Keeping on the Straight and Narrow...

DancingInTheRain

Summary of the week - wet, wet, wet (apart from Sunday).
I have had a soaking with every task, work or personal, that I have undertaken. Pretty sure I'll be developing webbed feet or fins at this rate! As much as the beautiful area I live in wouldn't exist without an abundance of rain, I'm a bit fed up of it at the moment.

The boys are both better now but really exhausted, having to wake them up each morning for school which I've never had to do (a taster of teenage life perhaps?) DS1 was pleased with his bounty from the tooth fairy and LOVED his first sleepover, refused to come home when I went to pick him up  DS2 a bit cranky the last few days but I think that's a bit of virus lingering from last week, hopefully a low key weekend will help him back on track, feels like there's always something with him being challenging or cranky these last few months.

DH also not great, still in pain with his knee and generally feeling low.

I'm tired but okay, met up with bestie for a catch up over a couple of glasses of wine last night, was good for the soul. Also have a theatre trip planned with her and another friend on Saturday, nice to have something to look forward to.

Had a big A$da delivery today for cupboard essentials and as we're a bit time poor lately have reactivated our Gou$to subscription as had a discount code so hopefully we'll rediscover our cooking mojo as slipping into bad habits and making poor food choices recently.

Have been on the road a few days this week but utilised my lunch breaks to pick up some small token Xmas gifts. Aiming to get a few more bits tomorrow as Mum and I are heading to our nearest city so should get a few more items in between coffee and lunch breaks 

The children haven't really asked for anything for Xmas yet, hoping to get them to write a letter to Santa this weekend to give us some inspiration as we've had a few enquiries from family and I have no idea at the moment!

November free money pot up to £88.56. Need to start looking at credit card deals as the 0% rate ends of our credit card early Feb. Hard to focus on money at the moment, our energy is all being spent getting used to new routines, demanding (but enjoyable) work and fitting in our other commitments and chores. We're still without a focused financial, or any other, goal at the moment other than getting through each day and week. We have annual leave booked in for Xmas so we will all be off from the 21st December until early Jan, hoping to get some goals set there as well as some much needed down time.

savingholmes

Hi Dancing - you are coping with your return to a demanding job very well. It's not possible to do everything at once. You are doing really well regardless. Glad you are making time for friends and fun.

ohdearhowdidthathappen

Well done, sounds like you're doing great

DancingInTheRain

Thanks for the support SH & Ohdear x

The festive season has officially started in the Dancing household today - the boys have written & posted their letters to Santa (not asked for much either bless them, I think "Santa" will be able to get them everything they've asked for with the assistance of aunt's and uncles 😊) we've been to see the Christmas lights switched on in town this evening. On the indulgence front I've had mulled wine and a mince pie - yummy and free thanks to our local council! 

Have picked up a few small gifts when shopping with Mum yesterday, have listed these in my Xmas app along with ideas for a few other people so I can keep track of everything as we're going for a 'cosy night in' theme for those we buy for which is involving buying individuals a few things rather than 1 e.g. PJ's/face mask/bath bomb/book/chocolate bundled together 

I know I've a bag full of wrapping paper  and gift bags on the loft so will bring that down next weekend along with the trees and decorations we're planning on putting up next weekend.

Also had a proud Mummy moment today when DS1 swam without armbands during his lesson today 👏👏 not sure who was prouder, DH & I or DS1 🤣

savingholmes

Congrats to DS1.

Well done on starting the xmas shopping. I've made some progress too. Nice when what the kids ask for is achieveable.

DancingInTheRain

Made a bit more progress with the Christmas shopping as WFH Tue-Thu this week so I'm here to take in deliveries. Aiming to have everything bought by the end of next week and then can start wrapping.
Had a really long day on the road Monday and it's knocked me out of sync as I've had trouble sleeping and a niggling headache since. Woke up feeling a bit better today so hoping it clears as the day goes on, will make sure I'm well hydrated with water as much as I feel like having coffee intravenously!
DS2 is being a challenge again, he's struggling to get to sleep at night and then waking up before 6 each day so he's overtired and just miserable and argumentative over the smallest things. It's really impacting on us all so we've started bringing his bedtime forward a bit so that if he fights going to sleep he'll still end up going to sleep a bit earlier than he has been if that makes sense? Also reducing screen time and making the evenings quieter to see if that helps. It feels like he continuously has these little phases, it's just exhausting.
DH's knee is still causing him pain but is a lot better and DS1 is going through a very loving phase & thriving at school at the moment so at least he seems happy in his little world
4 days until my payday, 6 days until DH's payday and 26 days until we all break up for 2 weeks off at Christmas. Mum has paid for the 4 of us to go to Alton Towers' Lightopia event for our Xmas gift so we're going there the first day we're off, we're all looking forward to a change of scenery. We've booked a Premi3r Inn nearby at a reasonable price so just fuel to get there and spending money to cover, the holiday pot has enough in there and the boys have already been warned they need to save their pocket money for the trip!

savingholmes

What a lovely thing to look forward to. 

Hope DH recovers quickly and that DS2 settles. It's difficult sometime with children to know what to do for the best. Hope you get some decent rest too.

CRANKY40

Play ds2 some music at bed time. Relaxing music obviously. Mine had a Tomy bedtime star until he was 10 and he was so programmed to fall asleep to it in the end that it took less than 5 minutes. It was handy if he woke in the night as I gave him a drink and a biscuit then put the star on and we all went back to sleep. The beauty of the star was that it could be set for a certain number of minutes so it didn't wake everyine in the house. His nursery used to play the children classical music at nap time which is where I got the idea from. Quite early in his school career his form was taken to a classical music concert and all the children from that particular nursery fell asleep in their seats 🤣

sashybo

DS2 certainly sounds like a handful, the constant struggle with them is so tiring when they are strong willed.

I hope you find a way to help him settle to sleep easier. My DS still carries on in bed some nights, talking & shouting for ages, I think it’s when he’s overtired or has been very excited. We did find listening to stories helped a bit but not always. 

The Alton towers trip sounds great, good to have that to look forward to.

DancingInTheRain

Thanks all, it's reassuring to hear others having similar issues although it would be even better if we all had children who just fell asleep when they were tired (I'd LOVE that for myself 🙂)

The story of the little ones falling asleep at the concert @CRANKY40 🤣🤣

We have actually tried using gro clocks, stories, gentle music and meditations using our Google home but DS2 is too good at being sneaky and switching it to a utube video he prefers instead then screams when we knock it off or if he wakes early he'll switch it on too or come downstairs and switch the TV on or try to find his tablet, we have to hide the remote controls and tablets every day 🙈

As he shares a room with DS1 it can be tricky at times. Poor DS1 is always ready for sleep and can get frustrated with DS2 

Need to consider a DS2 proof alternative, there must be something that will work - perhaps go old style with a cassette player? That will confuse him! 🤣