September 2014 - Toddlers & Tantrums!

[lilone1234]

Babies are now toddlers at 18 months +, growing and learning new things all the time!

Lilly it's understandable that you feel nervous about becoming a SAHM as it'll be a big life change, but it sounds like it's the right decision for you all as a family which is great.

Fate no I wasn't thrilled at giving birth on the antenatal ward either TBH. Particularly as my birth plan for DD2 basically said that I was nervous about giving birth again as no-one believed me with DD1 that I was in active labour, so never had any pain relief or anything, so was anxious about the same thing happening again. And then the same thing did happen again with DD2!

As for coping, things aren't too bad (although I still have DH around a lot right now as he's taking odd days of annual leave etc). Thankfully DD2 is an easier baby than DD1 was (DD1 had colic and could scream for literally hours every evening, and she was a shit sleeper) whereas DD2 seems much more content and is regularly going about 3 hours between feeds at night already, which is brilliant. Fingers crossed it lasts!

Hi Ladies.

Lilly I think taking your redundancy at becoming a SAHM sounds like a good option if you think it will work. If you are finding it a struggle once DC2 comes along you can re-assess your options then. If it helps I would love to be a SAHM for a couple of years, but circumstances don't work for us.

Glad to hear DD2 is a bit easier KitKat, I hope it lasts for you

A seems to permanently have a cold at the moment. And his nose was bleeding last night. I have googled (not always the best idea) and it said that it can sometimes happen with toddlers when they have a cold. Little worrying though. He seems ok in himself so I will just keep an eye on it for now.

He is also turning into a cereal fiend! He has two bowls in the morning, and has started asking for more when I get him in from nursery. it doesn't seem to be affecting his appetite but is costing me a fortune

Lilly I'm envious at your redundancy, I'd love to have more time at home. FIL has been seriously ill and DH has been visiting often, as have DS and I at weekend. Between that and full time work the state of the house has distintergrated and I don't know where to start! I had loads of lovely ideas of things to do with DS like salt dough decorations and so far there has been no time.

Has anyone else put their tree up yet? I put ours up last night and DS has already redecorated it multiple times. Most of the baubles have rolled under the sofa now and the cats think it's all great fun. Advent calendars are causing a bit of fuss every day though (grandparents bought them!).

Sounds like a difficult time polka, hope it all calms down soon.

We put tree up yesterday but not decorated yet, we are doing that this afternoon. DH has taken it upon himself to rip apart some built in wardrobes but it's taken several weekends of a bit here and there still no where near done and making loads of mess!

''Tis the season to be jolly...

Polka, sounds like you're having a tough time

We've had two entertaining events from developing language this weekend. First, DD was walking around the shops singing "I'm a big girl" over and over. Apart from it sounded like she was singing "I'm a bugger". We them popped to a restaurant for a bite to eat and DD caused much confusion when she asked the waitress for a courgette. She keeps getting serviette and courgette confused.

No Christmas tree here yet. Won't be for a little while yet

Hope everyone is doing ok.

Tra la la la la la la la la!

Thanks both. FIL came out of hospital on Friday so now it's just time while he builds his strength back up. Today for the first time in about 5 weeks we stayed home all day. It was bliss! We turned down a birthday party and just played/did washing etc all day.

DS never wants to go out anymore. He loves it when I get him out and we go somewhere but he just wants to stay home and play with his toys all day. There was a time when he used to go stir crazy if we didn't go out every day!

Love the courgette!

♪♫♬ "well I wish it could be Christmas everyday..." ♪♫♬

Decorations put up today. Christmas jumpers and Christmas songs on. Woo hoo. This is a great age, DD is much more into Christmas than last year. She is absolutely loving seeing outdoor Christmas lights. She is in awe of then!

Lily - being a SHAM is great. For what it's worth it was never my plan. I didn't expect to be at home, didn't think we could afford it. But it all works out. It's a really privileged feeling.

Thank you for all of the encouraging words. I am really coming around to the idea! Especially on nights like tonight where DS is poorly and I'm worrying about not being able to go to work tomorrow because I'll need to be at home with him. Honestly I now cannot wait to finish now that it has all sunk in. 23 working days to go...

We haven't put our tree up yet but DS loves the idea of trees and decorations and he loves all the lights we have seen. A neighbour has a full Christmas town model display in their bay window and honestly he thinks it is amazing. I do to to be fair!! Do any of your little ones actually get the concept of Christmas? As in a countdown to a specific day which will be special with presents etc? DS understands presents, and we have been reading the nativity story and he likes Christmas trees but in all honestly I don't think he has a clue what is going on. I'm not really surprised but I think family and friends (without children) have huge expectations on his understanding.

Polka I love those days at home of doing nothing. We have scheduled one on the 27th so we can stay in pj's and DS can play with his toys and nap for as long as he likes. Probably looking forward to that more than the 25th!!

Ladies , just a quick note to say I am so trilled to see this thread is still going on! I love you all for still writing !
From the time of this post you may notice I am literally drowning in too much work right now, having to wake up in 3.5 hours to go to work doesn't help;
I plan to catch up with the posts soon , maybe not for the whole 4-5 months that I wasn't around as time doesn't allow but as much as I can and will write again
Have lovely days xx

So it's been a while since I've been on it's been a hectic few months

We now have a new arrival 4 month old William , Robert is a great big brother now although he wasn't at the start, constantly trying to hit and scratch William and having major melt downs , lying on the floor screaming and crying it's my dada anytime my husband picked up the baby

That lasted about 2 month then the last two months he has slowly come round and now Will is his

He tells everyone that's my Will and if another kids comes near William he runs over and squeezes them out the way saying it's his will

William is now Roberts possession

He also constantly talks about how he shares mum and dad with Will. And everywhere we go now even if it just to another room he says get William etc

I said the other day do you want to sit on sofa and watch paw patrol , no I want to sit with Will , see photo . Proper brotherly love now.

Roberts talking lots now, you can have actual conversations almost so that's nice, he is loud though lol

Had his 27 month development check last week and they were happy with everything apart from weight (17.6kg) 99th centile , height was 92nd.

He been referred to dietitian to look at a way of reducing or stop him gaining as much weight

I try to make sure he eats healthy his appetite is insane he eats everything and anything and always asking for food. We went a Xmas party at weekend and he wouldn't join in anything just stood at food table trying to steal crisps and sweets etc

I've no idea how to handle the situation, his father is tall and thin and I'm tall and average build

A typical day for him is cereal or 1 egg and 1/2 slice toast

No morning snack

Brown bread thins 1 of them with tuna and super light mayo along with some fruit

Dinner maybe grilled chicken and lots of veg with limited potatoes

Or pasta but half spaghetti and half spiral courgette
Followed by some natural yoghurt

Large glass of skimmed milk before bed

He also geats say a treat if we put for tea and kids meal comes with ice cream etc

So even though I'm watching his food and cutting back carbs but giving unlimited veg etc he still a bruiser

Be interesting to see what diet folks say

Here a photo of him so u see his built

What do u think compared to your kids..?

Wow what a long post sorry guys

1 thing to add

Kit Kat you think you had a quick birth well listen to this

I went to bed and at 3.56 I woke up screaming at my husband the baby is coming he jumped up like WTF..?? He said Shit what do we do I think neighbor is a midwife I will get her (she bloody wasn't)

He ran next door half dressed I ran to bathroom collapsed on the floor id managed to ring 999 but not really speak they traced my phone they could hear me screaming, 1 push and the baby's whole head appeared then I needed to push again and reached down and hauled William out it was absolutely horrific is the only way I can describe it

From waking up to holding William alone was 3 minutes as the operator could hear everything

My husband then appeared back on his own as neighbors weren't a MW

Then a minute later paramedics came charging down corridor into bathroom and grabbed William and took over as I was just sat there holding him screaming his was blue, it was absolute made panic from me and my husband

Poor Robert came into bathroom when baby head was sticking out and I screamed at him to get out my husband found him 15 minutes later once everything had calmed down lying on bedroom floor face down sobbing his heart out he must of been in shock or wondering what the hell was happening

So that's my crazy birth story , never thought I'd ever deliver my own baby.

No idea where my contractions were , did I sleep through them or not get any..? Who knows. I'm just glad it didn't happen in car we are 45 minutes from hospital

They told me if I have another pregnancy I will need to be set up for a home birth after what happened that said no midwife would have got here had I been anyway

It was 3 minutes from waking up to holding baby.

Daytona I am at your birth story for William! 3 minutes is bonkers! Was Robert's labour especially quick too? There is a known phenomenon called precipitate labour but even by that standard that was quick!

As for Robert, I would have thought if he was 92nd centile for height then 99th for weight sounds in proportion to me? He doesn't look overweight to me in those pictures.

I'm not sure DD1 massively 'gets' Christmas yet, but she loves looking at all the lights and trees, and she understands unwrapping presents and stuff now so I can't wait to see how excited she is on Christmas day. She will be excited I'm sure when she comes back from nursery today and realises the Christmas tree is up.

Daytona - bloody hell! I'm sorry William's birth was so traumatic for you all but glad you are all doing well now and that Robert has adjusted to being a big brother.

I agree that he doesn't look overweight and he is very tall, I don't think the centile charts take in to account the relationship between weight & height. Did they do BMI too? Though that is also not very accurate.

He is 2 so he will keep growing and sometimes his weight may go up before a height spurt. My MIL is a nutritional therapist and does not agree with a lot of things the Health visitors say about food. There is nothing wrong with him having a good appetite and it sounds like you already give him a fantastic diet!

Jesus Daytona79, that's... I don't even know. Oh my God!

Your sons height and weight are in proportion so I can't understand the problem. My DD eats tons more than that, she's between 50th and 75th centiles. So my only worry would be where is his weight coming from if he doesn't eat loads?

Nazly - great to see you again

Lily - my dd is just going with the Christmas flow at our house. Not really getting the countdown but very much enjoying the chocolate from her calender each morning.

Robert was induced 11pm , waters went 5am mild contractions started about 9am born at 1359

They did say I went from 4cm to 10cm and born very quickly but that was all that was mentioned (45 minutes)

Well he is defo a bit chubby, double chin and moobs , but that said my family is solid built my dad is 6 4 I'm 5ft 10

He wears aged 4 clothes. I feel I'm doing enough but of course I'm also worried he ends up fat. But he is still only 2 in my eyes so surely there is time for him to stretch out

HV has referred to hospital diet folks so be interesting to see what they say , maybe my portions are too big

Here was a typical lunch , snack and dinner. I'm making a food diary to take with me

What do you think.? He always eats everything put in front of him so the plates would of all been emptied

People stress about toddlers mostly not eating enough then there is me the opposite worried about him being a toddler dustbin and eating everything in sight

He is obsessed with food. It's always more more, cakes,sweeties etc. If lock left off fridge he notices straight away and is in there trying to steal food , even grabs 4 pinters of milk and run to his play tent and hide in it trying to drink it.

Wow thats a hell of a birth story Daytona, it sounds really traumatic, are you ok? Robert looks lovely. DS is also a big lad, I haven't had health check yet but we are probably on similar centiles. Sometimes he looks a bit chubby and then a few weeks later he looks a bit skinny. It all evens out. By the way, couldn't help but notice the Nuna in the first picture - DS still loves his!

I'm so glad this thread is still going as it's lovely to see how we are all doing.

My eldest was so chubby as a 2 and 3 year old that her weight was off the scale (ie higher than 99th by a fair way).

She was smaller than average as a baby, so it really stressed me out. The only "unhealthy" aspect of her diet was milk. She was still having 2 milk feeds at night (non-sleeping horror at night) and these were full fat milk. It was her weight that forced me to stop all night feeds. I also changed her to semi-skimmed.

Not sure if that was what made the difference or just age, but she slimmed down by 4 years old. She was in the "normal" BMI range in reception (aged 5) and Year 6 (aged 11). She a got an enviously slim figure now her body is maturing into that of a young woman.

My two sons have never been outside of normal weight, so was just my eldest. Interestingly my eldest was a poor sleeper and the NHS have linked lack of sleep with obesity. Her weight reducing did coincide with her sleep quality improving. But that may be anecdotal.

Ha yeah all recovered and looking back 3 minutes was better than 10 hours I guess ha ha

Fate that's interesting Roberts been big from early on born on 75th and 98th by 3 months, exclusively BF till 6 months then weaned at 12 months and on To cows milk and he has never slept I mean like never

Even know at 2 he wakes me multiple times a night

He is a awful sleeper , wonder if that's linked to him being a big boy.

I think I've moaned on here enough about DSs sleep! He still wakes in the night and is up for the day at 5am. I wouldn't call him obese though. He was 9lb 8oz born but also very long and all the men on both sides of the family are 6 foot 2 and above.

However, I am now obese due burying my head in the biscuit tin from sleep deprivation.....

Wow *Daytona8 glad everything is ok now.

Those portions look fine to me, but A has just started to improve his appetite and is eating quite a bit now.

Nice to see you Nazly, hope your work settles down soon.

A is loving the lights and the decorations, and also the chocolate out of his advent calendar . Agree that I am not sure he totally 'gets' it, but he is enjoying the build up.

DS hasn't got a clue. He knows that there is a man with a beard called Father Christmas who gives out presents but other than that he is just bedazzled by all the christmas lights (or stars as he calls them).

What are your toddlers getting? We have bought some dressing up hats as he loves the firemans hat he had at an open day in the summer. He has a toot toot train that moves by itself and a toddler basketball stand/net as he loves playing ball. There are a few other bits and bobs but nothing over the top.

A train table and a dinosaur that walks and roars with a couple of books and a very small dumper truck

Grandfolks have him a go kart and other side a scooter.

My sisters and me have decided not to buy each other's kids gifts from now on as they all have so much stuff it's ridiculous

Hello everyone Is it okay if I come join you all? My son was born on September the 12th 2014.

Noticed you were talking about portion sizes earlier - my son has about the same but will never eat it all. In fact, trying to get much into him at all is a nightmare. Is anyone else having troubles? I can't get him to eat any fruit/veg unless it's 'hidden' (i.e. in a spaghetti sauce, blended into a smoothie, hidden cauliflower/broccoli in macaroni cheese etc). HV says to keep offering but he is very stubborn.

As for christmas, my son is getting a kitchen this year and a few other bits (paw patrol things, peppa pig etc, fisher price colour chameleon). He has no idea who Father Christmas is besides some bloke in a red outfit with a beard or what it's all about!

Welcome Cosh!

If it makes you feel any better I used to spend ages making tomato/pasta sauce FULL of blended veggies and DS always refused it! So disheartening. He will eat peas and sweetcorn voluntarily, sometimes new potatoes and tiny tiny pieces of brocolli and cauliflower if I disguise it with pesto!

Am running low on sleep today!