FEB 2010 First birthdays beckon and toddlerdom approacheth...uh-oh!

[InmaculadaConcepcion]

It's humbling to look back at the last year and see how our LO's have gone from helpless newborns to action-packed pre-toddlers.

BRING IT ON!!!

That's one thing about babies, eh? Just when you think it can't get much worse, something gets better....

DD woke once last night, resettled after a quick feed then awake for the day at 06.15. The once-only wake-ups are becoming more regular now (although we still have intermittent nights with two or even three...) so I'm hopeful we're continuing along an improving trajectory
[optimistic emoticon]

Aaaaarghhhh...DD woke at 2.30am, didn't get her back to sleep until 4am and I had to get up at 5am to go to work. Think she is teething or due to overtiredness from stressful day? She woke again at 5.05am and had to get DP to sort her out..she pood. :(
I am so tired that I am going to bed now. Thank god working from home tomorrow.
I hate this!!!

Praying for a better night. Well done CS

Oh and my best friend had her baby girl today. Very long awaited. So pleased for her and her husband that I had a little cry.

Hmm, I wonder... dd2 is doing rather a lot of circuits with her baby walker ...I may have to take the battery out of the damn thing because if that puppy is asking me to play one more time I may get aggressive

Sleep well LBH

OK Ladies I need ideas on what to buy my 6 month old niece as a belated Christmas present. Despite recently only having had a 6 month old, I am stumped. I think she'll be a early walker as she's crawling already. I was going to make up a little treasure box thing as DD likes hers so much, but seeing as it's free I think my brother and his GF might be a bit .

IC DD 26 Jan
ML DD 28 Jan
SG DD 2 Feb
BG DD2 3 Feb
SB DS 4 Feb
CS DD2 9 Feb
LBH DD 12 Feb
BL DS2 14th Feb (believe I was the only one with a baby Valentine, despite several due dates that day! Even posted about it about an hour before I went into labour!!)
BC DS 15 Feb
Scones DD 22 Feb
PA DD 5 March
Abs DD 7 March

Have been in next car seat since 7 months due to monster baby. It's amazing his chubby legs can hold his weight for walking as he really is huge (especially compared to 'the stick' that is his brother!!)

How girl heavy is this thread according to the birthday list above?! Was pondering it the other night. Think I am the only one with two boys?

PA - I love the look of this www.amazon.com/Magica-Clutching-Toy-From-Haba/dp/B0033M22LM/ref=pd_sbs_t_5

Yes, Bethy we are rather girl heavy. I hadn't really thought about it that much. Also most of my RL friends have girls too. I was supposed to have my caesarian on Valentine's day but I was bumped and had to wait until 6am the next day.

Sleep well LBH.

IC Definitely sounds like sleep is improving. It does make such a difference.

Can't believe we will probably be on one nap a day soon.

Oh, meant to say - am contemplating childminding when DS is a bit older. We have planning permission in place to build another room above our kitchen extension so can make a lovely day/play room.

PA what about one of those touchy feely books? www.usborne.com/catalogue/catalogue.aspx?cat=1&area=EY&subcat=BTF.
Even DD2 is starting to "read" them instead of eating them, DD1 definitely was very into them from 5 months.

BG DD2 already had 2 bottles today and 2 toasts she has only been up 4h. She ate a lot yesterday too.

...or a Sophie La Giraffe?

Mind you, your treasure basket would probably go down best with the baby. You could always write an explanatory note....

I remember a friend of mine telling me how his one year-old received a small (real) saucepan and lid and a wooden spoon for a Christmas present - and loved them more than anything else.

Ah, bummer LBH. I hope last night was better...

Blimey, Bc your a glutton for punishment total angel to come up with that!!! Good for you. Decent CMs are much in demand...

We shall see. The only thing that is putting me off really is that so many parents can't pick their kids up til 6 or later and I really want to have time for DS when he comes home from school.

dd2 is going through another clingy phase and gets hysterical if I am out of sight. Flattering in a way but also extremely frustrating

She's also still incredibly hungry today... Gave her porridge for breakfast (the amount I would give dd1!), then she had three small rice cakes because she couldn't wait for lunch at 11.30, followed by a generous portion of pasta bake, half a pear, half a slice of bread with butter, and then a handful of dry shreddies (I ran out of bread ). Plus a large mug of water. I may have to rethink what I give her and have more on stand by rather than grab whatever I can find . Oh, and she now thinks bananas are inedible and spits them out.
Life is never boring with babies and small children

I've just found out that i'm off to new york for my birthday ! Dh has booked it as a surprise for me and the dds are with his parents.

Oh, and happy birthday for tomorrow stoof!

Wish my DD ate more. She went from 50% at birth to 10% now. GP and HV say not to worry 'cos she's fine in all other ways and DP's family are all whippet thin. I offer a whole range of foodstuffs at each mealtime and she gets through 15 fl oz of formula a day but she's still small. Oh well.

Good news on all the better sleeping!

At 6mths my DD started really loving little shakers and bells.

BC admiring your courage. I am dreading the next 2 years wouldn't do it with anybody else's kids.

BG We are in the same boat, eating loads and clinging all the time, unless it is somebody else's house or the embassy where I was this morning, and then she goes explore on her own

CS Yeah!
slightly , have fun

ooh CS you lucky thing. Have a fabulous time and happy birthday

so that's sleeping through and NY

well we had a baddish night. Every 2 hours plus awake from 2-3:30. She had a two hour nap yesterday and was still cranky when she woke up, so guess she's a little off.

I think I'll go with a good treasure box and buy a few items. Will do when in the UK though, otherwise there will be some interesting luggage.

We're off to Las Vegas again tonight. Might even do the Grand Canyon again if the weather is nice as I was a bit gutted at the weather last time.

BC That's sounds lovely if somewhat insane.

I think there were quite a few returns to work this week, did everyone get on OK?

Stangirl I reckon DD isn't even on the charts anymore as she barely scraped it at her last weigh in.

I have a intern working for me now 10hours a week. How cool is that

Awesome, CS - enjoy!

Yep, PA, that IS cool! Make sure you exploit them shamelessly

Well, DD's mobility is getting more co-ordinated and confident all the time. It may have taken her a while to make the quantum leap needed to start crawling, but by golly, she's away now! And she LOVES pulling/pushing herself up and tries to do it on everything. I'm starting to think it may not be long before she's taking her first steps, I can see her balance improving almost exponentially.

She's not clingy, but squeals if I'm out of her line of sight for longer than a few seconds.

And she's definitely fastening "mama" and "dada" to the right people - lots of the former if she's with me, lots of the latter if with DH.

It's so exciting! I'm really enjoying this first-time mum wonderment....

bethy I agree only 3 boys in this list!!!

PA I agree with mama on the touchy books. DS has one (in French) on trucks and he likes striking it.

DS lunches at the moment are a bit of touch and try. He either will clear his plate or only eat a 1/4. I guess if it is too chunky, he doesn't fancy it sometimes.

I'm not speaking about our sleep as the MN jinx is always around!!!

Thanks for your thought on his black eye. It didn't turn black, it stayed purple for 2 days and today it seems to be gone. However the bruise on his cheek is nicely blue today!

IC at your excitement at all your LO's firsts . There are plenty more to come in the next few years and you are going to love every minute! Actually, you'll love everything twice over with another one (keeping my fingers crossed for you)

CS Happy Birthday!! And have fun in NY... Not likely to have that kind of present from my dh in February... Partly because we have no family to take the girls. (And partly because it would never occur to him...)

I'm a bit with dh tonight... I sit on a committee once a month which means he is in charge for an afternoon. I came home earlier and found dd2 crying and refusing her bedtime milk and dd1 no longer speaking to her daddy because she was upset he'd shouted at the baby! (She is happy to torment her occasionally but fiercely protective of her baby sister when someone else is not nice to her). Dh looked incredibly stressed so things obviously hadn't gone too well... Did find out that dd2 had actually slept until 3pm so he only really had to cope for three hours until I was back. Honestly... . Guess I should be pleased at how essential I am in this family!! dd2 was immediately calm in my arms, happily took her milk and went to bed without a problem. dd1 also cheered up after I gave her a big cuddle and had a bit of a chat with her. She said the baby was very upset because she wanted Mama.

Completely different topic: my coil fell out today. Not sure that is supposed to happen after 4 months? Just as well I noticed though...

Sorry BG but that made me (the coil)

Looking on the brighter side, I like the fact that I'm the best one at dealing with DD, even though DH is the SAHD.

IC I count myself very lucky that I have been there for her first steps and first crawling. Even DH missed those. As I said in my blog, we still find ourselves jaw dropped when she walks around, even though she's been doing it for ages.

I like when she BF's and you can tell how big she is because I remember all the landmarks of when she was a newborn (i.e. how big her head was in my hand, how far down my body her legs went).

It's a sign BG!