spamarie Member

Over two weeks late due to illness, but we finally made the boy some cake for his third birthday. Good thing he doesn't care about presentation!! Hubby decorated the monstrosities on the right, I did the just plain inept others. Hubby baked the fairy cakes, which he is thankfully good at!

My mum was baby number 13, so grandma knew what she was doing, but there is a five year age gap between my mum and number 12 so I suspect she was a bit of a surprise!

Me neither! People keep asking me when I'm having a third, as if a three year old and one year old weren't enough. I'm two and through!! I'd quite like someone to produce a cousin so I can have baby snuggles, but there's no way I'm doing it again myself. I suffered from some major baby fever before both pregnancies, so I…

You never know. My grandma was 46 when she had my mum. Can you even imagine?! :0

Confession: Today I basically skipped breakfast and lunch in favour of a pint of b&j ice cream. I'm the only adult in the house and I regret nothing!! I still made the kids real food. They think I was having 'mummy yogurt'.

Happy anniversary Tami! It'll be our ten year wedding anniversary this year. I feel simultaneously old and young.

Glad I'm not just being a mean, uncaring mum. So many other mums call nursery in the day just to check their kids are ok and I rarely do. If I didn't trust these people, I wouldn't leave my kids with them at all!

Nursery called me while I'm at work to tell me baby girl is grumpy and wouldn't eat lunch or take a nap, but no need to come get her, it's just a courtesy call. If I don't need to come get her, I think I'd almost rather not know!! I never felt guilty when I went back to work after my first kid, but I sure do second time…

I'm such a nihlistic monster, the whole spiritual bit is what puts me off a yoga class. I'd quite like something that strengthens my core, helps me regain my flexibility and chills me out without any of the good energy bit. I'm a killjoy, I know!

I can totally relate to the hot chocolate powder one...

Love a bit of confessional bingo. I always thought there should be a space for 'hiding ice cream in the frozen veg drawer so my family don't steal it'. That first lady to confess this is a genius, and I still do it!!!

Andrew did catch it and now I've got it. It seems to be a short lived but fierce cold. I have an unreal pressure in my head! Poor Andrew didn't eat a bite of his tea despite it being his birthday tea at Grandma's. The child must have felt terrible to turn down cake. Ellie is over the worst of it so hopefully he will be…

That cake is beautiful and your parents look lovely too!

I've had a poorly baby all day who's just wanted to be cuddled and sleep in my arms. Very unlike her! And as I sit in the dark in the kids' room, it sounds like Andrew is coming down with it too. At least it's not an office day tomorrow!

No, I think you should just get better holiday allowances in general (full timers at my work get 25 days plus public holidays), and taking an unpaid sabbatical should be way more widely available than it currently is. A happy, rested workforce is a productive workforce. I have found parental leave the most exhausting time…

I've packed myself a yummy but healthy lunch so if everything goes terribly tomorrow for my first day back at work, at least I've got something tasty to look forward to. I know how to motivate myself!

I work two full days. They'll spend one day with daddy (should be interesting as due to Ellie's boob obsession he's never had both kids for a full day himself) and one day in nursery. That is a painful day for me as a day in nursery eats up over 75% of my day's pay. No wonder so many women give up work. Thankfully Andrew…

We get up to a year off in the UK, with the first six weeks on 90% salary, then a fixed £135 a week for 33 weeks then nothing after that. But you are entitled to any holidays you would have accrued while on parental leave, so I tracked all those on to the end of my leave making it about 13 months off. Our maternity pay is…

I start back at work on Tuesday after over a year off. I cannot remember any usernames, reference websites, passwords or procedures. I have this stuff all written down in various places but we moved premises while I was away. I really hope nobody threw out my stuff during the move!

Watching the new year day Dr who special, and who knew there was a bit of monster (won't tell you what cos spoilers) buried under Sheffield town hall. I got married there!

You are in the right place with us. We too are all legendary party animals. 😉

I am definitely NOT going to the new years eve wedding on Monday. Bit bummed as I would have enjoyed a night away in a hotel, ballroom dancing in the Blackpool Tower Ballroom and some posh food. But none of it is child friendly and although I've got willing childcare cover, Ellie just isn't ready. Still inconsistent sleep,…

As if I'm going to weigh myself any time around Christmas!! Not until after my birthday in January. I think allowing a couple of weeks cooling off helps. I rarely see any actual gain at Christmas. I suspect chasing after overexcited children helps too.

My parents tried that routine with me a LOT as a child. Turns out you can really work on your stamina and perseverance when you're motivated! I've tried liver, and hate it. But I also hate gravy and onions, so that was never going to go well!

After a mad night yesterday (Ellie's breathing got scary but after a few hours in hospital she was much improved) I did bugger all today. I did make some Florentines this evening once the kids were asleep. I didn't have any double cream so used full fat milk, but they're delicious anyway. It's kinda impossible to make…

I have not missed workplace washing up roulette one bit this year. My only hope is since my office moved to a brand new, purpose built building while I was in maternity leave, people will be more likely to take care of it. In our last place we had to wash our pots in the actual toilet cubicle as that was the only sink! We…

Well done for making page 3300 the page of chin hairs!

I have loads. I always had a couple, then several more joined after each pregnancy. So glamourous. I'm blaming my french genes (my french grandma had a full on beard by the time she was 100). I'm only 32, I'm going to make an epic Santa by the time I'm 65!

My last hair cut was when I was 12 weeks pregnant with Ellie. She's 13 months old!! Once every 2-3 years is pretty standard for me. I like to grow it long, hack a load off and donate it to the little princess trust. They make wigs for children.

Love your long hair @MoHousdon . I'm growing mine long via sheer neglect but it's such a mess. Each time I had a kid, I had a major moult and now I have three separate and distinct hair lengths, but not in a good layered way! I'm getting especially annoyed with my Ellie hair, it's about 2-3 inches long and sticks out at…