March 2005 part 6 - Toddling towards summer!

[leogaela]

And her it is!

Oh my goodness - Leogala!!! I bet that has given you quite a shock. Do you know the gender yet? Anyway, congratulations!

Am just back from our Danish holidays, so haven't had time to catch up on everyone's news yet. We had a fabulous time, will post more when I get a moment.

xxx

Thanks Leogaela for the offer to join your group

I have just read your news and was in shock for you . My DD is such a joyful handful at the moment and I don't know how I would cope with being pregnant again at the same time. I am sure you will be fine though - congratulations - it really is lovely news . I am really happy to have joined the group on such a high note.

I have only been coming on mumsnet for a few days and am still learning how everything works. I posted a message for local mums in my area but didn't get much of a response which was disappointing but I am thinking of going to a local playgroup on Thursday and seeing how I get on there - and how my DD gets on of course!

Anyone got any experience of playgroups or think that DD is too young to go and will be walked all over by all the bigger monkeys?

Hope no one minds me joining your group - Madrose are you going to join the thread too?

Welcome Andy - good to see you here.

Leo!!!!!!! Wow, what a surprise! You'll certainly have your hands full, but it will be wonderful!

Glad to hear you enjoyed your hols Pidge, and that you're having a good time in Bucharest, Christina.

Hope Portugal is good Jo - gosh, so many of us on hols at the same time. We are going on the 26th to Majorca for a week. We are renting a villa and taking my parents with us which will enable us to have a couple of nights out on our own!

Had a terrible shock last week. Some friends and I decided to take the children to the beach and when we got there the tide wasn't fully out and it was a bit overcast so we decided to take a walk up over the cliffs first. The original castle walls are there and inside has been planted out in gardens so we went in as it was more sheltered and there was a nice lawned area for the children to run around. Grace, true to form, ran off with a ball that one of the boys had brought, down to the end of the lawned area. It wasn't far, and the garden was enclosed so I knew she couldn't go anywhere. Anyway, I was watching her the whole time but must have taken my eyes off her just for a second when one of my friends said "there isn't water down there is there because I've just seen Grace go down." I ran down to the path at the bottom (the lawn was slightly sloping downwards) and saw Grace lying face down in a small pond which was in the middle of the path . Seems that the ball had rolled in and she'd gone after it. I jumped in and got her straight out and she was absolutely fine (she must have been in only a matter of seconds) but I was so distressed and in complete shock for the rest of the day, just thinking about what could have happened. The pond was completely invisible from the top of the garden. What I thought was strange though was that when I got to her, she was lying flat on the water, face down with her arms and legs moving as though she was swimming, and although everything happened so fast so is a bit of a blur, the impression I had when I got her out was that she had held her breath as she wasn't coughing and spluttering. Very scary, and brings it home that you can't take your eyes off them for a second. She seems to teeter on the brink of disaster on a regular basis - I don't ever remember Phoebe being so "adventurous".

Sorry for the long post - hope everyone is well.

BonyM that sounds like a terrible ordeal. I have had a couple of scares since DD was born but that is really traumatic. Thank goodness everything turned out okay.

I know what you mean about teetering on the brink of disaster - you don't know what they are going to get up to from one minute to the next!

just popping i nto say hi i guess this is what happens with 3rd children right lol.

anyway, my dh is home after 14months, and serena is not liking it al all. she is clingy,whiney screaming and unsettled. she has got to adjust to sharing me with daddy now. after all daddy has lived at the hospital for most of her little life, so its gonna be weird.

Bonym -! That is really frightening! Well done for her for holding her breath and not trying to breath. Was she also shocked or was she OK?

Misdee - great to hear from you and wonderful news that your dh is home ! Even if Serena is struggling to adjust I'm sure the other girls are happy he's home.

AndyJ - its really great that you've joined us ! I think a playgroup for your dd would be a fantastic idea. It the other children are a bit bigger and rougher she will soon learn to hold her own. Its really nice seeing your child interact and 'play' with other children. I work 3 days a week and Niklas goes to nursery, he loves it and I think its really good for him.
By the way, I also find Niklas a real handful but decided that I wanted to have another child and wanted it to be as close as I could handle to Niklas, I didn't count on having 2 more, its going to take some time to get used to the idea! The doctor said I have to take it easy and not lift at all because of the higher risks (ha, ha, ha!)! THat was almost as funny as being told I am having twins!

Welcome back Pidge! I would love to hear what you did in Denmark and what it was like.

Well, got myself all worked up to go to the playgroup tomorrow as I am quite shy and guess what - they don't open during the school holidays. You probably all already knew that things like this don't run during the school holidays but I didn't think of it.

Never mind I will try again in September.

Leo, it is a joke to be told not to lift when you have a toddler - the main thing they want is picking up all the time! Are they due in February next year? Did you find out their sex?

Misdee, do you mind me asking why your husband has been away so long?

Leo - don't know if Grace was shocked at what happened or just distressed because I was tbh. SHe has taken a dislike to her bath though, but she had started becoming less keen before the incident so don't think it is necessarily to blame.

Andy - misdee's husband needs a heart transplant, has been pretty poorly (don't think misdee will mind me answering for her as she doesn't get time to get to this board very often).

You should tell us about yourself a bit Andy and I'll give you a quick rundown of the regulars here:

I have 2 girls - Phoebe 8, and Grace, born 20/04/05, live in Cardiff and am a SAHM (stay at home mum).

Leogaela has Niklas and twins due next year and lives in Zurich.

Jambot has Lauren and lives in South Africa.

Pidge is in London and has Iris, born March '05 and Cleo who is 3 or 4 (sorry Pidge, can't remember exactly!)

Christina is also in London and has Sylvia born last March, and an older son, Dominic.

Misdee's '05 baby is Serena and she also has two older girls.

Popsycal has Harry and his older brother (can't remember name, sorry). You might come across popsy on the sleep boards as Harry has never slept well and she's had an exhausting time of it. Hence, she only pops in here occasionally.

JoPG has Freya and her older brother Ethan.

Busywizzy we haven't seen for a while although she is usually one of our regular posters here - she has Harrison and an 8yr old daughter Hannah.

Ukranianmum has Ksenia - we've not seen her for a little while either.

Think that's everyone! Tamula (with Ava) occasionally pops in but it is rare these days.

Wow Bonym, that's a good summary!

Just to add that Tamula has a second baby due in December.

I wonder what happened to all the other mums that have come and gone !

As for the twins, its sinking in slowly, I've had a couple of stress induced sleepless nights but I would have slept better last night if Niklas hadn't decided to wake up crying hysterically every half an hour until about 2am! then we gave him a bottle of milk in bed with us and he decided it was the morning! he did eventually go off to sleep lying on top of me. Very strange, I don't know what was wrong with him!

The actual full term due date of the twins is 12March (which funnily enough was Niklas's due date! Although he was born on 23rd Feb). The doctor has already said that if they don't arrive prematurely they will be born by CS around week 36 - I was hoping for a natural birth this time, but I don't want to take any risks so I'm not going ot argue with him. The problem with the lifting and carrying anything is that it increases the risk of the twins being born prematurely. I am making dh lift and carry Niklas as much as possible now so I only have to do it when I'm on my own with him. I'm also getting stricter with making him walk, but he is a very headstrong determined little boy, its always a battle when he has decided he does or doesn't want to do something !

As for knowing the sex - I would rather not know until they are born, but practically it may be difficult not to know. If they are girls we are going to need to get quite a lot of new stuff, if they are boys we'll have enough things to start with.

BoneyM - am amazed at your memory, I can barely remember my own age let alone other people's offspring! Anyway, Cleo turned 4 in July, though we have her birthday party rather belatedly this weekend.

Leo - I still can't quite believe you're going to have TWO babies!! Amazing. Am so excited for you. Just think, you are soon going to be a mum of three, and I bet it only seems like yesterday that were not a mum at all!

Andy - welcome to the gang. Looking forward to hearing more about you.

I used to mumsnet a lot, but now I tend to hang out either here or on the runners threads, and occasionally in the breastfeeding threads.

Denmark was fabulous. I so recommend it with kids. We had a summer house near a wonderful beach. The kids played in the sand and splashed. Dp and I swam in the sea every day. I did a bit of running along gloriously deserted cycle tracks. We ate a lot of ice cream. And the weather was pretty much perfect for little ones - sunny but never too hot. Then we also fitted in Legoland, which I thought would be ok, but theme parks are not really my scene so I wasn't really excited. Anyway, it far exceeded my expectations - it was just paradise for dd1, and even Iris got stuck in coming with us on the rides. It was a magical day. We finished the holiday with friends outside Copenhagen. All in all a wonderful trip.

Now back at work for a few days before we bunk off to Wales for another week's holiday!

Thanks everyone for your warm welcome and especially thanks to BonyM for all the info! It was very helpful and narrowed it down a little bit as I had been wondering how many mums were on this thread - thought it might be hundreds and I might never know anyone!

My DD is Emma and she was born on 31.03.05 so is only just a March baby. She is my only child and it is not looking as though I will be having any more but you never know. My sister is pregnant at the moment and her baby is due in December so it will be great to have another baby in the family. My parents had decided they were never going to be grandparents and now they are going to have 2!

We live in Manchester (the weather has been absolutely miserable today by the way with thunder and lightening) in a house which is feeling smaller by the minute. I work part time in the mornings and Emma goes to nursery.

Taking her to nursery for the first time was extremely traumatic but she absolutely loves it now and misses it if she doesn't go. The other day she cried when we wanted to take her home as she wanted to play outside - it was very embarrassing she used to cry when she got there not when she was going home

Is anyone potty training yet? I was reading in a magazine that some people do it from birth! Don't think Emma is ready yet though although she does hide behind the kitchen table when she is having a poo!

Really sorry to hear about Misdee's DH and I hope she didn't mind me asking.

Hello everybody!!
I am not on holiday.Has been really busy with driving lessons and as a result got my driving liscence yesterday and i am so happy about it.Now i need a car.And plus we have an afwul weather here.Girls it is really hot here.The funniest thing is that the west of ukraine is sinking down coz of all the rain and here at the east it is like an oven.Ksenia is really suffering coz of this heat and plus she is teething.we had 8 teeth to come out in seven days!!

Leo-wow!I still cannot believe it.Twins!!!Wow!!!Wish you a lot of good health.Now you are going to be a real big mamaBut Iam so happy for you.

Welcome to Andy.Before you joined i was the newest mum here.Poeple arereally nice here.And i hope you will enjoy time spent with us.

And i have a news from my Dh.He went to the homeoffice a week ago in hope that he will get some documents.But apparently the law had changed and he needs to wait another 4 years before he can apply for documents.We are now thinking what to do to get our family together.And so far nothing good came up.

It is a long post.i promise to write some more in the next few days.

Take care all of you.

ukrainianmum - good to hear from you! Congratulations on passing your driving test . So sorry to hear that your dh is no closer to getting his documents. Four years is too long to wait - what do you think you will do?

just skim read and double congrats leo!!!! wow!!!!!!

will come back properly soon and update....
but could to read and not post

wow leo, twins!!!

andy, dont mind you asking at all, our blog is here

ukrainianmum - so sorry to hear about your dh. Any idea what you'll do now?

misdee - how's serena doing with peter being home these days?

now, in an unheard of bit of organisation, and without prior nagging, I have actually updated the pics on the photobucket with three new shots of Iris and Cleo from our Danish holiday!

We just had Cleo's 4th birthday party, rather belatedly a month after the event due to our hols. Anyway, it seemed to be good fun and enjoyed by all. She and dp have already gone off to another friend's party, and I'm stuck, here waiting for Iris to wake up so I can go too. Might go and wake her up actually!

Hi All.A quick ciao for the internet cafe in Tuscany. Having a great holiday with DH although starting to miss Lauren terribly.According to my Mum, Lauren doesnt even seem to realise that weve gone! Great wedding in Germany. Get back to Cape Town next Saturday.
Havent had time to read all the posts except to see the posts about your twins Leo!!!!! WOW. How scary but exciting at the same time! Look forward to reading everything when I get back.

Thanks for the welcome Ukranian mum. Can't believe you have just passed your driving test - congratulations! I have been taking lessons for what seems like ages and ages and lots of money! How long did it take you to learn? I can't wait to actually pass my test - I am thinking of going up to two lessons a week to hurry things up a bit! Sorry to hear about your DP where does he live at the moment?

Thanks for not minding me asking Misdee I will check out your blog and hope you are all well.

Leo - has the news sunk in yet and are you having morning sickness?

My news is that my DD was bit on the nose at nursery on Friday and I was extremely upset about it! She actually had a mark around the top of her nose. Of course they really played it down and are not allowed to tell you who did it (which is fair enough) but it is really upsetting and I hope it doesn't happen again. Also I hope DD doesn't learn new tricks like this from nursery - she is already getting very cheeky and seems to enjoy smacking me in the face (which incidentally, I don't enjoy!)

Misdee I just had to come back on and leave you a message after viewing your blog. I appreciate now what a difficult time you are really having and you are in my thoughts. Your montage is brilliant and your children are absolutely gorgeous. You must be very proud of your family. I know that you have written that some people may find the photos of your DH upsetting but they are also very touching especially the one where he is holding your DD and looks so proud. Take Care. AndyJxx

Pidge - great photos! It's lovely to see some up to date ones of Iris. Both she and Cleo are gorgeous . Denmark sounds fab; have never really considered it as a holiday destination before but might have to add it to the list of possible places now.

Glad to hear you're enjoying your hols jambot, although you must miss Lauren terribly. Was speaking to friends today who recently got married and they left their baby (8 days younger than Grace) with grandparents while they went on honeymoon. He was fine all the time they were gone but apparently was like a little leech for a couple of days once they got back!

Andy - sorry to hear about Emma getting bitten. I think it's not uncommon though at this age. I'm afraid that Grace is a bit of a biter which does upset me as Phoebe never was. We make it quite clear to her that it is unacceptable and just keep hoping that she will grow out of it.

Well - have had a lovely day today. It is my 40th on Friday and we had a party in the garden today with 20 friends plus children (15). Luckily the weather held and it was just a wonderful, relaxed afternoon. The clearing up afterwards was a mammonth task though and dh and I are both worn out. He is currently soaking in the bath while I chill out with mumsnet!

Hope everyone has had good weekends .

Oh, popsy, how are things going with Harry (and dh) at the moment? Have just checked the threads and can't see anything from you on this since beginning of the month.

BonyM hope you have a great 40th. Sounds like you had a great party in the garden (must be a big garden!)

The mark has gone from Emma's nose now and hopefully she won't be bitten again. I understand it is a stage they go through and it is more out of frustration than anything but you feel bad enough leaving them at nursery without them getting injured whilst they are there

Hi ladies!!!

Good to hear that everyone is enjoying their holidays all around the world.Well,if anyone planned to come to ukraine hold one coz the rain season is about to start.Actually today around 5 o'clock we went out and it was sunshine and happyness.And in a matter of minutes it was raining cats and dogs and it became so cold.I had to stop at my friend's house to dry ourselves and to borrow some warm clothes for Ksenia coz i had only pants for her.Dont think bad about me it has been really hot.

Ksenia yesterday fell out of a stroller.First she wanted to get out.Then she decided to push it around.After she thought that she can ride it on like a horse(and we have Quinny Zapp-it doesnt look like it at all).And when i put her back to the stroller she made a huge protest against bieng harnessed.So,she started to bend in it and was told off many of times and i have to mention it was 4 adults around her.and in just a second she is falling down and it seemed like a movie an slow motion.everyone is trying to catch her but no one did it and Ksenia felt right down to the stone steps with her face down.She cried like never before and plus her forehead and left side of the nose and under it look just horrible.I dont know how long it will take to heal.My poor little girl.

Andy-it took me 2 months all together to get the driving lisecnce.But I had driving lessons every day.And from second time i past my test.Good luck to you when your time comes.

Misdee-when you mentioned before that you dh is not with you at the moment i didnt know why .I thought of the simpliest thing-he is workoing away.Well,the reason you haveis not the one that ca be spoken at every corner.But i know now and i hope that Peter will get better and i wish you lots of strength.

I am off to sleep now.Sweet dreams to everyone.

Andy, let me assure you that the parents of the child that bit Emma probably feel worse than you do about it ! Niklas bit a little girl on the cheek at the nursery a couple of weeks ago and I was absolutely devastated! We have worked really hard to get him to stop the biting and it seems to have worked. He still hits though, but only when he gets over excited. I guess its a phase and will pass!

Great to hear from you Ukraniamum ! Well done for passing the driving test ! So sorry to hear about the problems with getting your family together where you want to be ! I hope Ksenia recovers from her fall! I guess its not teh first time and sure it won't be the last!

Pidge, the Denmark holiday sounds great!

A very happy 40th birthday for Friday Bonym (just in case i don't manage to sign on again!)

Great to hear from you Jambot, Popsy and Misdee and thanks for the congratulations!

I know what you mean Leo I would hate it if Emma bit another child - it may yet happen who knows? She is also going through a smacking stage at the moment and thinks it is very funny to smack me in the face - which of course I don't think is funny.

Wish I could take driving lessons every day but I will just have to make do with once or twice a week and hope that one day I might be ready to take my test!

Hope you are all well