Pulling Double Shifts

Can you be "too" tired? I think you can, at the moment! With the seasons changes that have only really hit our home in the last couple of weeks, Ethan's sleeping has gone out the window. He's never really been much of a kid that can just have a 'wind down' period in the middle of the day...he's busy looking for fish in buckets of water, cars in the sandpit, and someone to talk to. Even when he attended daycare, that all-toddler-exhausting exercise where children bounce off each other and have a fantastic time all day socialising and playing, I would often be told he had sat up during nap time and watched other children, or layed next to one and whispered and giggled instead of having a nap.

So, in the world of stay-at-home-mummying, you might say I've been pulling double shifts lately! I think I deserve a pay rise!!!

And yesterday, we kind of got one! It was so nice to check the bank account and find some of my partner's hard earned back pay in there, that I used it to pay down some more debt. I have no illusions that when the bub comes it isn't going to happen so often, but we have managed, in one year, to pay an extra $6000 plus on a personal loan that we could really have been lazy with and only paid the required $1500 for the year on. I had done a couple of Enjo demos last month, and the income from that is still paying my kit off, but because I had some customers pay cash, I transferred the necessary from my partners pay in to the credit card and we're now going to try and function for our second month on $400 in total for groceries, petrol and family entertainment.

Last month was a bit of a breeze, and I think I got a bit too cocky because I even managed to squeeze in a couple of op shops. But this month I just tallied up the christmas laybys - I still have $300 to pay! Fair enough, those laybys are for every child we know, and there are a couple of extras thrown in for Ethans birthday, but geez that's a lot of money isn't it?! Well, I thought so. Until my neighbours were talking yesterday and one mentioned that she is struggling with the fact that her in-laws spend $400 on each of their grandchildren!

So how do you decide when 'enough is enough'? I am doing as much of my own presents as possible - including making the most of my Enjo business while I still get a higher commission, and making some of my gifts - but after that I am under no illusion that there's going to be a point where I will have to buy some things for people. So I am going to have to be tough, raid the gift cupboard and set and re-set my budget. I'd honestly like to approach all the adults that buy for us (meaning my parnter and I) and tell them that we'd appreciate no gifts from now on. It's hard enough to buy for eachother, let alone come up with extra for others that we're just trying to find a 'token' present for. But we shall try. Very hard.

Anyway, sorry for the muddled post. Like I said, I'm pulling double shifts and that means my thinking processes aren't that clear at this time in the morning! But this is the only time I might get to pop in and say hello. And, well, my son didn't get his enjoyment of talking to others from no where, you know!