November 09 - Autumnal times are drawing near, soon our babes will be one year!

[MsInterpret]

Hello ladies, hope no one minds me taking the liberty of creating a new thread and approves of the name choice. We've been moving a bit slower than antenatal so though we'd most certainly have some year-olds by the time we finished this one!

My baby boy turned 1 today. We had a lovely sunday roast with friends. Have felt a little tearful. The last year has gone too quickly. Funny that Kyte's cookies receipe has been posted. I was making those the night before I went in to labour .

Anyone else feeling really hormonal since their periods have come back? I'm having terrible mood swings. I need to see the GP and sort out my contraception. That may help get me back on track.

Hope you've all had lovely weekends.

You lot talk too much, I can't keep up

DWB congrats on the scan, all so exciting!

Sorry to hear so many ladies and babies have been ill, I hope you're all feeling better now or at least getting there.

We've all been full of coughs and colds since the new start of term in Sept. Touch wood no really nasty bugs, yet......

Fruit I hope ds had a lovely day, it's so sad that this year seems to have flown past in the blink of an eye.

I'm dreading Lotties birthday, to me it just means the end of me having a baby, ever again I have a lot of pregnant friends at the moment and I'm getting a nasty broody feeling again. Oh well will just have to steal their babies for extra cuddles

Does anyone have any ideas for birthday presents for them too, our house already looks like a toy shop,(not even joking!) so I'm really stuck. Would appreciate any ideas.

ds1 & 2 are back to school tomorrow and dd goes back to nursery so shall have a bit of peace and quiet back again, it's been a mad week.

Tuesday ds3 (2y old) decided to throw himself backwards on the chair in the livingroom, hit his neck on the arm and then fall off onto the floor. Dh brought him to me upstairs as I was sorting Lottie out. Laid him on my bed and he just sobbed his heart out whilst holding the left side of his neck shouting "ow ow oooowwwwww" He wouldn't move without screaming in pain, only stopped whilst laid completely still. At that point I panicked and rang an ambulance, really thought he'd done something serious Was very scary.

Anyway ended up spending day in A&E with xrays, checks etc. Turns out he gave himself whiplash! Only my son could do that. He is fine now, still a little stiff when trying to look one way but it could have been worse.

Had a Halloween party last night, just had our 5 dc's, sisters 2 and friends with their 2 but was total madness! Fun but hard work. They all ended up having very late night and I certainly paid the price for it today. I have had 4 extremely tired, whiney, stroppy, screaming hids all day. The only one I haven't heard a peep from is Lottie!! Surely something not right about that lol.

Oops seem to have waffled on, again, maybe if I get on here everyday I might shut up a bit!

(EasyEggs)

Wow, it was a long list at the end!

Fruit happy birthday to your DS hope you all enjoyed the day.

I might have to try and make some of those cookies..

easyeggs (easier to write that than your new name!) nice to hear from you and I completely understand what you mean about Lottie's birthday approaching. Ioan is my last and it's sad to see the baby bit go ... not sad enough to have another though! Hope your DS is better now after his fall.

We had BIL and his family down for the weekend, was worried about it but needn't have been - it was lovely. SIL was so sweet about it all and was very supportive of me about the trial split. She was very understanding and made me feel I was doing the right thing.

It also looks like I'm going to have to stop bf my milk supply has been dropping and he's getting quite frustrated at feeds. Give him some milk in a bottle after and he downs it straight away and then settles. Not a huge amount needed to top up but the writing is on the wall I think. Last night I stopped the early morning feed so I think I will just stop gracefully now rather than do lots of stuff to try and prolong it - I think that would just make me feel as though I'm failing if that makes sense. Odd though, I didn't expect it to go like that.

Fruit Happy birthday to your LO! I am definitely feeling hormonal these days. I have the mini-pill but I'm not taking them, yet...

helips Happy birthday to Millie!

EasyName Poor DS3! Glad it wasn't anything more serious but no one wants to visit A&E.

scarlotti Glad you had a nice visit with BIL and SIL. My milk supply has been dropping as well :( I give M everything I've got first thing in the morning and then she gets breakfast an hour later. It seems like she'll eat solids all day long if I offer them... I feel like I'm failing her, even though I never planned to bf past 1 year. I guess I wanted it to be up to me.

Had a crazy weekend here. I think we spent time with about 20 different people over two days, completely random assortment of friends and family and out-of-town visitors, one after the other. Never even had time to put together a costume for M Knackered! Off to bed. Happy November, ladies :)

longwayaway Ioan hasn't bf in the day since about 6 or 7 months! Again tonight he fed from me then was unsettled so took 5oz milk afterwards. So, tonight was my last feed. I'd like to stop it gracefully rather than manically trying to feed constantly to get my supply up and worrying about it all the time. I think a year is a very good amount of time and I'd rather stop now and be pleased with what I've done, than go out under a cloud if that makes sense.

fruit, a bit late but happy birthday!
I'm also already a bit sentimental. Today a year ago I went for a cake with my friends and on my way home I felt the first contraction. Nothing really happened over night but still, it was the start of it and I was sure that this was it.

easy, it must have been terrible for you (or do you get used to things like that?). I'm really glad that it wasn't too serious.

longway that sounds like a busy weekend! I hope it was fun too.

scarlotti, I quite like your description of stopping gracefully! I guess you can't really plan it anyway. We are further away from stopping than ever. Paula seems to be a bit obsessed with it at the moment and as our first attempt of introducing cowsmilk didn't go well we need to keep bf anyway (which I don't mind). There was lots of vomitting (hopefully for another reason but not sure) so we have to wait a month or so before trying again.

(tis me EasyEggs, yet another name change!)

Scarlotti & longwayaway it is sad when you know bf'ing is coming to an end I bf ds1 & 2 until they were 16 & 15m, only one evening feed each by then but I still felt awful about it. But with dd1, ds3 & dd2 I only ever managed to get to 3 or 4months, just didn't have a supply after that.

You have done fantastically well so don't be too hard on yourselves

Fruit Happy belated birthday to Amelia, hope you all had a lovely day. Still can't work out where the last year has gone!

Is Koumak still around? Maybe under different name, I'm lost as to who everyone is! If you are here Happy birthday to Olivia today

Ds 3 is fine now, you wouldn't know he'd done anything. He obviously didn't learn as he still keeps trying to jump on the sofa and no, you never get used to any of this!!

Ursi No matter how many times they are ill, have a temp or bug you still worry and panic slightly like it's the first time. Nobody tells you when you're having your first that you realllly won't ever stop worrying about them, for the rest of your life!

Scarlotti I'm glad B&SIL were really nice about everything for you. I should imagine that's a weight off your mind and nice to know you have their support

longway that sounds like a totally manic weekend! Hope you've got a peaceful week ahead to recover.

Off shopping now, haven't got anything for Lotties birthday yet and no idea what to get, apart from clothes, she is finally growing at last! Then the excitement that is food shopping, can't wait lol.

Hi all, Had a lovely day yesterday for Millie's birthday. She was totally overwhelmed by all her presents and her big brother ended up opening most of them (and blowing out the candle on her cake!). I can't believe my baby is a year old, it also seems overnight that she has grown up. Today she has been clapping lots, using a fork to feed herself and keeps giving me kisses and making mwah sounds when she does it, too cute!

easyeggs we bought Millie a Wheely bug for her birthday, could that be an option for Lottie? Hope your ds' is on the mend.

scarlotti You should feel proud that you have fed Ioan for this long and you have obviously given him all that he needs. If I remember rightly when you stop breastfeeding your body gets a bit hormonal and this can make you feel a bit down so if you are feeling sad just tell yourself its the hormones and you'llfeel better soon!

Happy birthday to all the babies, Koumak and Kyte if you are out there!

Hello!

Happy Birthday to all those I've missed, I hope you've all had fantastic days

I'm feeling a bit sad that Henry will be 1 next week, I feel like that's my baby days over as he is my last baby
I'm trying to stop/cut down b/feeding too, I've managed during the day but still feed at 7pm 1am and 6am minimum sometimes 3am and 4am too I've tried not feeding in night but he just screams!

Scarlotti that sounds the perfect way to finish.

easyeggs Your poor ds, so glad he is ok, I agree it always scares you when they are hurt or poorly no matter how many children you have or how old they are.

I feel like a terrible mother today, Henry has been a bit off for the last 10 days and this morning woke with what I thought was snot over his cheek and ear, anyway as I was collecting ds2 from nursery at lunchtime my friend looked into my pushchair and said OMG there is liquid pouring out of his ear I took him to the dr and he has a very bad ear infection. He has had a swab taken and some anti b's to get him started until we have the results to see if he needs different ones! I feel terrible!

Happy Happy Birthdays to the babies I have missed the last few days.

Hectic house here the past week. Both DS' birthdays 2 days apart. Have a poorly 1 year old with a cold and teething pain (still no teeth!) I'm also feeling really down about C turing 1 and the baby days are nearly over. He isn't walking yet and only just doing a bit of crawling. So I don't feel like it's passed by just yet. But I could do with some sleep (like some of us I'm sure), after a year of sleep deprivation, it's rather worrying to think how much longer C is going to wake up in the night. I have all good intentions to sort it all out, but he screams the house down if I don't give him milk in the night. I'm also wondering how long I want to continue BF for. I had it in my mind that a year would be my goal. I'm in two minds about what I want to do. scarlotti You've done brilliantly to BF for a year. Don't be hard on yourself.

Tigger Don't feel bad about the ear infection. C had one and I had no idea. He showed no signs of being in pain. The GP picked up on it when I took him as he was so poorly with a cold and temperature. Now, I think we're on the 4th/5th cold since Sept . I'm sure H will be fighting fit in no time

EasyEggs Hope your DS is feeling ok. I have a DS who is very accident prone. I seem to get an incident letter most days from school. He is full of cuts and grazes. Must be a boy thing. He wants an ice-pack for every bump! Nice to have you back

Best get on. Working today.

tigger, don't feel bad, I'm sure you are a great mother. When they are so little and can't tell us where it hurts it is difficult for us to guess.
Oh, and one pediatrician showed me how to check the ears (when they have a cold and you are worried the ear might be infected). You have to press the little hard part in front of the "entrance" (I'm sure there is a specific expression for this part of the ear but I wouldn't even know in German, I hope you understand). If the child starts crying, then the ear is infected. If not, then there is no pain in the ear. I've tried several times with Paula and so far she never reacted. So I can't prove that it is working but I've read about this in a book too.

easycrazynamechanges, Paula will get her first doll and a ride-on-toy. Two big things I guess but she has two parents with specific things in mind.

One year ago I woke up with contractions. Today I woke up with pain and light cramps.... and got my period three days earlier than expected

Thanks ursigurke and fruits H actually slept for 11 hours solid last night! That's a 1st for him, and I'm guessing is down to anti b's.

Happy birthday to Paula for tomorrow, I hope you have a great day.

Hello hello girls!
God I have missed you. I have been thinking about you all so much. Thank God for facebook, at least I know what you lot have been up to then.
But now things have calm down at work a bit I think I might have time for mumsnet!
I really hope you are all well and all our babies (I am not ready to let go yet!) are amazing as ever. I will try to read backwards to catch up now.

Sooooooo much happening, the year has gone so fast I sometimes feel sick about it. Very emotional at the moment too as well. Yes I did stop breastfeeding (just confirming the theory). Also back at work every day (although Friday from home) with flexi working which seems though that I am working harder than ever before! Also, it seems like we might be buying our first flat. But it is so tiny it's difficult to get excited about. We have been renting and somehow we could always get much bigger renting than buying but how am I going to squeeze with two kids in two bedrooms with the never ending toy collection I really don?t know. I have the feeling that Olivia will be in our room till she goes to school! DH is part time stay at home daddy working only a day or two a week. Olivia in nursery one day a week now and she loves it. Didn?t need settling in at all, she just likes company and was bored at home with her father I think! She is not walking independently yet but can stand and dance by herself and she is incredible climber and crawler. She has this funny way of "walking" on her knees; it's so fast and hilarious! She is talking though and is opinionated already. Also bites, pinches and scratches. All thanks to her big brother I suppose.
She has loads of teeth incl. some moulders. But too dangerous to check! I have stopped breastfeeding about a week ago and too felt very upset about it as it all sort of happened naturally. When I started working again I fed am, mid pm and evening. Then just the am and eve and then just am as had several work and social dos so bottle was introduces in the evening and then the morning she was just frustrated as it wasn?t coming fast or enough so gave up too. I just wished I had that final breastfeed where I could hold her, last cuddle on the boob that I could enjoy if you know what I mean. I don?t even remember the exact day the last feed happened; I didn?t sit there with her and was thinking this is it then. Then again I would just cried loads so probably not. Anyway it?s probably all sour now so no way back . And at least my boobs were not sore for a second so I suppose all is good. Have been feeling very broody but I know that it is the right decision for us so good by babies and hello pink girlie stage!
We got Olivia her big brother?s ?recycled? wooden rocking horse and soft Madagascar penguin Dominik chose for her and Telletubies bath toy. She has all ds toys to play with already so no need for more. I really wanted to buy her a dolly but couldn?t find the one I like anywhere (or not cheap enough) but I suppose there is going to be plenty of time for that yet to come.
www.amazon.co.uk/Zapf-Creation-902219-Chou/dp/B0018CR43K

Happy birthday to all your amazing children and wish you all the best and I promise to poke my head in more often!

Hey everyone

Happy Birthday to all the babies. Wish I could slow time down!

Milk question for bottles babies - what is everyone doing re move to normal milk? Ease it in or just go for it?

Hi all

Lovely to hear about all these birthdays!

Thanks for all the comments - we've now stopped bf and I'm fine. I decided a few nights ago that would be the last one - and even whilst feeding it was taking so long, and he still needed a bit of a top up so I knew it was the right decision for us. Now it's so easy! He has the Hip night time formula at bedtime (only as it has added rice etc to fill him up) then cows milk at 10, then cows milk again at 5am. I heat it up and put it in a flask, then pour it into the bottle in the morning when he wants it - works a treat! The one thing I was worried about was staggering downstairs at 5am to sort bottles, so am delighted to have found a solution! And so delighted now to bin the steriliser!!!

weston we just started giving cows milk so I'd say go for it!

Illness seem to have finally gone here, although I'm bound to jinx it now! His appetite has finally come back and it's so lovely to see him eating food again, rather than a diet of ready brek and milk. Am hoping he's happier at the childminders too tomorrow as he's been quite miserable there of late. Am really hoping it's the illness and nothing more.

Was a bit upset when I picked him up on Wednesday - he was in the kitchen, crying in the high chair and the childminder was in the other room hoovering. Her daughter (13) was in the kitchen, but on the computer. It just felt wrong. I realise she needs to tidy up after the children, but couldn't that have waited 10 mins until they'd all left? He's started crying when he's dropped off and now I don't know whether there's more to it than him just being miserable that I'm leaving him ... maybe I'm being paranoid now!

Oh, Scarlotti, did you talk to her about it? I would be upset, too.

Happy birthday to all the birthday babies!

Just coming on for a bit of a feel sorry for myself moan. We came back from Canterbury on Sunday and both DH and I fell victim to either food poisoning or a D&V bug so we spent our anniversary which was Monday being very ill. I only got better this morning. And now I feel I'm coming down with something else, like a head cold or something. And it was my birthday yesterday. And it's my last week at home. As you see, feeling very sorry for myself indeed (slaps face repeatedly to snap out of it woman!)

SirBoob BTW Thank you, sorry that not on FB.

Ninja, if you're around, is it your birthday too soon? If it is have a good one.

Happy Birthdays to all the babies and mamas!

I must try making those cookies over the weekend, they sound yummylicious. I used to do a course in London and my favourite part of the trip back was Millies Cookies at Paddington before getting on the train (only crumbs ever made it back to DH!)

Tigger I'm at least number 2 here who also hadn't known Lukas had an ear infection. (In my defence, he rubs his ears when he's tired, so it's hard to know whether he's in pain or tired sometimes...)

Also, Fruit am glad to hear I'm not alone in the relentless feeding day and night... He's a booboholic!

Scarlotti Glad the weekend went well, and yay for ILs who are SUPPORTIVE and KIND!

Easy What a horrible time you've had! Glad he's better now but must have been so, so scary! Aaah, and I thought with more than one you somehow relax a bit more...

DWB Hope you're starting to feel better, surely it's time for the blooming soon? ;D

Katster How are you feeling? You had a rough time last time, didn't you?

I just saw a pregnant mum at the breastfeeding support group that I go to, she's got a 16 month old and she said the being pregnant the 2nd time is just an inconvenience, you can't focus all your energy on being pregnant. I was a bit because it made it sound like all the sickness malarkey is all in your head...

Right. Dinner and a big glass of red wine!

Happy bonfire night!

Skorpion That is just too unfair! You're allowed to feel sorry for yourself!

scarlotti, did you talk with the childminder? I agree she could really have waited, especially if he was crying. But it might just have been this one time because she needed it to get done earlier than usual.

skorpion, I'm sorry your anniversary and birthday weren't quite as good as you were hoping. I hope you are not really getting that cold you were talking about so you can enjoy your last couple of days at home. I'm sure you'll find another occasion to celebrate those two events again.

Birthday party here was crazy (only 5 other children but the flat does suddenly become smaller) but Paula seemed to enjoy it most of the time. She wasn't too impressed by her presents but the couple of baloons and lanterns are a big hit. We'll keep them until monday for party no2.

Spoke to the childminder today and she apologised so all is well. Ioan has been much happier there today too, so it must have also been the illnesses taking their toll.
It's so nice to have him back to his old self, laughing and eating well again

Family weekend this weekend with mum down then my brother's lot coming on Sunday - will be fun but tiring!

Hi everyone, I've been AWOL but lurking and thinking of you all lots.

Happy birthday to all those beautiful babes and congratulations mummies for a year of a job well done! Rosa only just turned 11mths; we were at the end of the list!

Hope you enjoyed your wine

skorpion you poor thing! Belated birthday wishes and get well soon.

Back to their sunny selves scarlotti - Rosa has been ill (snotty, coughy and gungy eyes eww!) for what seems like an eternity but today she was so mugh brighter, almost like her old self.

Until she projectile-vommed her bedtime bottle all over me, herself and her bedroom.

And why does this kind of thing always happen when DH is away?!?!

MsInterpret Ah the bodily fluids... life as a mama is glamorous, isn't it? :D

Scarlotti I had meant to comment on your childminder experience (I have NO short term memory, still...) but forgot. I'm glad it's sorted. I know it's a horrible situation to walk into, and you'd automatically think the worst - that he'd been sitting there crying for ages while CM happily carried on hoovering and the daughter surfing, but then again, he might have just started crying as the hoover startled him and the girl might have just been about to get up and soothe him... or something.

Anyway, came back here because the other thing I forgot to say to all of you with sleepless babies out there that I took Lukas to a GP at the surgery who is known to be a bit more holistic in his approach (I had tried to talk to the HV about the sleep, but all I keep getting told is to do CIO, and that'll sort it... I am NOT prepared to do that...) and anyway, this GP prescribed Lukas some homeopathic remedy called phosphorus which we are to give to him before bedtime. Will start it tonight and see what happens, will keep you updated.

I know a lot of people say that homeopathic remedies are codswallop, but tbh, if all it is is sugarpills, then it's not going to do any harm - and who knows, it may well end up bringing sleep to the house!

Brood am a huge fan of homeopathy here. It sorted DS1 out years ago and is fixing DS2's dreadful constipation at the moment. We have a family trait of lazy/slow developing bowel muscles which causes them a lot of discomfort. The homeopathy has been brilliant and works a treat.

DD needs a lift.... back later

Hi all, and Happy Birthday to all those one year old babies. I can't believe it! Like MissInterpret we've just hit 11 months so it still seems a little way off, but I'm sure I will cry. (Mind you, I have cried at Toy Story 3 and a beautiful firework display, just in the past 24 hours, so I am clearly a big bundle of hormones). I can't believe how the time has flown by this time compared with DD, and I do feel quite sad about it. I am starting to wonder if I had a bit of PND with James, or at least I found it quite hard to cope to begin with, and I feel like I have missed out on enjoying him a bit. Anyway, I am enjoying him now.

I feel really strange this evening as DH is away and both children were asleep by 6.30pm. I can't believe my luck, although this CAN'T last - but I am having a glass of wine while I can.

Sorry to those who feel sad about the end of BF. It is a good sign, I think, that your baby has weaned themselves. I sympathise though. I am kind of at the opposite end at the moment, where James still wants to feed a lot during the night (only twice in the day). I KNOW it is a habit, but it's hard to get him out of it.

Speaking of habits, I really want to get back in the MN one! I am so glad you lot are still here to chat to, even if we are all on less these days. I would have been lost without you at some points there! (oh dear, is that the wine or my hormones talking? I am such a lightweight these days...) and I really don't want to lose touch.

Broodzilla Let us know if the homeopathic stuff works - I would dearly love a night's sleep

Hi All, sorry for my self obsessed post earlier in the week, much better now, thank you.

Laugs, hope the quiet evening lasted and you got a good deal of rest.

MsInterpret, poor wee girl. Hope she's OK.

Hope you are enjoying the weekend, quite a nice day out here, must go out for a walk and make the most of it.