Babies Born August 1st ~ 15th 2008 #7

Wow what a day! I'm so stoked that I got a RAK!!! I didn't realise because I was away from the computer all day and the Bear came and told me when Beth was in the bath!
And the Bear must have read my post this morning :redface: cause today we bought a cot from the Trading Post. She was in it for all of 3 seconds before she figured out how to pull herself up on the bars! but she looks so tiny and cute in it, compared to the hammock, which she seemed really big in! Sleeping ok at the moment so we will see how she goes overnight.
We are all still a bit under the weather, the Bear worked from home today ause he is still feeling lousy. I'm not great and Beth is still a bit sick and fighting off her antibiotics twice a day!
I am sooooo happy about the RAK though! that made my day! woohoo soon I'll have a spunky avvie too!
sorry no personals ... back tomorrow! o yeah and new Beth pics here

pixie great picks love the one in the cot...:) funny that u got a new cot today hrmmmm..

kel wooohoooo for a date set yay!!!!

mell good luck with needles we are LATE ! need to get that done soon.

vic good luck with finding daycare, we use fdc and its great 38.50 a day!

sb and the rest yep very unsettled at night i know its all teething.. plus it doesn't help he sweats so much at his head!!!

im busting to go toilet and josh is alsleep i am scared to put him down as he seems so restless.
got my car seat all fittedin now ya tomorow joshies pead appointment yay:)

kel u coming on Wednesday???

ok folks back again for quick personals....
Squiddy loving the new avatar babe :) good on you for getting that car seat in, we need to get a new one for Beth in the next couple of weeks she is getting close to the weight limit for her capsule.
Mel how did M go with her needles? I'm holding off doing Beth's for as long as I can cause the 4 month ones messed with her so much... and with her being sick, I want her fully recovered before we do needles again.
MM - mwah! You are going gangbusters with your sewing.... I was wanting to get a sewing machine a few months ago... but we've got nowhere to put it, and I don't know how to sew really but I just had a sudden urge! it might have gone away now though LOL
Vic good luck finding the right CC for miss N..... it's so hard I know!
Kel - :leap: woohoo! for the wedding date!
SB - the Bear saw what I wrote about using abstinence and said "the problem with using abstinence as contraception is sometimes it breaks" :rofl:
big :hug: and :hello: to everyone else.... better get going, only so much Teletubbies the girl can watch before her eyes go square!

Lol pixie!! Teletubbies are scary ... but kids seem to like them!! :rolleyes:

We have had Veygas in the cot pretty much from the start (except when he wouldn't sleep unless he was on me!! :lol:) He's a lazy little monkey though, prefers to lie down and roll around than sit up or anything ... having said that, he now has a tendency to roll to his side and just lie there propped up on his elbow! He has also started sleeping on his tummy (all of my kids have done it!)

Talk about sewing! TMI - I was on the toilet last night and go sick of seeing the toilet paper sitting on the floor still in the pack, so I made a toilet roll holder! Will have to take some pics!

LOL@ Bear's comment!! :rofl: DP reckons he's away too much to abstain! He joked the other day that I might be UTD again, cause I was craving baked beans and fried eggs on toast!! :rofl: PLUS, I got him hooked on it too!! hahaha

Vic - :hug: good luck with the child care search!

Kel - yay for setting a date!!! My DP doesn't deal with pooey nappies at all!! He dry reaches every time he has to take one off!! Most of the time, toddler poo easily shakes off into the toilet, and I manage to get baby poo off under the tap in the laundry tub (I don't have a little squirt :()

Squidipa - I LOVE CLOTH NAPPIES!! I think because of the age gap between my two, the OSFA aren't quite cutting it (although it is good having a heap of nappies that either of them can wear!) I don't know what it is, but medium sized nappies suit Veygas perfectly, whereas I am having a few probs with the OSFA. Hence I am making medium and large pocket nappies for my two, which is working well.I am also about to embark on night nappies and all-in-one nappies (cause they are easy to grab and chuck in the nappy bag when you're in a rush and on your way out the door!)

I am seriously kicking myself that I didn't convert sooner!

Anyway big :hello: to everyone ... the dishes are calling me and only had 3 hours sleep last night :doh: damn insomnia!

mwah!! xxxx

Heaps of work today, boo hoo.

Just rang 6 FDC people and so far only 1 *might* be able to look after N, and I am not so sure, going around tomorrow to visit. Another was engaged and the last I left a message, the one i am really keen on is full atm but we would hope to get in downt he track. ATM I an now leaning towards the local CC, I was really impressed when I was there yesterday... aurghhh this sucks!! But I need to spend a bit more time working and N will enjoy with social time - she is quite the social butterfly.

That is cheap Squidipa is that before CCB etc?

That's aweseome Pixie! Can't wait to see your AV!!

Sorry I can't tink to type more, gotta call up about some new tyres... yay... just what I ened to spend $$ on atm...another reason to sort out the care thing asap!

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That is cheap Squidipa is that before CCB etc?

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Yep before i actually pay for three 8 hour days just for ds3 and that costs me weekly 16.10, with out consession it is 38.50 a day a day being 8 hours.


my head is everywhere at moment NOT enough sleep josh caught dd's cold again gonna do needles tomorrow. also joshie LOVES his car seat first time ever he slept in it for like ages im so impressed.

try to type more later xoxox

Don't forget Vic that your income is taken into account with the child care fees too - mine are $80 a day for the two kids - and thats with the government percentage already taken out (but before the rebate every quarter obviously!!)

And thats a pretty standard price - and we don't earn HUGE incomes - just medium income earners..

Thanks Mel and Squidipa I have absolutely NFI how much we will get back, as I run my own business, my hours have been down, therefore income down, last financial year we came just under 100k (both incomes combined).

DH wants to quit work and look after her but that would mean me working longer hours agin and I am not so keen. but after we have moved houses and we have the extra income of rent coming in, we might be able to re-evaluate the $$ then.

Vic - I can tell you that we are under the $80,000 mark (combined) and we get 61% of our child care paid for by the childcare benefit. So that is on top of the $80 we pay for ONE day in child care. And they all cost the same up here.

Does that meat you CC is abour $205 per day for both if my calculations are correct? :think:

Eekk just being doing some research and there is an A B C centre which is charging $132 a day OMG!!!

But I have just read this as well:

Child Care Tax Rebate
November 2008

The Australian Government's Child Care Tax Rebate is a payment to families of 50% of their out-of-pocket child care costs, up to $7500 per child annually.
The Child Care Tax Rebate is not income tested.
The Child Care Tax Rebate is paid quarterly or as an annual lump sum payment.

So quartely I would get half back, and then we might get a bit of the CCB as well, is that right? Hmm I should probably have this in my other thread!

Sorry!!

Vic last year our income estimate was 108,000 and our ccb was only 11% it's now 98,000 and we were getting 36% with one child in child care. You can now see why it's not worth me going back to work :(

OMG Mel!!!! I hope they provide nappies and food with those fees

You don't get any CCB after $117000 for one child (I think it's that much) but yes you will get the %50 as long as you and hubby both qualify as working over 15 hours per week or in my case volunteering

Vic - with them in daycare (both) for the 3 days I was working - it was just over $200 for those days, and I think our percentage was 58% or something? Now I *think* its about 61%. So of that $80 a week that we pay (for the one day) - the government pay 40% a week. So yeah, its about $120 a day for the two kids. Which is standard around here. Then out of that $80 I pay a week - I get $40 of it back each week for the quarter. Does that make sense? Its late, I could be babbling!!!

Kel - nope mate, no food supplied and we use cloth nappies so supply our own :)

Mel- Ours used to use cloth but have now changed to disposable I wonder how happy they'd be if I demand they use cloth HAHA. I think some childcare centres that are charging huge fees could at least provide food.

Kel - ooh I wish they would all do cloth so I didn't have to supply my own!!! LOL

And I must have been having a brain fart last night - we get 60% rebate - so the government pay 60 and we pay 40%.. pmsl... ahhh... how intelligent am I when posting late at night!!!! HAHAHAHAHA

Thanks heaps Kel and Mel :) I never looked into it earlier, but our sounds a lot cheaper than what you have up there!

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Kel - ooh I wish they would all do cloth so I didn't have to supply my own!!! LOL

And I must have been having a brain fart last night - we get 60% rebate - so the government pay 60 and we pay 40%.. pmsl... ahhh... how intelligent am I when posting late at night!!!! HAHAHAHAHA

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:rofl: I know what you mean I was trying to work our the %, thinking am I close with this at all, must do a bit more maths!!

I reckon then full day fee is $59.50, so the CCTR (easily work those hrs already) would bring it down to $29.75, and then if I estimate about the same as Kel which is pretty much what I would be looking at a bit more of a reduction, so it isn't going to "cost" a lot a day (IMHO), here is a link to what the local CC offers....

CC Info

They used to do a full cloth service too, but people wern't using it! I sooo would have gone yes to the cloth, it was included!! We'll be sending her Ittis and Pea Pods, food is included as well.

I think I finally understand all the rebates etc too now, it was sooo confusing but now I get it, I am actually happy with even just the 50% back, but the daily rates we are paying here are a LOT less than you guys have up there!

Sorry girls for the diversion, it is such a hard decision, but I feel that if I am not paying that much out of pocket, I would be happy to drop her off after her morning boob at 7:45am, and be back there before/around 3pm then she would only have one bottle of EBM (I would only need to express once a day ;)) and we have the rest of the afternoon of her awake time :)

Ok now going to return to normal conversation -

So much for our sleeping until 7am, N is being a poobah, all over the place with her morning wake ups I am hoping that it is just due to frustration, not being able to roll or something...... :lol:

Great photos Pixie, beth is just so darn cute!!!

Thanks MM, not really what I want to do, but with building and our current house $$ are just getting tighter and I want to reduce a bit of $$ stress.

Have to agree the Teletubbies scare me!! One of my uni friends used to love them though :rofl:

Crap must run for now, I am working a specification for the supply and installation of Bitumen... how exciting!!

Morning all! :hello:

Man, the child care we had Miss K and Master K in put their fees up just after Veygas was born (and we don't live near it anymore anyway) but as they had increased their hours and it was a "community" run centre :rolleyes: our fees went up to nearly $250 per week for 2 kids for 2 days each. We cut them down to one day a week each ($125 per week in fees) with NOTHING included, plus restrictions on what we could send, food wise .... they were ONLY allowed water (no juice, cordial, poppers etc) or bottles for the babies, they weren't allowed to take muesli bars, pre packaged fruit bars/straps, nothing with nuts in it (DD ONLY ate peanut butter sandwiches!), nothing with egg in it, plus we had to provide our own nappies .... pre school ended up being cheaper and better for DD, and Master K didn't (and still doesn't) miss the socialisation ... yet :lol: ...

And those fees were AFTER the CCB!!! Plus we got the rebate, but it was only at 30% then ....

For me, I feel bad enough that DP is away so much, without the kids having to be separated from me as well (I don't think Veygas would be too happy if I left him with anyone else - he still very reluctantly lets DP hold him!! :rofl: Bloody mummy's boy!! ;))

Anyway, time for coffee (maybe tea, I dunno, I'm too indecisive today!) and then some creativity!! ;)

mwah to all! xxx

MM - yeah our daycare is pretty strict too on what we can pack for the kids - plus - nothing in cling wrap - so its containers all the way (which is a PITA sometimes!!!)

Don't forget to show me some of your creativity!!!!

Wow girls- those fees are crazy!! I can see why some people decide its just not worth going back to work! I will probably consider it maybe when S gets older for the whole socialization thing, but hey there is always the very cheap playgroups for that too!!

LoL- i thought the TellieTubbies had been taken off air!! But no- i will admit- I have resorted to letting S watch them!! After i have fed him his breakfast, he is happy to stay in his pram (our make shift high chair!!) and watch them while i eat my breakfast!! lol Sadly we are a huge TV household (all my fault!!) so its always on- but since S has started becoming much more aware of it i have been trying to keep it on ABC kids!! He likes the show with the garden tools too!! But his all time favourite is the Simpsons!! :redface: Oh and lately he has been loving the subway ad where they sing the song "I feel good!!" lol he stops whatever he is doing and listens, and i sing along and he giggles and loves it!!

Still no darn teeth here yet, but things have settled down a bit here at nights, and he is sleeping a bit more through the night- last night i was soooo full when he did wake up coz he had slept so long!! I hope he keeps that up!! I am still bringing him into bed when he wakes, but i keep meaning to try and feed him and return him to his cot- but it never happens! Ohh speaking of cots- how is Beth liking hers?? And i was wondering- as i feed S to sleep and he gets nice and cosyin my arms, when i go to put him in his cot- its always rather cold in there, do you guys think a hot water bottle would help- like if i lay it where i am going to put DS and then take it away when i put him in there would that work or would he then get too cold again? I guess i will just give it a go!

He has gotten on all fours a few times now!! Yesterday he got a bit excited and lifted both his hands up at the same time and di a full face dive!! Lucky he thought it was funny!!!

Well i am excited, i am off for a trip back north not this weekend but next! I am driving to Melbourne and catching up with some girls i met here on BB then flying up to visit mum and a few other friends aswell.. For the caboulture girls, i have been invited to your meetup at Gloria Jeans- its the day before i fly back home again- looking forward to meeting some new faces!!

Well S is sleeping, so i better do some house work!! Hmmm, might check fbook before i do though!! lol

Hope everyone has a great day!!