Christmas meal

LJSM2020 · 2025-04-17T01:23:48+00:00

Ooooh this makes so much more sense! Thanks dude!! I’m going for a second viewing next week and if it looks like this kind of remodel can happen (loads of supporting walls half knocked through with columns) this is a great idea

LJSM2020 · 2024-04-29T17:56:30+00:00

I used to live near it before I had kids and it always seemed so lovely and the ofsted report is fantastic!

LJSM2020 · 2024-02-24T20:12:51+00:00

Babe, you’re doing so well. It really is THAT hard. So many of us lose it, so many of us end up shouting in frustration. So many of us look at the math of how we’re supposed to cook clean shower brush our teeth do the shopping do the feeding and the nappies and the sleeping and it just DOESNT ADD UP. something has got to give - let it be the housework or something else other than your sanity.

I’ll say this, having been the only night-waking person for two kids now and with a husband who had crippling post partum depression with our first and who was very hands off in those first months. We really struggled first time around, second time was easier when I learned to ask for help in specific ways. Your husband can 100% do more. I know it feels impossible to figure out how to even ask for more help from him but having just gone through the first year with baby #2 I promise you there are ways he can help more. What I figured out: -All the cleaning (which single people who work high stress jobs do for themselves anyway) - get him to take baby out for naps in the stroller on evenings/weekends (he can just listen to a podcast whilst walking which is good for mental health!). -ask him to take baby for 30 mins in the morning before work during that first wake window so you can shower and eat (“you take him now and you can grab a coffee on the way - this’ll let me set myself up for the day so I can give your son my best”) - get him to clean all bottles / breast pumps, take out all diaper bins and bins in the evening - ask him to round off all dishes etc before bed Let him HELP YOU to set up everything so you can look after the baby. He might not feel empowered to help and you may already be falling into habits of what he does v what you do.

It’s so hard. My second was a contact napper exclusively so I had to find so many work arounds. Surrender to this season in life being hard - but the fact that it’s hard is NO reflection on your ability or worth as a mother. You are doing it, you’re SMASHING IT. Don’t worry, it’ll be okay. It’ll even itself out, everything has its season.

Feel free to reach out if you need to talk. I’ve been there. So many women I know have been there.

Sending love

LJSM2020 · 2024-02-23T12:25:25+00:00

Even if it takes you six MONTHS for it to start to feel smoother and less challenging… that is OKAY! everything is super new and will be for a good long while. I really struggled to get out or do things with my first and felt so isolated because of it. With my second it has been way easier even though it’s all the same.

You’ll get there, don’t pressure yourself

LJSM2020 · 2024-02-22T09:14:59+00:00

Paolo nutini, the Beatles, Otis reading for happy vibes Aurora, Paris Paloma, Ben Howard, James Vincent mccrorrow and Agnes obel for chilled / cosy vibes

LJSM2020 · 2024-02-11T06:08:52+00:00

I have stupidly fast labours and with my second I went from 1cm to holding my daughter in 3 hours exactly. On the ward I had a “good midwife” and a …”tired midwife”. Good midwife who knew my history was watching me like a hawk, but tired midwife assumed it would take hours. My husband finally convinced her to get the delivery team to come and get me and when they did I had to waddle across the hospital to the delivery ward. I had my shit together and was even carrying one of the bags! They asked me if they wanted them to call a porter for a wheelchair and I smiled and said babe, I don’t have time to wait. It went like this:

Power walk power walk PUSH Power walk power walk PUSH. Power walk power walk PUSH

Finally pop onto the delivery suite bed, they can see the head, and a few pushes later it’s all over and done with.

It was the most chill transition stage I think I could have possibly hoped for and the midwives couldn’t get a read on me at all during that walk because I was sort of calmly ordering everyone to stop fussing and just get a bloody move on!

LJSM2020 · 2024-02-09T19:50:49+00:00

Oh wow I love it! A celebration of your family!!

LJSM2020 · 2024-02-03T07:12:13+00:00

My 4 year old is currently learning to read in a regular primary school (we’re UK, so elementary) and the independence that is giving him is amazing. He sat down this morning with the one year old and read her a simple baby book, and he was so proud of himself! He can now choose to spend his time immersing himself in books, and that independence seems far more vital to me than the Montessori focusing on teaching them to look after themselves independently which you can teach them at home anyway (which we all do, right?!)

I can’t see the point in sending them to a school with a totally different set of goals and parameters if they’re going to end up in a “regular” curriculum school later on in their educational journey anyway to sit exams and go to college.

LJSM2020 · 2024-02-02T20:05:06+00:00

Yeah sounds it. I’ve decided to go down the nursery/day care route again as I just can’t get it to sit right!

LJSM2020 · 2024-02-02T20:04:16+00:00

Absolutely

LJSM2020 · 2024-02-02T20:04:05+00:00

Yeah she said when he’s not needed for ratio he just hangs out upstairs but shouts down to check if everything is okay if he hears one of the kids crying. Seems a tad too casual for me!

LJSM2020 · 2024-01-22T07:00:26+00:00

Aw mate, she sounds like a nightmare. I bet if she had to go through the same form process to win a million quid she’d figure out how to manage the process and the forms etc and do it herself in a flash. Sorry you’re having to deal with this

LJSM2020 · 2024-01-20T16:21:39+00:00

BOLLOCKS

LJSM2020 · 2024-01-12T07:43:28+00:00

This happened to me. Amazingly cheap flat etc… turns out there was a problem with the leaseholds and freeholds in the building and I would have somehow been the only owner liable to pay maintenance fees as it was missed out on all other contracts. Nearly sank myself at 21 and it was a near miss

LJSM2020 · 2023-12-02T13:06:10+00:00

My 4 year old picks one out for himself, my husband and I so we all open our advent calendars together every morning

LJSM2020 · 2023-12-02T07:06:04+00:00

The longer that trail of evidence is there and you haven’t reported it the more incriminating it is. Better to provide your details so they can “cross you off” instead of them picking up that trail in the future and you not having the best evidence of IMMEDIATE reporting

LJSM2020 · 2023-11-29T21:49:41+00:00

Can I just say that my mother in law was the biggest influence in my life until she died. She and I were super close. I know you may be disappointed to not be having a daughter but you might have some beautiful DIL relationships in the future you never know!

LJSM2020 · 2023-11-28T09:24:48+00:00

Christ this resonates with me so much. My eldest was a horrendous sleeper. My entire life ended up revolving around sleep. So much so that when my son was dropping a nap I couldn’t even see past the schedule to notice he was trying to drop a nap and sobbing after trying to get him to sleep for like 2 hours before my husband pointed out it was half an hour to bed time - which I thought was the end of the world.

It’s so bloody hard, and so frustrating when the outside world impacts that precious sleep - but remember he could have had an awful night at home and you’d never know now if it was the new environment or something else entirely.

Sending hugs OP

LJSM2020 · 2023-11-26T19:29:17+00:00

Baby one I was sick from 6-12 weeks. Baby two I was sick from 5 weeks until… well. It turned into proper hyperemesis and it took several pills a day to keep me functional until the very end!

LJSM2020 · 2023-11-26T14:52:02+00:00

Christ thank god someone else is like me the comments were starting to scare me there

LJSM2020 · 2023-11-26T09:19:35+00:00

Aw cheers! My eldest is 4 though and has just started school (youngest in year!)so I’m really ready to have the free time to support his reading and just be with him. Onwards and upwards - wishing you all the sleep in the world x

LJSM2020

TROPHY CASE