Bec - Sounds like Xavier is doing well. Hope he is getting over his infection. As bad as it seems now, children in childcare end up with better immune systems so at least that's a plus. Interestingly, also children who grow up on farms and those with a few older siblings - apparently because of exposure to minute quantities of faeces...

Lis - Livvy also sounds like she is doing super well - lots of clever skills in there! Like you, I would like to wait until Autie is at least 2 or preferably 3 before number 2 comes along but unfortunately due to age and fertility issues, I can't afford to wait that long to TTC so I will have to take what I get!

Em -have a great (easy) time away

V - Hope you get a better sleep tonight. It isn't unusual at this age for them to go haywire with teething and all, but that doesn't make it easier does it? Just know that she's not capable of manipulating yet so she really does need your mummy love. Sometimes it helps if you think of it as special time for just you and her. Sorry to hear about your stingray - she sounded like a sweetheart.

Raels - how exciting and scary at the same time for your nephew and his gf. 85% sounds like a fantastic ray of hope for that age! Remind them to touch him as much as they can

Jess - I know what you mean about staying on top of things - sooooo much harder with the crawling and teething and clinginess! I never get a chance to do those big organising jobs like cleaning out the study or re-organising cupboards anymore It's hard enough keeping up with the mess from 3 meals a day - none of them mine!

Re: sleeping. I know they talk about it a lot in these forums, but I just now borrowed Pinky McKay's book "Sleeping Like a Baby" from the library and I really have to recommend it. It has done wonders for me in just making me feel better about myself, and not worrying about what babies are apparently 'supposed' to be doing at any given age sleepwise. It gives you a great perspective on coping with the bad times too. Give it a go if you are feeling stressed in this area for sure, especially if you have information overload and can't decide what's 'right'.

Mum and Dad dropped in tonight at bath/bedtime and while I was feeding her to sleep in the bedroom, mum made me dinner. Oh my goodness, it tasted 100x better than it actually was just because I didn't have to do it! Such a nice surprise, especially after a day of teething/eczema grizzly barnacle baby.

Ciao for now