Hi everyone,

Just thought I'd introduce myself, I'm Hilary & I'm 27 & married. I live in N.Ireland & am a fulltime mum to Amy who is 2 & our 2nd baby, also a little girl is due in 3 weeks time. I

I absolutely love being a fulltime mum & spending lots of time with my daughter. We love going to our local mother & toddler group & we also go to Jo Jingles once a week as well as trips to the park & local farm.

How do the rest of you full time mums spend your days with your little ones?

Hilary x

Hello,

I never really used to be a fulltime mum as have always worked part-time as well. However I am one now, for a while anyway!!

I am 31, been married 7 yrs and have 4 children, Vicki 7, Katie 6, Luke 3 (on the 21st) and Alex 8 months. We are about to have a big adventure - we are due to move to Holland 1st Dec!!

Mandi x

That does sound like an adventure moving to Holland. Are you all looking forward to it?

Hilary x

oohhh, moving to holland, how exiting!!
hope u manage it as stress free as poss so close to xmas and with 4 lil uns. xx

Hi, I live abroad too and have 4 kids. We live in the Middle East in Bahrain. Been there 5 years now. married 15 years!! I am 38 with a 16, 14, 3 and 2 year old with baby due in march!!!!!! have one girl and 3 boys so would love another girl but whatever will be will be!!!!!!!!!

Its hard living away from family but you soon make new friends and have a network to rely on if things go wrong.

Good Luck with move.

My OH lived in Vijk an Zee (may have spelt that wrong) and I used to go and stay. It has lovely beach and was lovely clean place. People were very child friendly too. Not like UK where i feel like need a leper bell around my neck when I go home for summer!
d xx

Hehehehe Dee dee, thought that comment about d leper bell was v good.
I used to live in Wales Cwmbran,but ive been living in Malta now for the last 18yrs and wouldnt want to move. Absolutely love it here and Malta is very child friendly too. I have 4 children Ashley 19,Chris 16,Tara 10 and Leah 8mths. This is the first time I have not gone back to wrk,tho I would like to go back part time when she goes to nursery. Tho we do host students and last summer we had 4 students with us throughout the whole summer so thats a job in itself...as you can imagine how long it takes me to cook dinner for all of us!!!!!!!!!!!!. Good luck with your move and hope u settle in soon. Im sure you will love it. Are u moving because of wrk?

Hi all,
I am a full time mum now after getting made redundant 6mths after returning pt after the birth of my second son. He is 3 now and have got a little girl who will be 1 2moz. My eldest son was 19 on 1st Nov.
That redundancy was the blessing in disguise! Am loving being at home with my babes, altho son has started nursery class in school (already! wher does time go?!?!)

I usually rush around all morning and get the housework done, then spend the rest of the day down on the floor playing duplo, reading, aquadrawing, painting, playdohing.........!!! Im a bit of a kid myself so we have a ball!!

Also Im really lucky cos I live by the sea and am surrounded by fields and woods, so we spend a lot of time outdoors when the weather is good.

Good luck with your move to Holland, hope you all settle in quickly and make tons of new friends. My cousin has lived there for the past 15yrs and loves it

Hello to all full time mums!! I'm a full time mum to Molly 3 in Feb, Charlotte 8 months and have recently found out I'm expecting our third on the 1st of July 08!!
Love being a full time mummy but it does get a bit lonely sometimes. Try to see a few other mummy friends, which is great for the kids (and me). But at this time of year the kids are ill most of the time and so I've been staying in alot recently. I can't wait for the weather to get nice so I get take them out properly again!! Glad that I'm having a summer baby this time round. I just hope the weather sorts itself out nxt year and we have a decent lot of sunshine!!! x x x

Hi i'm Jan 33 been married for 14 months have lo Grace 6 1/2 months love being at home with her would have been going back to work last monday sooooooooooo pleased i didn't having to much at fun at home!
meet my mam once a week friends on other days have at least one day in to have a cleaning day & lo can catch up on sleep.
on our day in usually go walking Grace can sit in a swing which is great so tend to end up in park,Good luck with your move Mandi xo

Hiya,

Yes, very much looking forward to our new adventure but finding it scarey too. Also a lot of hard work too as oh is in Holland during the week and only home weekends currently so can see that packing is definately gonna be a major last minute rush!!

As for xmas, well that's a rude word in my house til after 21st as have birthdays on 3rd and 21st to go thru 1st!! lol And now wiv moving on 1st Dec am guessing xmas shopping will be another new adventure to tackle on new soil!

Mandi x

It really does sound like an exciting adventure for you all. It'll be lovely having xmas & new year in a new country (once you get all those birthdays out of the way 1st!!)

My hubby would love to immigrate to somewhere like Austrailia & much as I love the idea I'd be afraid of missing my family too much though I know if it wasnt for that I'd go in the morning.

Good luck with all the packing & I'm sure xmas shopping in Holland will be lovely

Hilary x

hiyaaaa im hayley from middlesbrough, full time mam to millie who is 5months and ttc with my second, i couldnt wait anylonger to have another baby, it the best gift in the whole world,
spending most of my days taking millie to see her nannas, walks round the parks and a walk down the shops, i do get lonely sometimes as husband works 1pm till 10pm so just me n mill most of the time, but wouldnt change it for the world, xxx

I agree Hayley that being a fulltime mum is the best job in the world & I wouldnt change a thing. Our 2nd is due in 2 weeks & I cant wait to have her. We are already thinking about no.3 & all this coming from someone who thought that she could go back to work a few weeks after her 1st was born & just bring her with her!!!!! (now Iknow thats not practical!!)

We had only ever planned to have 1 child but when I realised just how rewarding it was I now want 3 or 4 (thats all we could fit into our house & we couldnt afford to move unless I went back to work!!)

Hilary x

Hi All,
I''ve been a full time Mum for 2 and a half years, although did work part time at the beginning of year but discovered I was pregnant with our third. He is 8 weeks old now. We also have a 4 and 21/2 year old, all boys.
I became a full time Mum as my husbands work took him to Holland too. We moved out there and were there for a full year but I returned to UK, to finish off a course but then decided to stay in UK for a while. Hubbie works there during the week and returns home at wkend. We will return some time. We live in Rijswijk, near to The hague. How are you finding hubbie being away during the week Mandi? Where in Holland will you be living? I agree with Dee Dee Netherlands is very child friendly'. I used to work in the UAE, so used to visit Bahrain, I really liked it. How do you find living there Dee Dee?
I love being a full time Mum and feel lucky to be able to do it although it is the hardest job in the world BUT definitely the most rewarding. I'm an expert juggler now lol, I just keep dropping the balls!!!

Tracy xxx

Hi... I've been a full-time mum for the past 2 years - before that I was a full-time teacher.... I have a son who is 16 on the 12th dec, a 2 year old daughter and a little boy due on the 21st dec.... I'm finding being a mum 2nd time round far harder - I really miss the company of adults ... all my 'mummy friends' have gone back to work and I live in a beautiful area but there are no pavements and the local lads use the country lanes as a race track (not the best place to take a 2 year old for a walk).... I'm finding it diff to get out at mo because of SPD so I do feel a bit trapped... saying that I'm planning on going back to work next september - if I can find any work (History teachers aren't in great demand round here!) and I'm not looking forward to it all!! Theres just no pleasing some people!! :)

Em x

Hi Em, I'm a teacher also. I do know what you mean about the company of adults. I too would like to return to work at some stage but like you unsure as to whether there will be any jobs available. I'm primary trained but don't really want to do supply but it might be my only choice. Hope SPD is not too bad and good luck for December.
Tracyxx

trazi, hi,

don't like hubby being away all week, neither do the kids - and neither does he really, hence why we are moving there. Can't complain too much, his company are paying the 1st 6 months rent for us!!

We're moving to Zaandam, just north of Amsterdam and am looking forward to it. Scariest bit at the mo is the thought of the journey out there with 4 littluns!!

Mandi x

Hi Tracey, thanks - think december is gonna be quite busy! - I don't want to do supply either - mainly because trying to sort out childcare would be a nightmare..... Hubby thinks if I go back to work f/t (which I don't want to do straight away) he can give up work and become a f/t dad!!! Not sure how I feel about that... hey ho will have to wait and see - after all jobs might not come up and I might not even get one straight away even if there were plenty!

How are you coping with hubby being away all week? Especially as you've got such a young baby.

Off to see m/w now - find out how huge this baby is (it feels massive!)

Em x

Hi, my name is Hayley, im 22 years old and i come from cornwall. im a full time mum to Oliver who is nearly 6 months. I was planning on going back to work in january but i found out a while ago that i have no job to go back to and as im enjoying being at home with my lo i have decided to be a full time mum.

Hi Mandi ,
I'm sure you'll enjoy Netherlands. It is daunting travelling with chn but it's a short flight, aagghhh, that's what everyone told me. Honest it will be fine, mind I've only done it with 2 so far, but going with 3 soon. Will your husband be with you? We've also gone by ferry and that was great fun
I don't know Zaandam but love Amsterdam and there are some great beaches in Nl.
Hi Em, It is difficult with hubby being away, it is not ideal and we are all not happy about it. When we were all out there my hubby ended up travelling a lot so we'd all be over in NL and he'd be all over the place. Also my little boy was due to start nursery and although he attended an English speaking play group and a Dutch playgroup, I felt he needed a bit more + husbands company didn't pay so were unsure what to do, pay for English school or go to Dutch school. I had made friends with some people whose chn went to Dutch school and that was great with regard learning Dutch but, I just didn't know what to do. I had to return and finish a course, so we came home. Hopefully we will all get back together properly soon. I had even been approached about working in the International school but childcare was really difficult. Hope m/w appointment went well.

Tracy xx

Hi all - just thought I'd add myself - I'm Sam, 31, have 3 daughters, Lauren who will be 5 on 23rd Dec, Mia who is 2 and Violet who is 11 wks. I have been a stay at home mum for 5 years and I must admit its been hard at times but since Lauren started school I have a made a lot more friends and don't seem to be in that much!! Thats to my oh's relief as he works nights so sleeps during the day!

Sam xx