h2g2 The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy: Earth Edition

[Amy P]

8th November

Boss never called. I'm starting to think this might be a pattern. It may be wiser to call her instead.

[Amy P]

9th of November

Yay, job is back on track. I'm doing only two days a week rather than three to start with so that the other lady who applied for the job can be trained up to be my assistant once I move from assistant level to teacher level next year (hopefully). It feels a but weird but as I don't make much money from the assistant level pay (it just about covers nursery fees) I have no problem with starting slow.

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I have one of my practice babywearing consultations today with a neighbour who has never worn her toddler before but is interested in finding out more. I've no idea if I'll convert her but as she asked me I'm hopeful that she'll be doing it with an open mind.

[Amy P]

10th of November

has moved on from "Oooh! I can walk!" stage to "Oooh! Look at all these shiny things I can stop and touch and pick up and eat!" etc.etc. which does make walking into town rather more difficult than it used to.

On the plus side, his feet have grown so replacing his worn out shoes doesn't feel so bad as we've gone up half a size. It would have been a tad annoying to have bought some 5.5s only for him to grow out of them in a couple of weeks!

[Amy P]

I remember having to baby-proof my house when certain friends arrived. Everything small/breakable went to top shelves!

It's funny how your belongings get gradually higher and higher as they get older!

11th of November

I can't remember a night as awful as that for a long time. And yet this morning, despite having less than half his normal 11 hours, he's fine. Unlike his mum. It's just bizarre. It must have been insomnia on his part; he mostly seemed upset because he wasn't asleep, not because he was in pain.

[Amy P]

In other news, Mr Vip and I had a good chat last night and we've decided to put the sling shop idea on hold. I've been working on it non-stop for a couple of months and it's become a little draining. It does feel a bit pointless to earn money but never having the time to enjoy it when I have another option (the new job). Admittedly the new job doesn't get me as excited as the other one, but as long as I don't hate it it's a much better option than running a business in the evenings and weekends. I want to be able to go to orchestra, to take up bellringing again, found a choir, write more music for my LARP game, all sorts of things, and at the moment I can't because every moment I'm not looking after Luke I'm doing sling stuff.

I won't drop it all - I'll certainly try to get competent enough to become a consultant, and run the new Meet I've just started - but as a volunteer, where I can have a bit more control and feel less like I'm giving up my whole life for it.

So that's a bit of news!

12th of November

Argh. I got my contract through last night and it transpires that rather than breaking even, as I expected, I'm actually losing money by taking on this job. I get paid per session, and I did my calculations on there being four sessions per morning. It turns out there's three.

I'm not sure what to do. I've said I'll take the job and even returned an electronic copy of the contract before double checking with an email she sent me regarding what hours I was required to work.

Argh.

Mr Vip and I decided to accept and just take the financial hit for now and see it as a training fee whilst I'm learning to be a teacher, but it's a bit annoying, really, partly because it's my fault for not checking this out before accepting. I assumed it would be the same as last time I applied. Apparently, it isn't.

Argh.

Looking on at as a way of getting *some* money to get trained is the best way. Then, when you are trained you can leave and they can either find someone else, or increase your money or hours so that you're not losing out

Once I become a teacher then the pay is good enough for me to take something home after fees. So yes, I am trying to see it as a training fee, it's just frustrating that it will be Easter next year at the *earliest* before I can take on a class of my own.

I can't leave and do the same job though, they've written that into my contract. I've got to leave at least a year before I can do a similar job.

Although, now I think about it, I wonder how well that stands up once I'm no longer an employee?

Good luck in all of this Vip. I'd have been tempted to keep the online shop idea floating for a while. If there's a gap in the market someone else might leap in before you.

And I am sorry to hear your baby is a poor sleeper. My son was so awful that in the end I had to lay it on the line that 'everyone wakes up in the night, they just don't wake everyone else up too. If you wake me up before morning, I will be too tired to play with you in the daytime.' I probably emphasised the point by playing dead on the sofa.

It worked, he still woke up, but he stopped kicking up a fuss.

Does nap a lot during the day to make up his sleep quota? It's a really horrible time having a tired toddler whose sleep pattern is at odds with the world.

He normally sleeps beautifully during the night, and has pretty much dropped his naps during the day (much to my disappointment!). It's pretty rare that he pulls terrible nights like that. I'm pretty lucky, overall, but it doesn't mean those random nights aren't horrid!

I still haven't completely given up on the idea of the sling shop. I do kind of want to do it still, but I don't want to end up ignoring either Luke or my own down time to do so. The last couple of months where I have been doing stuff every evening have been tough, and the thought of continuing like that for the next couple of years put me off really.

[Amy P]

13 of November!

Aaaah! Mad dash, scramble scramble, peaceful walk, report leaking water main, LATE! run run home, jump in car, music class singing, supermarket shopping, Peppa pig car riding, home, tired baby, sleep refusing, grape demanding...

'Peppa pig car riding'? At first I wondered if you'd visited Peppa Pig World, but I guess you mean a little ride-on. Do you have the one that says, 'I'm Peppa Pig. If you jump in muddy puddles, you MUST WEAR YOUR BOOTS! I'm Peppa Pig' in a bossy voice when you press the button?

<BB<

It's a little car, and adores anything with a steering wheel. Usually it has a little screen that plays that OH SO ANNOYING theme tune, but thankfully today it was broken.