September 2014 - Babies turn 1!

[lilone1234]

First birthdays are starting to arrive and our babies are becoming toddlers! What will the next year have in store?

3 kids is enough enough though, right?

I am definitely not the right person to be answering that question . If it helps, DH & I very definitely feel done now having had our fourth. I didn't feel like that after DC3 was born.

How many other stay at home Mums are on the thread? I am keeping quiet when the discussion turns to returning to work (I have been a working Mum too, I know how hard it is). I didn't know if there were others staying quiet on the matter, like me.

Lilly - It honestly won't be as bad next time. My second birth was by far the loveliest, most tranquil birth of all four. I put it down to the fact that I was so determined and single minded that I would get lots and lots of pain relief early and would not be fobbed off.

Plus you go into it all (labour, delivery, newborn months etc.) with more realistic expectations - which makes a huge difference psychologically.

I am back to work on Monday too - necessity though, would prefer to play with my boy all day if I had a choice.

I was almost a stay at home mum fate. When I had DS I said I was 99% sure I wouldn't go back. But my employer offered me part time hours and also term time only. We also have our own nursery on site where I work. There are very few term time only roles in the field I work in so I felt like I couldn't say no really. We don't need my income but what will I do when DS goes to school? My current plan is to hold onto my job through however many children we have (if I'm brave enough to do it again) even if that means the cost of childcare will be more than I bring home because once the school days start, term time only working will be so very valuable.

I'm back to work on the 14th. I think I'm ready for adult company again but would rather only go back part-time. Sadly financially not an option right now.

Anyway I have officially won 'worst mum of the year' award. Yesterday afternoon I was dealing with the laundry upstairs and Jessica was 'helping' me. Turned my back for a second and next thing I knew she had gone head-first down our entire 13-step staircase. Because of her obvious head bumps NHS 111 advised taking her to A&E who said she needed to stay in overnight due to the severity of the fall. It's been a long 24 hours and neither of us got much sleep there (I stayed on the ward with her, and because of all the poorly crying children there wasn't much sleeping going on) but we're home now and I'm feeling bloody awful about the whole thing.

Oh kitkat you must have been terrified! Why did they say to stay in? Was she actually injured? You're not the worst mum, it happens. Accidents happen. Nothing we say will probably make you feel any better though.

That's awful for you both KitKat. Is she OK now? I've often thought how glad I am that we're in a flat so haven't had to worry about stairs really, though we do have to make sure we don't leave the door open (to the stairs) when taking the dog out now DD is such a speedy crawler!

Fate - I'm a stay at home mum now too. I would have had to go back in August and decided not to. I couldn't imagine not being with her everyday so feel very fortunate that I can stay at home with her. I do feel for everyone else going back to work, but glad it seems to be going fairly well for everyone!

I'm very emotional now it's approaching her 1st birthday and time is flying and I do worry about how anxious i'll feel the next time as I found late pregnancy very difficult and the birth (induction & EMCS spanning several days) very tough which, teamed with being unable to breastfeed, did have a negative effect on my first couple of weeks with her.

Also Lilly, i'm afraid i've bought shoes for DD when she can't walk yet! Clarks do a range specifically for crawling and cruising. It isn't about her needing them for walking though, I wanted her to get used to shoes before she needs them for walking outside as any pram shoes she ever wore would come straight off and socks still come straight off and get thrown out the pram so with the weather soon getting colder the shoes are needed to keep the socks on!

Oh Kitkat what a worry for you, hope she is all better now!! You are definitely not the worse mum please don't beat yourself up about this. Accidents happen.

I actually can't wait to have another baby!

Oh kitkat, I forgot to close the gate at the top of the stairs last week and had a close call, also have managed to grab DS by his ankles as he was going head first off the bed. It's easily done and only takes seconds but I bet you any money you will never let it happen again. Have a glass of wine tonight and put it behind you as best you can.

KitKat, that's really scary for you, hope Jessica is ok now. I've been there, DS1 used to like to scare the bejesus out of me with falls and I had more A&E visits than I can remember when he was wee.

Fate, I'm a SAHM so I haven't been commenting on the back to work/nursery issues but only because I have no experience with either of them. We don't have much disposable income with only DP working but it just wouldn't make sense for me to work too. I should probably have found a job when DS2 went to school but there always seemed to be a better reason not to. If money had been a serious issue then I would have but luckily DP's business had been strong for a few years so we got by alright. It's struggling a little now but hopefully can pick up again soon otherwise a PT job might be on the cards for me.

Oh KitKat that must have been so scary but don't beat yourself up, you're a great mum! Accidents happen all the time, and she will be fine and you'll probably never do it again!

FATE I'd love to be a sahm, but then I worry about what our lives would be like on just DH's wage (doable but very different quality of life I suspect) and that I'd find it hard to get back into my industry when DD goes to school. I begged, borrowed and worked for free to get a foot in the door 10 years ago and the thought of giving it all up is scary. I still don't know if work will let me go back part-time in October but if so hopefully that will provide a bit of balance and I won't feel too much like I'm missing out on DD's milestones. I feel so lucky to have seen her start to walk in my time off.

Also feeling very emotional this week. I wonder what's in the water? I've been putting it down to the impending return to work next month but maybe it's not. I'm actually really happy as well this week as I found out that my first close friend to get pregnant is having a girl, so I really hope she and DD will be friends. It's been hard sometimes having DD when none of my other close friends have babies yet.

Thank you everyone. She's fine really, just a few bumps and bruises. In herself she was back to normal within about 2 mins, bouncing around and trying to climb everything again. Since she seemed fine I didn't know what to do so phoned NHS 111 for advice and they said take her to A&E to get checked out as a precaution as she had obviously bumped her head a couple of times and fallen quite a way. So we drove her to A&E a short while later, checked in and sat in the waiting area (anticipating the usual A&E wait) but got called within 2 mins to find that A&E had decided that 'infant fallen from height / banged head' was a urgent trauma call so they took us straight into resus and about 10 people all turned up, which was rather surreal as Jessica was merrily bouncing around the cubicle pulling at all the wires. It calmed down fairly quickly though once they realised she was just a bit bruised but the doc wanted us to take her to the childrens ward for observations for a bit given that it was a big fall and her age. We were hoping they might let us out that evening given that she happily bouncing around the ward playroom but the doctor wanted her to stay in overnight as a precaution so that's what we did. I think she just thought it was just a rather strange holiday!

Glad to hear she was ok Kitkat. I don't have a gate at the top if the stairs but that's just because I keep dd penned in downstairs only (apart from bedtime)

Good to hear there are other SAHMs, I had honestly thought I was the only one.

Hi Ladies. Thanks for all the birthday wishes for A. He had a great time, as you can see from the photo. We took him to soft play on his birthday, and had a small party yesterday. He has so much duplo I think I could open a shop!

Glad to hear your lo is ok KitKat. That would have been soo scary.

Good luck to those starting work on Monday. I would love to be a SAHM but finances made that impossible. But now I am back at work it isn't so bad. Don't get me wrong, I would love to stay at home with my boy, but he has come on quite a lot since starting nursery.

Aw, fab pic Cumbrian, and Happy Birthday A. He looks so grown up already, where have our little babies gone??????

Holy crap these babies can go! This morning alone I have had to take M away from pulling the xbox apart, yanking leads out of the TV, pulling clothes out of drawers, climbing the bottom stair (only one so far but she just falls off it instead of climbing back off), eating lint from the drier, eating my shoe, eating toast her brother dropped on the floor (and I'm really hoping it's only from this morning), licking a battery (jesus!!) and smearing sudo cream all over herself. That was all before she fell asleep at 12. She has gone from sitting in the one spot to zooming all over the place in the past 2 weeks. It's great fun watching her explore but we really need to have eyes on her at all times now.

MissMoo they can can't they. I put A down in the bar of the restaurant we went too for his birthday tea, and he was at the other side before I knew it. I only turned my head for a second. Good job it wasn't the restaurant part where hot plates where being carried around!

Ordered DDs birthday cake today. Made me feel quite emotional! I went on maternity leave a year ago yesterday, next week she turns one. How did this time fly by so quickly?!

Feeling a bit pathetic today. Where did my baby go? I do have a pretty cool child in her place though

Team I know what you mean. I keep wondering who stole my baby!

Has anyone started moving to cow's milk? DD's now 1 so I think I should probably start. Also going to stop sterilising, I felt weirdly superstitious about stopping before now...

These babies definitely move fast. DS is into everything & I can't turn my back for a second unless he's safely installed in the living room with the stairgate shut & engrossed in his toys.
We've made the switch to cows milk even though DS isn't 1 for another 2 weeks. I wanted to see how he got on with it thinking if it was a battle I'd phase it in with formula but he loved it from the first sip. He's not so keen on drinking it from a cup but I'll keep persisting with that. How many walkers & talkers have we got now? DS is a chatterbox but it's still babbling, no actual words yet. He takes some steps holding onto you & is a whizz at cruising round the furniture but he's not really standing unaided yet so I think we're a few weeks off walking.

apples E is on cows milk now but only bottles as he refuses in a cup, I will work on tray. But I do love our snuggles on the sofa when feeding him so I am in no rush to put a stop to it!

topsy E has been walking since mid July, turned 1 middle of August but his due date is the 23rd of Sept. He now mimics words tonight he was saying thank you over and over after I said it to him. He says hiya and hello lots as well as Dada and daddy. He also said so clearly while shaking his head 'no way' when I asked him to let me brush his teeth. That so far has been a one off. He completely refuses to say mama though :(

Just cruising here, no signs of walking yet. Today she clearly called DS2. She also stands at the bottom of the stairs and screams Daaaaa looking for her Daddy. DS1 is a bit put out that she is calling him by DS2's name also so we're trying to teach her his name.

We're not on cows milk yet. No real plans to either, I'm happy with follow-on formula because it's fortified.

We have sounds that sound like phases, but I think it is more a case of mimicking and copying noises. For example "hiya", "See ya", "here it is". Words which we think are actual words are Mama, Dada, Nana and this ("iss") - which she uses to get what she wants. Holding beaker up, "Iss, iss" means she wants a drink. Mummy has a biscuit and she'll appear "iss iss", meaning she wants some.

Fully walking here. This week we started outdoor walking, she walked from the Toddlers to the carpark (while shouting "seeya", because she's heard me saying it).

Bought new shoes on Monday. Buckle shoes, so she can't take them off. Given that she's been permanently bare feet before then, it was funny when she tried walking in the shoes. At first she couldn't make her feet work in them.

I think we're miles off walking yet. Pretty speedy cruising now but no interests in trying to stand unaided or take steps holding fingers. Another mum was trying to get her to stand up at baby group yesterday and she just put her legs in a sitting position every time! She's very loud though, she's shouting and chatting all the time but nothing I can decipher any real words from. The only real thing she says in context is "Mama" (which is fine by me!) but has started with "Dada" now too.

Ah lil you're so lucky to have 'mama'. And FATE I love the idea of a little baby shouting 'seeya'. We have tons of 'dada' and she can say various food-related words - (ba)nana, cheese, lunch, 'ilk' for milk - but absolutely no mama at all!

Cookie and Topsy I've made basically no progress with milk from cups so I'm going to leave her with bottles for a while longer. She loves water from a cup but won't have any milk from one.

Oh the physical side DD's really made some leaps this week, starting to run and getting the hang of movements that require more thought, like ducking/crawling under obstacles or navigating round obstacles to get to what she wants rather than trying to go straight through. She's changed a lot physically at the same time, as she's standing more upright and has less baby fat. We looked through photos from the past year on her birthday, in fact, and realised she was never cute at all as a baby. No idea what we were thinking. She'd definitely cute now though

Cows milk here, I started the week before his birthday with the intention of weaning him slowly, but he loved it so we just moved him over fully now. But like most of you, he will only really take it from bottles. I am leaving it for now, but will try and move onto cups in a few weeks I think.

Cruising and speed crawling here, but no real signs of walking on his own. He is starting to try and balance occasionally, but that is about it. And speaking is mainly babbling, although I get the occasional Mama and Dada, and mak (we aren't quite sure what he means by this, use seems to vary quite a lot )

We have been given the nursery mascot to look after for the weekend! I didn't think started until much later! We are only the second ones to have it, so I am thinking I will try and keep the bar quite low for now, so a trip to the park and lots of playing with toys I think.