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MN vogue vol 17

1000 replies

QueenCadbury · 02/08/2013 19:45

Following on from vol 16

C'mon lurkers, come and join us and talk fashion/style bringing lots of links please...

OP posts:
shopafrolic · 06/08/2013 22:10

There should have been a full stop between those two statements Novice. The red refers to your Mac idea!

Drywhiteplease · 06/08/2013 22:10

Nice jumpers shop will keep an eye out...colours?
Sorry Novice if I was being nosey........

BrandyAlexander · 06/08/2013 22:12

Hi Dry, no worries! Answer is complex. Dh and I are in the same industry but do different roles. His job is all M&A and his job pretty much feels like 24 hour 5 days a week ie if he's awake then he's on call. He has global responsibilities so liaises with one lot in Hong Kong and another lot in New York (mostly the latter). He's a key person of the deal teams so lots of responsibilities on his shoulders, and very stressful. Only one other colleague has a working wife so the rest leave it to the wife to maintain the homestead, hence they simply haven't understood when I have insisted he does his fair share and come home in the evenings. Or if one of the kids falls sick our nanny is under strict instructions to call us both, not just me.

I am my own boss so have been able to flex my time with the dcs. I aim to work from home 1/2 times per week, and therefore eat all meals with the kids on those days and take breaks, come out of study and play with them. I usually took them out every one morning a week (so started work in the afternoon) but have been less good the last few months. The other 3 days I am in office.

Our dcs are up at 6.30am, we play with them and have breakfast together as a family till 8am, although that's now 7.45am with preparing for school. Our nanny then washes and dresses them while we get ready (but they are usually running in and out of our rooms Smile) I used to leave home at 9am, but now it's 8.30am. At the other end of the day, on time means by 7pm, where dcs have had their bath. We do milk, stories, bed till 8pm.

If I am not busy eg last few weeks, then the evening is my own but I am answering emails right till I go to bed (eg have had 20 of them since 6pm and this is a lazy day).

So long answer but in short on time means by 7pm, so we can have quality time with a dc each in the evening as well as the morning. They love their stories and songs but dc2 can get disruptive if he doesn't get one on one, so that's why I have been getting cross with dh.

shopafrolic · 06/08/2013 22:12

No idea Dry tomato red, black or brown I think. I shouldn't wear black but.........

shopafrolic · 06/08/2013 22:13

Or cream, a buttercream colour

BrandyAlexander · 06/08/2013 22:15

There is a mac but afraid to link as it is sold out in all sizes except an 8! Not expensive and have liked it for a year.

shopafrolic · 06/08/2013 22:17

Novice do you and DH work for the same company or just industry?

shopafrolic · 06/08/2013 22:17

Buy then link Novice BTL

BrandyAlexander · 06/08/2013 22:19

Dry, i meant to say, my job is v senior too. In my role, 90% are men, all with a sahm. So basically dh and I both need a sahpGrin

Shop, Marsha, thanks!

shopafrolic · 06/08/2013 22:21

I'll do it Novice jumps up and down with hand in the air. If I can use some of the handbags? Grin

BrandyAlexander · 06/08/2013 22:22

Shop, same industry but not company. Hard to explain but he's one side of it and me the other. (You know what i do so hopefully that makes sense!). We're both in senior management of our respective companies hence the stress!

BrandyAlexander · 06/08/2013 22:26

Shop, You might have a fight on your hands! There is a strong possibility that my nanny has come to see one of my ex bags as part of her perks.Grin

shopafrolic · 06/08/2013 22:27

Wow! Would love to ask more the next time we meet. Well done for trying new techniques to get it to work. We struggle now getting DH home for bedtime which has been a shock to DS having had Daddy at home every day for 2.5 years. I do find it soul destroying how hard it is for women in senior management roles. Having worked for a company with a female MD until recently I know the immense pressure they come under from the men in the Boardroom.......

shopafrolic · 06/08/2013 22:32

Ah yes, the Nanny, you've mentioned I'll have to fight her before.....

AmberNectarine · 06/08/2013 22:35

My DH usually leaves the house by 6.30am and is home between 9-10pm. I leave at half 7 to do nursery run, back home by half 6, but put kids to bed and log on to work by half 7. I have just put my computer away for the night. DH is still downstairs working.

BrandyAlexander · 06/08/2013 22:38

Ugh not fun Amber. I am trying to be all grown up as I think I have been putting dh under a lot of pressure and I think dh just wants to do the hours your dh does minus the grief!

shopafrolic · 06/08/2013 22:40

Do you guys do special stuff at the weekends to catch up on family time? Our problem is I need some time to myself without DS to get my sanity back, and DH needs time to himself to recover from his working week. We're often in danger of not seeing each other at all.......

AmberNectarine · 06/08/2013 22:45

I'm not as senior as DH, unlike you novice, and we work in same dept, so people are more understanding about my needing to rush off for nursery run. Think it would be harder if we worked apart.

It is hard doing all the donkey work though, and I do get a bit pissed off sometimes, but mostly I am a saint reasonable about it. We usually keep our weekend work to Sunday evenings, so we can enjoy the weekend.

Drywhiteplease · 06/08/2013 22:47

It's all so interesting, how couples make it work. I know for a fact and constantly remind DH that our life would be a lot more complicated if I hadn't given up my "proper job" and stayed at home full time for a bit. DH has a job that involves a lot of schmoozing Ashes on Fri Hmm and silly , unpredictable hours.
It has always struck me as odd that whether they work or not, women are the ones who are expected to sort out the child care.....good on you for getting your nanny to call you both Incase of sickness. You sound like a v interesting lady with a fabulous bling and bag collection can I come and work with shop?Wink

BrandyAlexander · 06/08/2013 22:50

We have date nights on Friday and Saturday night each week. One we stay in and the other we go out. During the day on the weekends, its entirely about spending time with kids. So we each have no me time at all and are both exhausted. Also, its no fun being our friends as they have largely been abandoned unless we can do something with the dcs. They either ditch us or are very understanding!

That's why I always laugh at those ridiculous sahm/wohm bun fight threads. No one has it all and it's bloody knackering whatever you do! But at least we are well dress knackered people!!

shopafrolic · 06/08/2013 22:52

Here here Novice. I have come to the conclusion that we would benefit from family to help us. My parents are too old, my brother and his family live abroad, and the ILs live too far away. Hence date nights are few and far between. I'm in danger of having spent more time with the MNvers than one to one with my DH since DS was born!

Drywhiteplease · 06/08/2013 23:02

Gosh now I really want to meet you all...it's so interesting and bloody complicated.
Being working or STAhM have their challenges......I work part time now and DCs are older, most of the time I have been happy to completely hold the fort, but at times I've felt like a complete mug and over whelmed by it all........anyway didn't mean to turn this into a feminist thread sorry.Smile

BrandyAlexander · 06/08/2013 23:05

Amber, well I am trying it your rationale way for a while and see if we are happier because dh is less stressed and also the quid pro quo includes a mid afternoon time out for me on weekends, so whether I get my me time. we will see how long it lasts!

Shop, our family aren't much help so basically I decided this time last year to throw money at the problem so to speak and just pay our nanny more for babysitting. I realise not everyone has that luxury though.

Dry, yes...they call it "wife work" (there's a book) and I have been determined not to do it but think because of dh's nutty job, I am there sorting things out anyway. We're in a slightly odd position as, I am actually the higher earner. Logically if anyone would have given it all up it would be him. I don't think I would be a v good sahm but equally don't think it's his bag either! So we make the best of what we have!

Drywhiteplease · 06/08/2013 23:09

Novice I completely understand the friends thing. We live far away from our large families so get a lot of pressure to visit ,and to be visited, on weekends. We also love socialising and are rubbish at saying no. Our calendar is full up for months, which means we have a great social life but no time just the two of us and , like you say Shop, when DH eventually comes home, I'll be on MN, watching telly etc and he goes in his cave. As a result we just don't do much just the two of us.......which we don't mind, but I think it isn't really good either.

QueenCadbury · 06/08/2013 23:16

Hello all. Busy day with sil and dn's here (have also been avoiding MN after hideous bag thread). It is very interesting how people make things work. I chose to go part time (3 days)after having dc1 which meant cutting out something that I'd trained to do and would have liked to carry on but just couldn't do it all. I then took a demotion just to be nearer home as I commuting 1-1.5 h across London and it was too far if dd was sick and needed picking up from nursery. When we moved out of London I got a job doing 4 days/week which I felt tipped the balance too much and so when dc3 came along it basically wasn't worth the stress for me to continue. When we were both working I hated the arguments about who had the most important day and therefore couldn't take time off to look after ill dc (we are both in the nhs). Now I just have to be dying for dh to take time off to look after me/ dc Grin.

No fashion news here except to say that I wore a cardi today as it was a bit chilly. Oh, I have missed my cardigans!

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