Dad diary - Hard times, sleeping patterns, Jobs creating jobs and pottering.

By Value hunter on Feb 22, 2012 | In In real life, Wondering, In the home, Baby, Dear diary

Hard times in hoover towers at the moment, juggling bills around is one of those thankless tasks that never gets any easier, especially in today's economic climate. The signs are, that there is no respite or light at the end of the tunnel for us.
Is this typical of what is happening around the UK?
I cannot say, but with all the measures and cuts we have been making here for the past 2-3 years or so, I can fully accept that those households which have not gone to such lengths as we have, will be struggling at the very least.

Of course, it's not just about the money.
It's been 5 years this summer, since our last holiday and that was a 3 day short break in Blackpool at an old friend's hotel.
The cost of everything is rocketing way in excess of what we can afford.
Cutting back on things is one thing, we are getting close to the stage where cutting things out all together will be the only option.
Even running this website, for my own reference, is at risk.
It pains me to see my family struggle. I do not like to see the personal results of financial pressure, the long working hours, no flexibility, etc.
This is not living, it's existing. We are running around just to stand still.
We do not go out for meals or nights out (cannot remember the last meal out we had), we drink only at Christmas, etc.
For a couple of years now we haven't been able to afford a theme park visit, attend a music festival of any kind, you get the picture.

No matter how frugal we have been/are, something has got to give.

Sleeping patterns of sprog2 are pretty regular. Apart from the occasional illness, we are getting 11-12 hours sleep right through the night no problem.
I've been meaning to post about this for a while, but delayed it as a good friend (Hey up Handles!) has been having a nightmare recently with her little girl's sleeping, I didn't want to rub it in, in anyway.
I am a little worried that something maybe wrong though. I don't recall sprog1 sleeping as good as this at this age? Could it be a sign of something else?
When she's asleep, hardly anything will wake her, noise has been used around her since day one, music, hoovering, people talking and laughing, etc, once she's nodded off she's out of it.
Anyone else's two year old sleep like a log?

I'd like to think this is down to my *luckily reading that professor's study into not establishing a routine with babies until they are approaching 3 years old. Letting them instead, sleep when needed, eat when hungry, etc. The logic (if there is any) being that parents spend an age battling to get a baby into a routine which studies show is almost pointless, as baby does not/will not understand until approaching the age of 3.
It was written by a bloke, which made me sceptical about it. With afternoon naps now just on the odd day, I can kind of see where the prof is coming from, time will tell I guess.
*Watch this, now I've wrote this I'll be getting tantrums, irregular sleep patterns and bricks bouncing off my swede for the next fortnight!

Jobs creating jobs, who'd have thought that a bit of plastering and moving a radiator would lead to the switching around of more than five beds between people who live hundreds of miles apart?
Everytime I get the urge to get cracking, it leads to more work for me.

Pottering season is almost upon us, once I get my head around the fact that the garden isn't a chore again, I'll be out there. I like pottering, I frugally picked up all my bulbs at the end of last season, still have half a bag full of seeds for flowers from last year and pallets that need chopping up for kindling which will be fun. The grapevine in the recycled greenhouse should be growing out via the tiny top window this year, it's well routed now, 3 years, so shouldn't cover me in spiders everytime I attempt to do anything in there.

Until next time, be frugal out there.