Newbie

[elm1976]

Just thought I'd say hi. I live in the ACT and have been having a read of this site for the last few weeks. I am a stay-at-home mum of two little boys (22mths and 11wks), and although I don't have alot of extra time on my hands, I thought the occasional chat would be good.

God bless
Elm

 

[ex-Cutie]

Hey! Welcome! Man, so many ppl here have kids, and they all seem at the gorgeous age! i used to be cute, lol, then i grew up. j/k

 

[Droobie]

Hello... welcome to CF

 

[lil_one]

hey there elm
It's great to meet you!! hope we see you around the forums...

 

[Blessed-one]

hi there, Welcome to CF!! hope to see you again soon.

 

[middo]

a great big hearty CF welcome to ya elm

 

[mamaneenie]

Hi! Welcome, I am from Canberra too. I have a little boy who turns 2 in 2 weeks.

Am waiting a little bit longer before we have number 2, only because my husband would prefer to wait (not me though)

I am a stay at home mummy as well.

 

[Buskanaka]

welcome newbie! you'll be a junior member in no time!

 

[Col]

I am also in Canberra and have just joined this board today. I am full time stay-at-home Dad with a 3yr old so I know all about not having much spare time. See you around CF

 

[Col]

..oops 3yr old SON..imageing leaving that out. See I told you I don't get enough sleep

 

[Buskanaka]

welcome to CF! and sons rule!

 

[mamaneenie]

Wow, Col, how did you manage to be a stay at home dad. How do you find it? Do you go to play group or something like that? How do you cope with lot's of women sitting around drinking coffee and hanging out at play group, story time etc? My husband wouldn't be able to handle that I reckon. Good on ya.

 

[Col]

Well mamaneenie, long story short. My wife and I tried for nearly 19 years till we had our little miracle (we have been married 22 years now). I stopped work when he was 8 weeks old and became a full-time House Husband. I had been in the Navy for 24 years and it made more sense for me to get out of the Navy so that we would not have to move around anymore, so we could have a stable homelife now we actually had a family. My wife has a good full-time job so things worked out well. I have been the Convenor of a PlayGroup for the last 2 years (meets once a week). I am also in a Parents group (Mums group) and we have been meeting once a week since our kids were about 2 months old, we go to each others places or out to lunch, or parks etc. Most in the group have two kids now. I also take my little boy to swimming lessons once a week (he has been going since he was 4 months old). I keep the house, cooking cleaning washing and ironing and so on, so that when my hard-working wife gets home all her time with our little fellow is quality time. She does however often cook on the weekends for me to give me a rest. With this, plus shopping and endless miscellaneous errands and chores, my weeks are pretty full, but I really love my life. I am currently in the process of toilet training so have extra cleaning to do at the moment, but I am looking forward to no-more-nappies!, and he is progressing very well. So there you go, thats my life, it's great!

 

[mamaneenie]

Wow, that is good that you decided to leave the navy. I am the eldest of 5 kids. My dad was in the navy, retired (after about 25yrs) when I was 17. We moved around a lot when I was growing up, which isn't so good, but there are worse things to have happen.

My husband and I had an oopsy (my blessing was conceived before we were married - oopsy) however I do call him my surprise, because I had been working in the child care industry for so long and had decided I didn't want any kids. The surprise is how much I want more! We have had a hard time in the past 2 and a half years since we got married. Have had to cope with unemployment, and almost homelessness. God has been good to us and has given my husband a full time job, and we are renting our own place. We don't have to live with family or friends any more.

I understand exactly what you mean about not having spare time. It seems that sometimes I find myself at the end of the day asking where my time went. There seems to be something to do each day of the week, especially now that my son is almost 2 and is enjoying interacting with other children more. I find the most exciting part about spending all day with him is getting to hear his new words he comes out with lately.

I am hanging out to start toilet training. He did a poo on the back step the other day. I didn't see him do it, but he was standing at the door crying "mum, poo, poo" and seemed really upset about the whole thing. Probably because he didn't have a nappy on. He has started telling me when he has dirtied his nappy which is a good thing. I use cloth nappies so am looking forward to getting him out of them.

 

[Buskanaka]

hey mod, can you move this to a 'toilet-training' thread please?

 

[mamaneenie]

Oops, sorry to embarrass you Buskanaka.

 

[Buskanaka]

I'm not embarrased. You can turn this into a poo-discussion thread if you REALLY want

 

[the brute]

Yeah, the old toilet training, and all the stuff that goes with it; many times I remember scraping out the nappies, listening to the Sunday night Coodabeens. What I've found (I think my wife would agree) is that it goes SO FAST. Doesn't seem like it when you're living through those days of totally dependent Little Persons, messes at the worst possible times and no sleep, but it's gone in a flash, and now I have two teenaged sons, both of 'em drummers (and good ones) and they barely seem to need me at all except for money and transport...you will observe the use of the word 'seem' just there...
You wonder where the time went and you hope you did something good with it.

 

[mamaneenie]

Yeah, the old toilet training, and all the stuff that goes with it; many times I remember scraping out the nappies, listening to the Sunday night Coodabeens. What I've found (I think my wife would agree) is that it goes SO FAST. Doesn't seem like it when you're living through those days of totally dependent Little Persons, messes at the worst possible times and no sleep, but it's gone in a flash, and now I have two teenaged sons, both of 'em drummers (and good ones) and they barely seem to need me at all except for money and transport...you will observe the use of the word 'seem' just there...
You wonder where the time went and you hope you did something good with it.

Yep, I am beginning to see that the 2 years since he was born has flown by. He is turning 2 on Friday, and has decided he wants to sit at the table like a big boy with mum and dad (no more highchair) and last night wanted to sleep in a bed instead of a cot (so he ended up in a single mattress on the floor in his room). He is growing so fast and I miss my baby. Oh well, it's all good, thinking of having another one soon.

 

[elm1976]

Thanks to everyone for the warm welcome. Its nice to see that there is a few other canberrans and some with kids too, what part of town do you live?

As for toilet training I'm waiting till No 1 son is ready for that next step. His still adjusting to being a big brother at the moment, although he seems to be really enjoying it. Hopefully though sometime during summer or Autumn.