props.

The White Company has some nice new arrivals here. Like the white raglan linen sweater and the rouched shoulder top in pewter. Some nice throw it on or dare I say school run type dresses too.

Marsha Would a Where's Wally costume be sufficient or is it more serious than that? Nephew went as Harry from Harry and the bucketful of dinosaurs (normal clothes, bucket with plastic dinos in it!). DDs outfit sounds really good NY, clever girl.
Red glad the time spent with DS is paying off. Sure his behaviour was just a blip but good to be aware of it etc. DSs are obsessed with Super Mario - they have just made up some sort of game at the playground featuring Mario and Luigi and all sorts of imaginary mushrooms. I need to do some research as hadnt a clue what they were on about and was responding with vague hmmms and yeses. Bloody wii.

Ha ha at x Wally post Marsha!

Um, sort of red

Sorry to ask but what are the AVID and WISE threads? I have seen a few whilst lurking but haven't been able to pluck up the courage to ask

Hello slay thanks for the congrats. Do stay, it's lovely being a part of this thread.

Much sympathy to you amber and much admiration for your stamina and stoicism too. I am only 12 days in and already finding the nighttimes tough. DD is feeding every 2hrs which is a pretty relentless cycle, especially if I struggle to settle her between them. It's the wretched winding that gets me; hearing a burp is the best feeling ever! I really hope things improve for you soon amber and echo the others' encouragement that you should take some time to yourself asap.

red I'm delighted you want to steal the outfit as I have stolen from you your whistles purchases: the stripy sweat and the blue seam back tee. Am wearing my aggies today with my new navy nobody skinnies (really excellent quality and fit and a much lower price than j brands - I really recommend the brand) and my shorouk necklace over a stripy sweater. Feel knackered but look better than feel - I do agree that outfits really help you to feel that bit more in control!

I love hearing about DC making coffee and world book day etc; it gives me a flavour of life to come. All the children belonging to you all sound so lovely - and stylish of course!

bloss I have a Burberry trench and adore it. Great purchase.

How was the blouse marsha? I really want a soft sheer white blouse for SS but am looking for long sleeves. I like that rolled up sleeve look and figure I could wear it long or short sleeved if it is soft enough. Can really picture exactly what I want but haven't actually seen it yet, v annoying! Any suggestions welcome.

Both DC are sleeping! I should be doing all the things I'm currently finding impossible to do but instead am on here. The peace is delicious!

Any good 25%off whistles purchases to report?

icey do try not to worry about induction. I felt exactly the same as had just avoided with DS and had heard bad things about them. But my experience was very positive and just felt like a little kick start to a natural and fairly easy labour. Will be thinking of you. Oh and well done re the dummies!

Really like those wedges pickled. Want something similar but (can't believe I'm saying this, my 20something self would be horrified) lower. Amazing what having children and marrying a short man can do.

Amber - much sympathy. I've found with all of mine that the 7/8 month mark is very hard as the sleep deprivation is just a killer by then.

DD was my worst sleeper and she co-slept until about then. But then I put her in a cot in her own room and actually things got better. I wasn't disturbing her when I went to bed and when she made a noise in the night I didn't automatically reach for her - I'd leave her a couple of minutes and often she's settle herself. Still took a while though for her to sleep properly through the night.

I couldn't have left her for a weekend or a day even at that stage as she fed too much but I did have a cleaner and upped her hours when the exhaustion got too much.

And if you're anything like me this grey weather isn't helping - I always feel a lot more energetic when its sunny.

Does she go to bed at a reasonable hour? I know it took DD until about that age to reliably go down at 7pm and for me - knowing I'd got a child-free evening made a big difference. Also a couple of really early nights each week helped.

I know in an ideal world your DH would help more but if he's working very long hours (as mine was) well it just wasn't feasible so I'd throw some money at the problem and get yourself a cleaner/someone to do ironing.

Blue - I like the shourouk necklace but agree overpriced. Oh and the massimo dutti lace dress is going back as rather shapless and lordy what a faff returns are with them - won't order from them again for that reason.

Shame about the MD dress Mrs CB. Did you see that Mango has a similar one in cream or a v pale pink?

I missed the post about you buying the Burberry Bloss. Bravo. Classic buy as they say so worth the cost long term. Can really see you in it.

Lots of little things (NONE related to DH or this thread I must add) have niggled away at me over the past couple of weeks and really affected my mood over the last couple of days. Feel a combination of being taken for granted and/or advantage of and let down. Sounds dramatic seeing it written down like that and probably nothing. Thank heavens for the MU, am so looking forward to having some time off and getting my mojo back - even if I feel slightly sick when I start thinking about what Im going to wear.

Oh god I've been throwing myself a right little pity party haven't I? Sorry! You've all been so lovely! I think after the porridge incidents, various expletives and threats of divorce DH has got the message that he needs to pull his finger out a bit. He did make the rather valid point that I should just ask him to do more as and when rather than bottling it up and having a massive outburst, which I have taken on board. It is probably too much to expect for him to take the initiative.

I am actually going out for dinner on Thurs eve and to get my colours done on Sat which is the most 'me' time I've had in one week since I had DCs! Can't promise I won't fall asleep in my tapas or get legless on one glass of Sangria though.

Just back from a wander round shops with DD. went into Whistles armed with my Grazia but came out empty handed. Pretty uninspired, will probably get navy polka dot sweatshirt though. Only ended up buying a highchair for DD and a little white co duvet cover for DS. Must have lost my shopping mojo!

blue it's bloody knackering, hope you're not overdoing it and are enjoying lots of snuggles.

mrsCB I think an ironing person is an excellent idea as while I get a degree of satisfaction from making my house look lovely I get precisely none from ironing DH's 352 shirts.

Amber dh is in charge of his own shirts. But he did drop them off to be washed and pressed for a bit. Or something, whatever it was they came back looking nice and clean on hangers etc

I do feel I need a cleaner for a break from domesticity. I love the 'reveal' when I walk back in after they've been. I probably need one more as a sahm (now wohm too), but not sure. Haven't tested that.

Ollie haha Wally is a good one . Great minds.

I feel too much like park grub to try on shirt yet, but will tonight when all sticky children are bathed and in bed.