MSE Parents Club Part 5

scruffy96uk

Feelie well done on going out, I don't REALLY know you but I feel so proud of ya

Caz :bdaycake:Happy birthday Abi :bdaycake:

Sami_Bee wrote: »

Did I read right? they want to charge you £1.50 'postage' for collect in person

I've just asked them that question, see what they reply lol I hadn't actually noticed that!!!

SM and weezl hope your ok

SugarSpun

Hugs all round, to anyone who needs them. I'm too tired to make any sense, so hugs will be about the limit of my contribution.

The monster slept quite well today - down at 7:30 from the morning feed and slept till 11 - then from 12:30-4. And Mama and Daddy got to sleep then too! (it makes me more tired to get the sleep though because it just reminds my body how much it's missed out on.) Then I fed her, handed her over to Daddy and went off to pick up a set of wine glasses and decanter I'd reserved from someone's moving sale - it turned out that the set is Riedel and is $495 new. I paid her €30 and am thoroughly excited.

elle_gee

Well, I'm feeling redundant My parents are here, and they and OH are now moving the wardrobes around in the bedroom to be able to take the carpet up (it's going in Rhys' room). I'm not allowed to help cos I'm too weak and feeble Even Rhys doesn't need me as he's fast asleep in his crib - at 8pm :eek: Full dressed, mind..

Sami_Bee

eventful last 20mins here! Mum turned up with the boys ironing, Ed threw up on my boob :rotfl: and then Chris invited himself to Mum's so off he went, so I should get a decent bit of sleep in the morning

carlamagee

SM and weezel, i hope u's feel better and things arent *TOO* awful!!

have only briefly caught up....who else's LO is havng a birthday? cant rmeember ur name - hope they enjoyng themselves though!!

i got a nice lil email from bizziebaby this afternoon -- im testing a car organiser! havent got round to looking it up online yet, but am pleased - was going to buy one when i get paid next, so yay!!!
thats all i really have to contribute at the minute -- in a bit of a weird mood, so best me not gettin too involved!!
xx

SusanC_2

ladybirdintheuk wrote: »

I just spoke to my Granny on her new mobile (she is in hospital, but she is allowed a mobile, so my parents got her one at the weekend so we can call her)... I could hear the nurses teasing her about it in the background. They were about to get her dressed, so they were saying "oh, get her gabbing away on the mobile phone at the age of 89!". :rotfl:

We were backwards: My Grandad (now 91) had a mobile phone first. Then he bought one for my mum and then she bought one for me.

feelinggood wrote: »

I used to have a nose on this thread while pregnant, and I thought you were all very scary. I wonder if other pregnant ladies feel like that? <waves to all the lurking pregnant ladies>

Why are we scary? (It never occurred to me to look at the Parents thread before Alice was born.)

feelinggood wrote: »

It is a bit sad how much I think about you ladies during my time in real life!

I hope not 'cause I think about everyone too. I'm always starting things I say to OH with "There's this person on MSE..."

mookiandco wrote: »

I put Leila in her over the door bouncer today. It said I could use it when she can hold her head steady and she can definately do that. She loved it but tended to tip toe round and round rather than do a lot of bouncing.

Alice never bounced in hers - she just spun round and round. She did like it though.

scruffy96uk wrote: »

Oh that reminds me I have pooh, piglet and eeyhore ones will have to go find them!!! and make el some small fruit ice shape

Where did you get them from? Alice is WTP mad.

tiamai_d wrote: »

I lie down, have tried arm under a pillow and arm cradling Amber, lie her on her side, I try to tilt back so my nipple is positioned, then try to get he at the right height, fight with her arms and hands... then can't work out how to get her to latch on When she does her head is at the wrong angle and she can't breathe but I can't pull her body any closer to me. My nipples point down to my feet,so think it's a case of my fat belly getting in the way, my nipples too far down and her being too small to manage to latch on without help (she just gets nipple if she does it herself).

I need to spend time practising during the day when she is not starving and I'm not sleepy. Or step by step pictures.

I couldn't get Alice to feed lying down in the early days but then tried again later (can't remember exactly when but possibly 4ish months?) and she got on fine. One thing I did do with feeding sitting up though while she was small was pile up three pillows on my knee so that my arms were just guiding her rather than holding her weight.

Buttonmoons wrote: »

I despair! We couldn't even get a mortgage because OH only earns about 24k before bonuses. Maybe get a bedsit

We got a mortgage on considerably less than that and it is self-employed too which means they take an average over the last three years instead of just your current earnings.

weezl74 wrote: »

How much 'fun money' do you guys budget for each month for you and DH? For entertainment, hobby spends, drinks and food out, books and magazines... that kinda thing. I guess it's like the grown up equivalent of pocket money- all non-essential fun spends.:D

We each have a "personal" account and transfer £40/month (although it has been temporarily reduced but should be going back up in October) to each from the joint account. Mine mainly goes on stamps, books and other collectibles and OH's on crisps, biscuits, cakes, wine and beer. Meals out are usually done with Tesco vouchers or one of us "treats" us with their personal money although if we have a meal out for something like our wedding anniversary that usually comes out of the joint account. Books would be paid for depending on what they are: If I wanted a book about coins, I'd pay for it from personal money but OH wants a book about how to do various home DIY things so that will come from the joint account as it is for the house and therefore for "us" rather than just for him. Any books relating to children (e.g. books about education, childbirth etc.) would be paid for out of "child" money.

Buttonmoons wrote: »

How did everyone go about getting their children to read? I think Keira should be learning the basics by now, and she knows letters are "abc's" but I'm not sure how I go about her reading them? Teaching her them will be okay, she just has to learn to recognize the shape/look of them, but not sure how you get a child to piece it all together, or is 3 a bit young for that?

As long as you keep it fun and let her set her own pace then it's not too young to be doing that kind of stuff with her. I was actually only a little bit older than Keira when my mum taught me to read. She had been a primary school teacher and it was the summer holidays so all the usual activities weren't on so she just started teaching me the letters as something to do and was amazed at how quickly I caught on. She taught one of my brothers too at similar age but he wasn't as keen so wasn't as far on by school age and the other brother she tried to teach wasn't interested at all so she didn't push it and he didn't learn until he went to school. I'm convinced that learning to read early was a great advantage to me but if a child isn't so keen, it is not worth pushing it and putting them off reading IYSWIM. Every child is different. Aside from actually teaching her reading, there are other things you can do such as make sure she sees you reading things (e.g. books, magazines, newspapers, recipes, shopping lists, menus), reading aloud to her (which can include more advanced books - I'm reading the Chronicles of Narnia to Alice and I'm sure she probably doesn't understand most of it but she still enjoys it and requests it) and involving her when you are reading and/or writing things (e.g. making a shopping list - you can discuss what you need and then she can see you writing the things down, writing birthday cards for relatives, reading labels on food packets etc. etc.). The idea is to make the child aware of reading/writing and its importance/usefulness and also for them to perceive it as something positive and enjoyable.

Hope that helps.

redmel1621 wrote: »

Somebody on here is a primary school teacher, although I can't remember who:o But if they are still about on here i'm sure they will give you some great advice.

Chocaholic is a primary school teacher. I did a PGCE but never got a job - just did the odd bit of supply then got pregnant (and therefore too ill to teach).

Buttonmoons wrote: »

I do have red lentils, not sure how many, I put them in a nice glass jar....I originally bought them to bulk out spag bol, I seen it on the OS board, but bleh, it didn't taste good and OH even noticed that the texture wasn't quite right, and I didn't tell him I had added them.

Well tonight I took out a pack of the turkey steaks, I'm going to chop them into chunks and just make it into a curry, probably won't be much leftover as it's only a 350g pack, and it looks WEENY, but I've plenty on onions and peppers so will bung that in and should be enough for OH's lunch tomorrow.

Lentils - you could try soaking them beforehand. Also, perhaps try a smaller quantity and then gradually increase until you get to the point where it is too much and then you'll know how much you can add without it adversely affecting the dish for you.

You can put tinned tomato in curry if you're trying to use them up. I put tinned tomato in almost everything.

MrsTine wrote: »

Bruno you mean you're not as uptight about spreadsheets as the rest of us? :eek:
I am actually starting to worry about my spreadsheets... I'm only checking them once a day at the moment... Is there something wrong with me???

Yes! I've finally found someone more extreme with their spreadsheets than me.

weezl74 wrote: »

Also, do you or any of the other families where the woman mostly juggles the finances ever have an issue with OH feeling less of a real bloke, cos you've done the spreadsheets?

Thankfully not true for us, as OH just hates doing sums and he used to look after the money side of things and we'd end up getting fines for stuff and paying out lots of unnecessary money! But I know some 'blokey blokes' really like handling the money...

My OH is quite happy for me to do all the money stuff. I enjoy it, he doesn't. I also have more time than he does. I also do most of the spending (aside from direct debits) as I'm the one who does most of the food shopping (although he picks up bits and bobs for me)and the home and car insurance etc. so it's easier for it to be me with the spreadsheet keeping track of things than him. Considering I can do it all so much more quickly and easily than he can it would just be silly to have him doing it.

BrunoM wrote: »

I am generally a bit of a control freak - I think I'd find it hard for someone else to do our finances, not in a blokey way, but just because regardless of who it was it wouldn't be me and I would feel anxious not knowing all the details.

Me too.

weezl74 wrote: »

oh dear oh dear oh dear

Something horrible has just happened.

How very humiliating. Feel very shocked now. But not in a :eek: way. more in a small shaky sat in the corner way. Think I need to go and look after myself. Hope everyone is ok.

Love Sad Weezl x

:grouphug::grouphug: Hope you're okay.

redmel1621

MrsTine wrote: »

Mel - thank you for taking my "critisism" in the spirit it was meant I can to a degree understand wanting another child, but i think wanting one NOW with everything else etc - yeah it would be a teeny bit selfish
I don't think mid thirties is late to have another btw... if we DO have another then it would be when I'm minimum 32 (I turn 30 in November :eek:) and my stepmum had my halfbrother when she was I think 36 or 37... Dad was nearer 50... It's entirely doable

The NOW thing is as much for babs as for me, I think it stems from my upbringing and the fact that although I am one of 4 we are not close in age and have never grown up together...my younger brother and sister are the closest and there is a 3yr gap between them. But as a whole as brothers and sisters we barely acknowledge each other...never have done, right through our childhood. I blame the big age gaps...so you see, because ds1 and ds2 are close in age and are best of friends/inseparable, I feel (know) ds3 is going to feel left out and have no one to grow up with. Dh doesn't understand that because he is one of two boys and they were close in age and good friends throughout childhood so he can't imagine what it feel like to live in a house full of brothers and sisters where none want to play with you (or are too young for you to want to play with)

scruffy96uk

Susan We bought ours in poundland so they will prob never have them again, it's hit or miss in that shop lol

These are the ones we have and these

tsstss7

No fun spends budget in this house either - too poor these days :0)

Archie was put to bed an hour ago and is still chattering to himself and playing his classical music machine (sposed to help him sleep) maube the chocolate he had at tea was a mistake lol!

ladybirdintheuk

I hope you're ok SM and Weezl.

Izzy is off to sleep. I finally got around to connecting up a CD player in her room, and playing a lullabye cd as she fed herself to sleep. I'm working on the theory that maybe if she falls asleep to the music while she is feeding, eventually she will fall asleep to the music when she isn't. It's worth a try. I've left it playing to the end of the cd, so what are the odds she will wake up when the music stops?!

Anyway, must make some tea now. I have beans and courgettes from the allotment to use up - I've been eating green beans and courgettes at least 1 meals a day for the past week or so. It's a good thing I like them really!