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are you still using that book? which bits did you use? did it help? hmm? hmm? hmm??? hahaha no really, i just want to know what you think of it.

so far we have just been 'gently removing' elijah haha and being consistent etc and he is going to bed at 7.30/8pm (hallelujah!) so i am getting a bit of time off which is completely amazing in itself i am also having to feed him to sleep less but he's getting up between 5-12 times a night still (although, that lower number has dropped a few hasn't it ). so i just wanna know what bits have worked for you

also how is arwyn? and you? its been sooooooooooooooo long since i saw you!

career? I have no interest in my job! i'd happily let P take care of me and stay at home! 3 weeks today til i'm back

I give Arwyn the little stars yoghurts, they say "perfect for weaning" so i bought them she had macaroni cheese last night (probably full of salt) cos daddy forget to bring her food to the restaurant last night. it seemed the least offensive thing on the kids menu and she loved it!! If I give her more than half a jar she's just sick, it's not me being cruel

i'm not sure im 100% into being a lady of leisure - john keeps joking about how he keeps me and all that and i find it really offensive! like i have given up my independence, i don't really like being reliant haha but i suppose it's my turn for a while

i'm much more scared of salt than i am of sugar - elijah is quite into having his teeth brushed after brekkie and tea so thats good haha i let him have some cheese on toast last week and tbh he eats loads of cheese just now but other than that i try and be quite careful with salt...i'm trying to relax a bit though!

maybe not quiet a lady of leisure, if I had more kids I would..... but I'd be happy if I was just working 3 days a week, or 5 half days. I can dream!
I told him I was giving up after having the second one hopefully he's had a promotion by then

I give Arwyn cheese everyday, usually it's a babybel, and she loves it! she'll be a cheese fiend just like her mummy

i want a nice flexible part time job where i can do what i like when i like and get paid for it (...wait, i have that job and i don't want it...oh!) maybe i don't know what i want at all!

i am a complete cheese fiend too, besides crisps it's my absolute downfall i bought a lovely bit of feta today and i was i was thoroughly enjoying it i was merrily thinking hmmm this is 97% fat nom nom nom haha

have you done any days yet? I'm praying for a lottery win in the next couple of weeks

I've never had feta but brie is the same, mmmmmm fat!! my friend brought round bacon and brie on friday to make nommy baguettes. cheese and crisps are my weakness too, i'm tucking into a massive bag right now instead of tea

a bag of cheese! hahaha ahhh delicious cheesy/fried fat

nah i'm not allowed to do any work until the end of march, what a shame. i had to let my notice period end which it did yesterday, then i have to not work for them for a month, then i can start. i have told them i'm only doing 2 hours at a time - it's visiting stuff so that will do, at about £9 an hour i should be able to make a few spending pennies

ugggh i don't envy you, you are on the opposite countdown to the one we were on last year! how are you feeling about going back? are you looking forward to it???

I'm dreading it!
I'm not looking forward to having to get organised in the morning and being in work for 9am. I'm not looking forward to being away from Arwyn for 5 days out of 7 all day just to be home for tea, bath and bed I'm not looking forward to anything apart from being "Me" rather than "Arwyn's mummmy".
And I've still not worked out a plan with the grandparents for her care.... I need to get that sorted. Tempted to speak to HR when I go back and dropping a Wednesday afternoon. P got his increase so we could afford it, but he'll take some convincing. Maybe if I'm really miserable after a few weeks he'll change his mind!!

ugh i really feel for you. if you were working over 16 hours a week you would get working tax credits which is an extra 400 a month or something, maybe you could manage on that? that way you would be working only 2 or 3 days a week and p could be there at least one of those to look after arwyn?? would still be tight though with your lost wages plus you will still be getting child tax credits which will help a bit.

i was feeling sorry for myself last week because i have nothing to do and i don't really feel like i have much to look forward to - so i had to kick myself up the arse and remember to be grateful that i don't have anything to dread either!

My (our) problem is we don't want to rely on money that's not being earned by us, if they suddenly take it away we're f*cked and my work probably then won't let me increase my hours again. Everything we get (child benefit, CTC etc) is an added (welcome) extra but we don't need it in order to survive. Maybe we're just too proud but we like being able to live in our means and afford stuff ourselves, we don't do credit cards etc.
Plus we're wanting to move so dropping too much isn't very sensible when trying to get a bigger mortgage!!!

You've got a visit from me to look forward to

Quote :

You've got a visit from me to look forward to

aww well obviously there is that!

i know what you mean about not being reliant on the state or anything else, we feel the same but unfortunately the choice for us was john dropping out of uni and us both working and sending elijah to nursery...or just slumming it for a little while. i worked all through uni/college and before that and i'm missing it in a way - i feel like i'm not earning my keep (because i'm not!), but my priorities are totally different these days...i had to let go of my pride to stay with him, and it wasn't as easy as it sounds hahaha

or an even better plan - sell the flat, rent somewhere else and use the proceeds to live off for a bit haha i am not very good with money

if/when we sell there will be nothing to live off! the flat is worth less than what he paid for it.

you were different with J being at uni, we both have jobs so there's no reason for us to need help. plus I need to go back for 3 months or I'll have to pay back my OMP!!

seriously???? that's lame! i was really worried about that but i didn't owe anything in the end - so i'm going to go back part time and go on maternity again mwahahahahaha. maybe

sounds like a plan if only I didn't have to have a baby and still get another 10 months off.......

maybe you can get it for adopting a puppy or something or really....do they need to actually *see* a baby at the end? surely you could just say you had one or that it grew really fast and show them arwyn

have you figured childcare out yet? do your mum/inlaws work fulltime??? that's going to be tricky, but i suppose at the weekend you aren't obligated to spend the whole time showing your child to people and letting them 'have a shot' of her! (do i sound bitter? got an email recently from an unnamed member of j's family moaning about being left out or something...ho hum!)

anyway! have an awesome birthday laying carpet

I'll just show them my big tummy, I look about the same as I did on my birthday last year..... in fact, I think I weighed less last year and I was 23 weeks pregnant

My mummy is taking her on Wednesdays and Thursdays (got that confirmed last night) cos she doesn't work those days. P's parents work shifts so hopefully they can cover any other days. Would only be a max of 3 days a week anyway.
Spoke to P about my concerns of going back full time and not seeing my baby so he's agreed I can drop 3 hours on a Wednesday afternoon so I'll only have to work to 1 Now I need to speak to my HR dept and get them to agree!!!

Did you send an e-mail back?? Arwyn is staying away over night for the first time at my mum's tonight, and she's staying at P's parents on friday night. I can't wait to have a sleep in!!

nah it was j who got the email - i offered to email back haha but he declined...not sure why

awww all night! it will be amazing to sleep in and not have to wake up through the night happy days!

i weigh exactly the same as i did before i became pg - i'm sure that's good news in some form or another but i'm not happy at all about it haha could be worse, could weigh loads more (but then i could blame the baby )

that's awesome about your hours - it will split your week up a little bit too and you will probably enjoy your time with arwyn loads more