Jess - any luck with Ethan's thrush yet? And have his eye teeth put in their appearance yet? These days I have only glowing memories of being pg, but then you mention achy hips & I go " oh yeah...." Anyway, cos there's only one way to get rid of the problem, and you've got quite a few months before that happens

Tracey - it was lovely to hear from you. It's great to hear that you're finally getting on top of Zyon's stomach problems. He sounds like Liam with the number of feeds that he's having each day. Sometimes I think that I'll be feeding Liam till he's 15...

Lis - as far as I know, it's the MMR injection that gets the bad wrap re autism links, but like Sacha said it appears to be mercury that caused the problems, and that's not used in vaccines any more. One of my friends spoke to her GP about it and I think has decided to delay the MMR until her DS is 2, which is the age where autism becomes apparent I think (don't know that much about it). And I'm with you on the snoring sounds. DP snores = elbow in the back, DS snores = smiling at the cuteness.

Mel - how are your sick babies? Poor little Jack with his night terrors, it's awfully hard not being able to protect them from their dreaming imaginations. Hopefully he'll get through this patch soon. And hopefully you'll see some great improvement when his dressing gets changed tomorrow:goodluck2:

V - isn't it frustrating when you've got a baby that's just not their normal happy self, and when they spend the day being clingy & whingy. It's very tiring. Have you got around to trying the Vicks on the feet trick yet? And did you succumb to buying the handbag??

Sacha - bummer about the fleas, they're nasty little critters. Don't know about bombs, although I'd probably hold off unless desperate, but if I was desperate then I'd move out of the house if I could for a couple of days, but then I am a little on the neurotic side of these things. And how's Autie going - is she still feeling miserable, poor little thing? Oh - and cute picture of her, love the headscarf!

Sarah - that's great that Bayleigh has started giving you 12 hour sleeps. and poor little Ryan losing his voice...so many sick kids around here at the moment, I'm looking forward to winter being over.

Rebecca - lovely to hear from you, I hope that Xavier does start sleeping better for you, we miss you!!

Yeah right Nicky - like we're going to forget you! Is all your wedding stuff finalised now? It must be getting so exciting to have it getting closer & closer.

I've loved reading everyone's stories, it's lovely to reminisce. Hard to believe that this time last year some of us were brand new Mums, and some of us were still Mum's in waiting. The things we have all learnt in the last 12 months!
Anyway, my story is that I'm obviously the grandmother of the group, at the age of (clears throat, cos I rarely ever admit this)..well, 38. Which when you write it looks really old, but certainly doesn't feel like it. It took me a really long time, and a lot of frog kissing before I met my partner, which was a bit over 3 years ago, but I'm so glad I waited for the right one. We got engaged a couple of months ago, but no wedding date set yet. After text-book easy pg, I ended up with an emergency CS, cos after 16 or so hours of contractions and no progress, they broke my waters but there was meconium in them, and so they gave me the epi in preparation for putting in the drip to induce, but then DS's heart rate when haywire, so didn't get any induction, it was straight to theatre. DF doesn't know this yet, but we'll be trying for No 2 just as soon as my AF puts in a reappearance, but as I'm still feeding 4-5 times a day, she's still absent . I'm too old to mess around with age differences, I'll take whatever I can get when I get it. Plus I'm finding myself to be super super clucky. I think that this is the only time I'd ever complain about not getting AF

Did anyone see the guy that was doing the rounds on the morning TV shows & Current affair type shows talking about teaching babies to read from about 2 months? I read to Liam every day, usually 5 or 6 books, and he takes himself into his room periodically to flick through pages himself, but I'm now slightly paranoid that I'm not doing enough for him? Which on a rational level I know I am, but you know how you go through those moments.

Oh, and we had our first free standing moment tonight . Liam was watching me run his bath and normally he just leans against the bath whilst sorting through the bath toys, but tonight he just kind of let go for a few seconds, then when finished, just calmly reached for the side of the bath again. Only did it once, so it could be a bit of a fluke, but I was so thrilled to be there to see it.