Earthgirl gets back on track!

troglodyte

It's a hard decision, but Earthlet will probably be fine. My daughter was in nursery from when she was 6 months, the first day I took her for a couple of hours, she didn't even notice when I left the room! We started with 10 am to 3 pm for the first month or two then until 6-30 after that, she loved it and has developed into such an outgoing and confident girl (now almost 5) - so different to the shy little thing I was after spending all my time at home with Mum! I think it's a good idea to spend more time with other people, both adults and other children.

The other concern though is will you be too tired and frazzled to really cope with work? If you are decided that you will go, maybe it will be a good idea to send Earthlet to the minder for a bit before you start, just so you can get a bit of rest and be ready to cope with work!

earthgirl

troglodyte wrote: »

The other concern though is will you be too tired and frazzled to really cope with work? If you are decided that you will go, maybe it will be a good idea to send Earthlet to the minder for a bit before you start, just so you can get a bit of rest and be ready to cope with work!

Well famous last words, but work should be easy at that point in time, as most of the exam classes will still be taught by the other teacher who replaced me, who is there until September. Thats part of the reason for going back- to ease myself in gently!

But I guess you mean that organisation of it all, getting Earthlet and me fed changed and packed up for 7.50am! (And thats forgetting about getting there for breakfast club!)

I will leave enough nappies etc there for a week, and pack him a few spare outfits and bibs every night, and must remember to put him milk and baby food in the bag every morning. I am sure she won't mind if I pop him along in his PJs either...

I am now just considering if I can continue breast feeding by expressing at work, but I think that this will probably be too difficult, and I'll have to try to switch him to follow on milk

cha97michelle

legally work should provide you somewhere private and access to a fridge for breastfeeding up to one year. Practically though, i don't think i would have wanted to. You can't really guarantee privacy in a school environment as too many people have master keys etc. You have done well to feed him to now, maybe you could still do morning and evening?

I found when mine went onto solids, we had bottles in the am at 7, and then just before bed. up until just before starting nursery mine then had a bottle about 2:30pm which we dropped when starting nursery at 10 months as i just didn't fancy an extra thing to pack in the bag/remember to pick up and trust them not to lose or not keep sterile. It would be easier with a childminder though to leave milk i am sure.

earthgirl

cha97michelle wrote: »

I found when mine went onto solids, we had bottles in the am at 7, and then just before bed.

Were these bottle formula? did you switch to formula from breast??

earthgirl

Had some bad news and some good news lately:

All the bad:

OH didn't like the matrass in the spare room (we were going to swap them over) so we had to buy a new one -£250
OH still wanted a tv in the bedroom (i don't) this was quite expensive -£250
Upholsterer couldn't get fabric we chose (discontinued) so we have had to pay more -£150
The endowment is not on track we will probably have to pay out to top it up to the mortgage amount -£6,000
Just updated my sig to show the endowment only paying out £42,500 and not £48,500 - gutted!

The good:
When I booked earthlet in with the childminder her prices were a lot lower than I had first imagined (by £20/week!)
I have had my mortgage statement through and it has really cheered me up to see how much we have paid off - Including the normal payments £40,000 since last Jan!

So feeling really unhappy about the money out situation. Still we are nearly there, and with me going back to work in just over 3 months, things will start to go in the right direction again.

cha97michelle

Hun - the money in/out must get better when you are back at work.

Mattresses are always worth it in my opinion as you can't buy the feeling you get after a good night sleep. The endowment can't be helped as the world is so screwed up, The rest of it, pfff only money in the grand scheme of things.

Just to answer your bottle question, it was formula by that stage. I only fed DS1 for 3 months and DS2 for 5, but there is no reason why that couldn't work for a morning/evening breastfeed. Some people only do the evening one when they are winding down to stopping. I think the milk amount required drops to about 18fl oz anyway by this stage due to them eating some dairy too.

museumworker

earthgirl wrote: »

WI am now just considering if I can continue breast feeding by expressing at work, but I think that this will probably be too difficult, and I'll have to try to switch him to follow on milk

If you want to continue breastfeeding I would definitely say give the expressing a go, but start now. I mentioned before about going back to work when DD was 4 months - she was however fully breastfed until 9 months . I expressed lots from pretty early on and froze it, as I knew I was going back to work soon. Stored lots in my childminder's freezer (she was an :A), and then would express at lunchtime at work in the first aid room. It was important to me, and I am glad I did it. It made me feel closer to her even when I wasn't there, iyswim. The only reason I stopped was that I had a tonsillectomy and had to express for 2 weeks and chuck it out, due to the anaesthetic. I couldn't quite get a full feed out with the pump, and my milk did decline. I did however keep up the night feed for quite some time after, I think they call it combination feeding. You could always try this if the expressing is too much.

Sorry to hear about the endowment - is this a case of misselling? Are you entitled to any compensation?

earthgirl

museumworker wrote: »

Sorry to hear about the endowment - is this a case of misselling? Are you entitled to any compensation?

Nope, oh looked into it, but I could ask about it again, as he can just be lazy with these things (he didn't want to reclaim for £500 on ppi, just couldn't be bothered imho:().

earthgirl

Well I managed 3 private tuiton clients today phew! Even though i left space for it in my schedule, earthlet did not go down for a nap at all today, and so I am letting him have a little sleep before tea I couldn't feed him he was so crabby!

His weaning is going well, and I am enjoying making him lots of nice baby food - he seems to like it all so far!!

OH and I are not getting on so well at the moment - we don't agree on anything and I just seem to annoy him, and he makes this plain. We need to talk about it really cause its not nice for anyone.

Anyway, I managed to get the fiftith birthdays sorted, and I got some lovely wallpaper samples to use as wrapping paper, and some for bits for card making, so I plan to make the cards and perhaps even the Christening invites!

I am going to list loads of stuff on ebay tomorrow, and maybe some stuff on freecycle if I get chance!

Before i go back to work I want to:

- get earthlet mostly weaned and feeding out of a bottle
- get a stash of baby food, parent food and milk in the freezer.
- clear the house of ebay items / junk

For the last point, I also have some more gold to sell and an antique horn (don't ask) to sell - will try to do this this week.

gratefulforhelp_2

Hugs for your DH being on the blink. Hope you both get it sorted out.