Babies born~September 1st-15th 2009 #3

Hi lovely ladies! I logged on a few weeks ago and thought nobody was using this thread anymore. Glad to see its still going! :)

Taurean, don't you love the terrible two's lol! Miss I sounds absolutely gorgeous and I love her little comments. Best of luck with building, how exciting for you all. Hope you are feeling well. Did you end up finding the sex of your little singapore stowaway or is it going to be a surprise?

Arte congrats again on the arrival of little Erin. She really is a little cutie and I have fingers/toes crossed for you that she stays a brilliant sleeper. How frustrating that Miss A won't sleep, it sounds like she needs to sleep for a week straight to make up for it all. How are your two adjusting to having a new baby in the house? I hope you are recovering well from the birth.

Kelly great news that the new bed is a hit! Not much longer until you get to meet your baby girl!

Sanchez OMG woman are you crazy moving at 39 weeks lol! Hope it all goes well for you and I agree with the others, get as much help as you can with the move!

Pooley best of luck TTC#2!

AFU well its been a while I guess! Great to see you all on FB but I've missed coming in here for more details lol!

Terrible two's are well and truly in this household. Ethan is also in the 'its mine' phase and wants to be completely independent which results in a tantrum if I say that 'mummy will help you'. He is a typical little boy and loves anything on wheels lol. His vocabulary blows me away at times (sorry mummy brag coming up lol!). I seriously have to look twice sometimes because a lot of what he says sounds so funny coming out of such a little person. Yesterday as we got in the car he said 'lets go on an adventure' followed by 'mummy we go for a cino?'. Gorgeous and scary how fast he is growing up. Great news for me is that he plays so well with his sister now which gives me a bit of a break and actually some time to clean/cook etc without a toddler under my feet (well until a fight breaks out but that's another story!). Day sleeps are becoming a struggle and I doubt he will continue to have them for too much longer. Elena didn't drop her day sleep until her 3rd birthday and I was kind of hoping that Ethan would be the same. For the last week he's only had 2 day sleeps and the other days resulted in constant getting up/crying etc that I gave up. I'm so not ready for that precious 1.5hr break during the day to stop aaarrgghhhh!!!!!!!

I've been on a health kick and happy to say that I've lost 6kg this year so far. Still have around 3kg to go which not surprisingly is all on my tum. Hoping to have lost all/most of it by summer time. I'm determined to get to my prebaby weight! Lucky the kids love the creche at my local gym and have made some friends there so its a fun thing for us all to do.

Anyway lovely to hear from you all and I'm looking forward to hearing all about the new babies arriving soon!

Nice to hear from everyone!

Sanchez, it is rosy cheeks - they go blue when it is cold! I don't know why they are so colored, I have very red cheeks too (and I was always really self conscious of it growing up). Bugger about moving house at 39 weeks - I could barely move my fat arse off the couch by then. Sorry the sleep hasn't come right for you yet, I know how hard it is.

Kelly, my tip for veges - give them a toothpick to eat it with. I can feed my kids nearly anything if I cut it up bite sized and give them a toothpick loll

Taurean, your holiday pics on FB always look so nice! I wish we would go away on a nice holiday, but I strongly suspect that carting 3 kids around would just be a stress fest and defeat the purpose.

Sangie, Well done on the weight loss! It sure goes on a lot easier than it comes off. Erin seems to have left about 7kg behind, adding to the 5kg I still had left over from Amelia. It is going to be a lot of hard work to get it off if I ever get the time.
We get a lot of "it's mine" and my personal favorite "it my turn!", except she doesn't get the concept of actually alternating turns lol. Do you find yourself spending a fair part of your day refereeing them? My two play together quite well for a bit, then it all falls out the window. But in general I think I am pretty lucky with how well they get along, and how well they have accepted Erin into the mix.

Hi everyone

Have been reading all the lovely new posts over the last few days great to see that everyone is back on here. I know we all pretty much do catch up with whats happening on FB but you can get a little bit better idea of the "real" life of dealing with a toddler here. As Kelly said its refreshing to read about everyone elses realities. Makes dealing with you own that little bit easier:)

Art congrats again on Erin. She is just gorgeous and it is so great that the other two have accepted here so easily. BTW love the idea of using the toothpick especially for the veggies. Someone must have had a word with Sam as he used to eat veggies for me but someone obviously tipped him off the toddlers DON'T eat veggies so now apart from carrots won't have a bar of them. Keeping my fingers crossed that Ms E is a good sleeper and that Ms A can learn from her!

Sanchez you are a complete loon to be moving into a new house when 39 weeks pregnant. Like the others have said pay pay pay someone to do it for you.

Taurean all the best of luck with your move too. What is it with pregnant women and moving house? You only moved into your current place shortly after Ms I was born. I can still remember the photos you posted of you painting with her in the sling. Must be exciting planning the new house - have you got the design all chosen and sorted out?

Sangie very very impressed with your weight loss. Trying to lose weight even when you have heaps of time is hard enough but to be able to do it with two kids - now thats good.

Kelly well done on moving T to the new big bed. And hope he works out how to sleep in there during the day too so you can get a little bit of a break.

AFU - well been a busy few weeks here starting with Sam's birthday party. Weather didn't do us any favours and it poured out of the heavens. The "little do" I had planned had got slightly out of control so we ended up with 36 adults and 18 kids jammed into the house. All along with the lunatic dog who was delerious with excitment at the thought of all these people who had food that he might be able to beg/steal from them lol! This was then followed by another bbq (where it rained again) for the NRL Grand Final and another get together to watch the Celtic clash in the Rugby World Cup last weekend. (though we won't talk about the result please). Sam loved it all and didn't seem to be in the slightest bit bothered as to the fact that there was heaps of people around and just took it all in his stride.

All three of us have been hit with nasty colds since his birthday - I'm into my third week of it now and am completely over it. Sam practically refused to eat anything for almost two weeks which was really stressful for me. His a very slim little boy so don't have any fatty reserves (wish I could say the same about myself!). Finally took him to the docs who put him on a course of ABs as he said he might have developed a middle ear infection. He is finally on the mend and has started eating again.

I know I shouldn't say it out loud and it will no doubt all go to S$@# hit but sleep wise in general we are going okay. When in day care he goes between 1 - 2 hours sleep a day and will do probably 1.5-2.5 for me. I find if i put him down early he will just play/talk away to himself until he falls asleep. What i am finding though it he is going to sleep later and later so sometimes won't actually go to sleep until close to 3pm. Just makes it a bit more difficult to work out where we can go in the afternoon when he wakes late.

Sam's speech has also really improved in leaps and bounds over the last month / six weeks. He is turning into a right little parrot and is now stringing several words together to make a sentence that make sense! He joins in when we're singing songs and reading books finishing the sentences whic his super cute. Probably isn't quite as advanced as some of your stories but doing really really well. We keep telling him to use his words when he starts to get frustrated so he can try to tell us what he wants.

Tantrums ..... well lets just say they're building! Mainly when we don't get our own way or if he can't do something that he wants to do, or if I don't do something quickly enough or or or. And sometimes its because ......... I can only say because he can!

Okay am going to sign off for now. Its late and have another big day in work tomorrow. We've got a big campaign on at the moment so its pretty busy and resulting in some long hours. Funny don't have the same drive to work like I did before having Sam!

Lovely to hear from all of you again - hope we can get this thread going - and will of course see you on FB

Xx

AM, Sounds like Sam and Amelia are at about the same level speech wise. Hope he is feeling better now.

I was feeding Erin today and Amelia pointed at my belly and said "stripe" :( There are seriously stretch marks on top of stretch marks, nice of her to point it out lol

So far the good sleep has continued and she is a happy little chicken during the day :) Such an improvement! She is eating like a horse and coming up with heaps of new words that she is putting together into small sentences. She is such a nice kid when she isn't a tired grump.

Art - nice of A to point out your stretchies! Gotta love (and hate) their innocence :lol: Glad to hear A's good sleeping habbits have continued, that's awesome!! You both must feel amazing! I wonder what changed?

AM - great to hear from you hon and get the goss on little S. I'm hearing you loud and clear with regards to tantrums. Miss I is throwing them frequently and often for no good reason at all. She often screams 'Mine!!' mid tanty which is bloody hilarious. No idea why she does that but it's like it's her own little swear word :lol: Our house plans are actually in with council at the moment and we will be doing pre-start with the builders in the next few weeks. We've picked out our tiles, benchtops and cupboards and all the smaller things like taps, doors, sinks, etc. We just need to sit down with them and do the official selection and hope we haven't gone too far over budget!

DH has been away for the past week in Norway on business so Iz and I have been at my parents so I didn't have to tackle her on my own. It was a huge help and so nice to give my poor hips and back a rest but her sleep was pretty ordinary while we were there. I put her in the cot as I didn't trust her in their single bed just yet so I think that really threw her. She is still suffering randomly from 'poo issues' and had 4 days without going which was causing her a lot of grief. I got about 3 hours broken sleep on Friday night and ended up in the single bed, with Iz (she wouldn't have a bar of the queen size bed :wtf:), and finally got back to sleep around 5.30am. Absolute shocker! I decided to come home last night and see if being in her own bed made a difference and wouldn't you know it, she slept right through. She did have a poo around 9.30pm so that would have definitely helped but besides that quick nappy change, she slept from 8pm - 7.30am. :dance: Pity my stupid hips and sciatica played up all night but I'm still happy regardless. Hoping the good sleep continues!

We are off to Victoria on Wednesday for a week to catch up with family and friends and we also have another wedding to go to, in the Yarra Valley on Saturday. Really looking forward to seeing everyone but it's going to be one very busy week, far from a holiday that's for sure. I'm still so excited though, it's always nice to visit 'home' and we haven't been back for 18 months so it will be awesome just a bit crazy.

Is anyone else still waiting on 2 year old molars to appear? I think Iz's might be on their way but I can't see them yet. She's been drooling again the past couple of weeks and has suddenly gone off food, in particular breakfast which is doing my head in! She has always been a breakfast girl but it's been a real struggle to get her to eat any the past week or so. I hope it's teeth and pray that they get here soon, before this next baby arrives!

Went nuts on new linen and accessories for Iz's 'big girl room' this week. The new bedroom furniture is being delivered to our new house (the rental) and although I'm expecting a few sleepless nights while she adjusts, I'm hoping if I make the room and bed super cute and appealing, she may just be OK. Her furniture is all white so I've gone for hot pinks, aquas, purples and lime greens and my kind of theme. The main doona cover I bought is by Cubby House Kids and it's called Elephant Party. Google it for a sticky - it's super cute. I bought a couple of novelty cushions to go with it and some bright butterfuly and flower wall stickers as well. Fingers crossed my wicked plan works and she loves her new room so much that she'll sleep in it like an angel! :lol:

Iz has busted out a few new sentences this week and my faves are: 'Are you happy?' - she say's it to everyone and everything and replies with 'Yeah, I'm happy' when you ask her the same :lol: and the other is 'No mummy, don't do that' which is just hilarious! She even waves her finger at me when she says it!! Clearly I say that to her a little too often, lol.

Better get moving so I'm organised to collect DH from the airport this arvo. Enjoy your Sunday ladies, it's 34 degrees in Perth today!!

Arte, yes I do have to referee at times! But overall I'm pretty lucky that the play well together most of the time. The times I do have to step in usually results from Ellie being completely frustrated that her brother won't share something or is being rough with her toys. I find it so funny to watch them play. For example Elena asks her brother if he wants to play barbies. Then she proceeds to dress her barbie doll in beautiful clothes and brushes her hair etc. Ethan's idea of playing barbies is to throw her in the back of his tonka dump truck, drive her around for a bit and then dump her off the back lol! Funny how different they are and yet they are the best of friends. I hope the sleep situation has continued to go well.

AM, wow you party animals have been busy! I hope you are over your cold. I feel your pain hun. I was sick for close to a month with bronchitis this winter, not fun when you have two little ones who don't let you rest. Sounds like Sam is doing really well and keeping you busy! How is work going?

Taurean, I'll take a sticky beak the new doona cover when I get time. Sounds gorgeous! I love doing kids rooms. Ellie has a butterfly room which I adore. Also has white furniture with pink curtains and pink/purple butterfly decorations. She loves it. With Ethan's room we have gone with a transport theme seeing as he loves all things on wheels. Where are you going in the Yarra Valley? You are coming to my turf!!!! Oh and we are still waiting on 2 yr old molars too. I thought he was getting them a few weeks ago as he was drooling a bit but they haven't appeared yet.

Better get moving, we have swim lessons this morning and then I'm working for a few hours this afternoon. Enjoy your Monday! :)

Classic reading the stories above and knowing exactly where you girls are at!
Taurean - Tadhg had a week where he was obsessed about whether everyone was 'happy' too - he would go around asking all his soft toys 'teddy happy?' etc. Good chance to teach happy versus sad ;) I'm shocked to say that Tadhg has got his 2 yr old molars already - he started just before turning 2, i barely noticed except for the accompanying cold/ear infection. Last one finally came through last week (with yet another ear infection, but no other upset). Considering he started teething late i was most surprised, yay it's over. Love the 'wouldn't sleep in a Queen bed' story, isn't it infuriating when they get these little ideas in their heads for no apparent reason. I am working on my 'inner calm'!! Izzy's bedroom sounds devine... are you keeping all the same for #2, or starting again? I'm setting up our nursery mostly the same just changing blue for yellow and green and a few new things on the walls. I need to do a photo of Tadhg's new bed actually - but his room is a bit of a mess with the cot still waiting to be dismantled etc. Goodluck for the move!

Tadhg's latest is counting, somehow he just clicked and instead of '3...8...3...8' we now get '1,2,3,4,5,6,7,8,9,10,11!', he also loves naming everything 'blue car's name?', 'red cars name' (note we have about 30-40 hot wheels at home, excluding cars we see on the road lol). He is really good at colours apart from saying 'an-uj' instead of 'orange' - and he finally started trying to say water 'arter' instead of 'loleoleo' which i have no idea how he started.

Sangie - oh god forbid these children give up day sleeps! It's a sanity saver! We had a really testing day yesterday, and I was just screaming on the inside a few times. I think moving to the big bed for day sleeps is all a bit too exciting, and then we had an overtired boy at 7pm bouncing around his bedroom. We ended up leaving him for 10 mins while we ate dinner (with a gate on his door) and then he changed his mind and hopped into bed. Am I the only sucker who still doesn't let my child cry it out!? I'll tell you what, it's going to have to change with a new baby due in a few weeks! My mum keeps saying helpful things like 'maybe he doesn't need a sleep' or 'just get him up and try again later' argh! Congrats on the health kick and results, impressive! I'm missing running around a bit, certainly feel pretty slow these days - but hey its only a few more months and I'll be able to get out there. So hilarious about 'playing barbies' lol - i can just imagine that happening in our house in 2 years too. Not sure i'm mentally prepared for the raft of new girlie toys though! Secretly hoping she just likes playing cars and puzzles like Tadhg :-p

Art - i must try the toothpick vege thing, lol - you just never know do you! I decided to try potato fritters this week (grated potato, cheese, bacon, egg, flour etc) - Tadhg ate one and then refused anymore, humf. He will eat pumpkin soup and chicken soup at daycare - so I'm going to attempt a vege soup this week and cross my fingers. I am trying to just feel happy that i have a child who loves to eat - and will eat any kind of bread, pasta, cheese, fruit, and starting to get into some meats - mostly sausage, mince, hamburgers, fish and chicken nuggets - but I do wish he would be a bit more adaptable. Reassuring that #3 is fitting right in, we have had a few friends say the same -and we will be tentatively planning a 3rd in 2yrs. But I'm very open to the idea of thinking 2 will do, as I think I'm not the most relaxed mummy around - at least when things go haywire. We will see how this little 'Bobbette' goes! Lol about A pointing out your 'stripes', Tadhg pointed out the babies 'nose' to me this week aka my belly button! I'm getting more confident that Tadhg knows about the baby coming home and will fit in, but i'm actually a tad nervous about going to the hospital for 2 days and leaving him! I'd like the time out and will need a rest, but!

AM - thank god Sam is on the mend with those AB's, Tadhg is an ear infection machine :( I can almost guarantee any grouchy behaviour or night waking is due to an infection. On the other hand if Tadhg didn't eat for a week he'd probably be fine :-p His 2 year old clothes are quite snug! Not that i would mentally be fine, it's hard enough getting them to sit still and eat something healthy let alone if they don't want anything! Work is a distant memory for me these days, god i don't know how i fit it in before! Hours go by in the blink of an eye.

What are your opinions on swimming lessons girls? DH is wondering if we should put Tadhg back in (he only did a few months when he was little) or save the money and just try and visit family with pools / public pools etc. Would love to hear your thoughts.

Ok, must go and be productive!! But first... lunch ;)

Kel - it is so reasurring to hear we are all in the same boat, so to speak, hey. Cracked up about T's counting as that's how Iz does it...'2, 3, 4, 5, 8, 10, 8, 5, 10!' We keep going through the correct sequence with her but she still hasn't got it so I'm glad to hear that eventually the penny drops :lol: We are keeping the old nursery furniture and will use all the same bedding if it's another girl. I've got one neutral set, which is probably more boyish really, so we have something to start with if Nasi turns out to be a boy. I'm looking forward to getting into the new place (the rental) and getting the kids rooms setup. I still feel a bit scattered not having anything organised in that sense but all will be underway in less than 3 weeks. Ahhhh :)

As for swimming, we actually start back again today! Iz has mainly gone during the warmer months because her mum is a big wuss and can't handle getting herself and Iz dressed in the cold! Iz does love it though and has really benefited from lessons, she's a huge fan of the water and extremely confident in the pool. It's a bit worrying at times but the lessons are good for teaching them to swim to the wall if they fall in, etc. The four of us girls in my mum's group all managed to get into the same class so it's going to be extra fun this term. I think my big belly will love spending some time in the pool too, lol!

Sangie - wet myself laughing at the barbie doll story! That is so damn funny!! Well done on the health kick too. I can't wait to get toned up after Nasi arrives. I haven't been able to do much at all this pregnancy due to sciatica, hips, back, etc issues. They kicked in really early this time and my usual walks became unbearable. They have a proper pre and post natal exercise company over here called Babes on the Run (you can even take your babies along) so I'm hoping to do a few classes a week if I can get mum or DH to watch the kids. Wish I could catch up with you while we're in Vic (the wedding is at the Sebel Heritage). Next time I hope to go back for a longer and less busy trip!

Art - before I forget, thanks for the tip about toothpicks and veggies. I'm going to give it a go!! Iz is a bit hit and miss with vegies and although it seems to be normal, it drives me batty at times. I'm willing to give anything a go! We mashed up potatoes, pumpkin and cheese and made a big patty for her the other night and served it with a bit of sauce and called it a 'burger'. She loved it so I'll keep trying 'burgers' and will gradually add more goodies to it and hope she doesn't realise, lol!

Better get myself organised for swimming

Kelly I bet your little girl will love cars as well, especially as she will grow up with them around. My DD is a real girly girl and loves dolls, tea parties etc but also loves to play with cars, trucks, mud. Depends on her mood lol! As for swimming lessons, we love them! We originally thought we wouldn't bother as IL's have a pool and live only 10mins away but then it gets all too easy to put off going and we found that we weren't going as often as we should. At least with lessons we feel we have to go every week as we are paying for them! Also the teachers are great and I think my kids respond better to a teacher than to me or DH. Most places here do a trial lesson, you might be able to do that to get a feel for the place/teachers.

Taurean are you home from your whirlwind VIC trip? How was the wedding? The Heritage is lovely! I went there for high tea recently with my sister and my mum and it was super yummy.

Sorry just a quickie today, gotta go organise dinner and then we are off to meet my new niece! I am an aunty for the third time, very exciting! Love to you all xo

hey everyone think I might join.... a little late I know!, I remember everyone from the belly buddies thread and see you are all going along nicely and some of you, like me, are expecting again! I am due in 11 days with number two, sex is a surprise this time. My little man Jonathan will be 2 years and 2 months when he/she comes. Looking foward to catching up and talking to you all!

Hiya

Happy Friday to everyone! Hope you've all had fab weeks and things are going good and bumps are developing nicely. There's not long to go now for you all Sanchez and Kel in particular - hanging out for the news!

Sorry have been a bit MIA since last post I know a few of you have been on since i last posted. Been through a hard slog in work for the last month which meant I was having to work late (but not start late mind you :shakehead:) so was getting home late and basically was too tired to try to work out what I wanted to say. Fingers crossed it will be back to normal next week but unfortunately its not exactly a bundle of laughs at the moment.

Hope your whirlwind trip to Vic was good Taurean. Loved the video you posted of your little FF. I was very impressed on the fact that she appeared to be just walking with you. Sam thinks the funniest thing EVER is to just run in the exact opposite direction from where you want him to go. Apart from being frustrating at times if you are running late, it is quite funny as he keeps looking back to make sure you are chasing him while laughing his head off. New houses plans sound like they are fairly under control it will be great to be able to go down and see your dream home being built once they start. How long do they think it will take?

Kel we've been taking Sam to swimming lessons basically since when he turned 6 months and he loves it. He's graduated through a couple of classes now and it just using the backbubbles now with no arm bands. He is really confident in the water and is gradually learning that once he jumps in he needs to swim to the edge and either hold on or else climb out. I think where you take them swimming can make a difference and we've been lucky to find a place near us which I think is really good. A friend of mine has just moved her DD ( just about to turn 2) to where we go and she much prefers it to where her DD had been going before. If you can do it I would though at their age you will still need to go in the water with them so might be a weekend thing with new bub arriving. Agree with Sangie doing a trial run would probably be a good idea. Ts room is looking great. Does he have any idea of what is going to be happening in a few weeks?

Art how is your kid filled world going. Hope all is good and Erin is setting in well. I just love the photos you've posted it looks like the other two really love her which is sooooo sweet.

Sangie isn't it funny how in general kids seem to drift towards the boy girl gender toys etc. Sam is partial to pink (have a wonderful embarrassing photo for his 21 showing him wearing his favourite pink princess dress at day care) and can be a bit obsessed with hair ties and clips at times but in general is a real boy. Obsessed with water - the garden water sprayer is his favourite thing of all time - and he has a really good aim - loves cars and trains and working out how things work.

Sanchez not long to go now. Hope the move goes well and you get some help and that bub doesn't decide to arrive before you move.

AFU well nothing too extraordinary to report. Finally managed to shake whatever cold type bug I had. Took over a month so was well an truely over it in the end. Like I mentioned before Sam's eating came back to normal once he had his ABs. Like all 2 year olds he'll have the days when he just refuses everything but as long as its only now and then I don't worry about it. I've also worked out that if I can make him think that what I want him to do was actually his idea or that he is in control as to when he does it I have a much better chance of getting him to do it.

Sleep wise he's still in his cot and isnt showing any inclination to climb out so I reckon I'll leave him there for the moment and will put off moving him into the toddler bed. His cot converts anyway so won't be a major move when it happens. Will make life that bit easier when he is contained and not able to roam free. Nothing is safe in the house anymore despite it being baby proofed. The original locks we got for our cuboards no longer work as he can just pull them open as I think I mentioned on FB locking the front door is usless as he gets out through the doggie door if he wants to get into the garden. Luckily as we have the dog we also have gates so he can't escape into the big bad world though it won't be long before he works out how to undo the latch!

Sam's counting is really good and has been able to do the 1-10 for ages though he just refuses to go above that. He goes walking the dog with DH most mornings and they've always done counting going up and down steps on the walks and we have two sets of stairs in the house so he's had plenty of practice. He knows all his colours and animals though we did go through a stage when everything was purple! He loves his "tories" and has very definite favourites that we have to read several times a day!

His very favourite phrase of the moment is "where is (insert name of person who is no longer in his sight) gone?" He does the very cute Aussie thing of going up at the end of the question. The question is repeated ad nauseum until the person re-apppears. Guess it will be replaced by why in a few years lol!

Anyhoo enough of my whaffling. Have a lovely weekend all and speak soon.

Kisses to all the bubs.

AM & Samx

:leap: Did you see FB ladies?! Sanchez has had her little girl!! A tiny 2.4kg bundle of joy! Can't wait to hear the birth story given she apparently arrived just 45 minutes after getting to hospital!!

Congrats Sanchez!! xx

Congrats again Sanchez, hope all is going well!! xo Does that mean Kelly is next? So exciting with all the new bubbas in here!

We just got our first wee on the potty. He was so excited he picked up the potty to show me and tipped it all over the floor lol! Ah well at least it started in the right spot.

Off to enjoy the gorgeous day. Kids want to paint which will mean a big clean up afterwards (here's hoping we get more paint on paper than on bodies lol!)

Love to you all xo

Ditto on congrats to Sangie. Hope little bubba is going well and not under lights any more. She was so gorgeous just sleeping away in the photo you posted on FB.

Should be Kelly next unless Taurean is going to surprise everyone by going unbelieveably early! Though I think she might want to enjoy her lovely new house for a few weeks before the mayham sets in - lol! Hope the unpacking wasn't too horrific.

Kelly hope T is over his tonsillitis - poor little chap he really has had a rough trot with ENT illnesses. Not exactly the restful run up to a new arrival that you were hoping for for.

Sangie well done E for the first wee on potty. I am planning on trying to get Sam to use potty over the Christmas break as we'll have an extended time off. Weather should be good and he'll be outdoors so any little accidents won't matter so much. Was he showing much signs that he was interested before you tried it.

Art how are you going love? Is E a good sleeper you so deserve a good one. Hope A and W are doing well. They just look so pleased with their little sister.

AFU nothing new to talk about. Sam's getting cheekier by the minute and is so pleased with himself with everything he does these days. His favourite phase this week is no I do it which means I can't help atall. Okay in most cases (albeit very slow) but not so good when he insists on doing things like carrying his scooter by himself up the stairs with NO help from me. Bless him the scooter is bigger than him. He's also quite into gardening and likes to help mow the grass though he does tell us quite a bit that the mower is very loud! His favourite gardening past-time is watering the flowers - and he is quite possessive over the hose. Think the poor things will probably die of overwatering rather than drought in our garden!

Okay must stop procrastinating and tackle the ridulous pile of ironing that is staring at me. Hope everyone is well and enjoying the lovely summer weather that is finally starting to arrive.

Xx

AM, it sounds like Ethan and Sam are very similar. Ethan is obsessed with gardening too, I just wish he knew the difference between weeds and plants instead of randomly pulling out anything! And he is very independent too which drives me a bit nuts sometimes. Haha at the scooter up the stairs! My boy thinks trying to haul a bike up the ladder of the slide is a good idea :() He's done a few more wees on the potty but I don't think he's ready to fully TT yet. He has shown interest for a while but I think its just because he sees his sister use the loo and he wants to do everything she does (yep he's 2 going on 4.5 lol!). So I put the potty in the loo so when Elena goes he sits on the potty and that's when he did his first one. Anyway I'm in no rush and like you I was going to wait until after Christmas before giving it a proper go so we'll just see how he goes up until then.

Hope everyone is well. Looking forward to a gorgeous sunny weekend here woohoo! Take care xo

Congrats to Sanchez and Kelly on the arrival of Sadie and Ava!!

You have both chosen lovely names :) I hope all is going well and the big kids are adapting well to the babies.

Taurean, not long to go now!

Not much happening here, just an endless cycle of chaos and mess lol. William and Amelia have been having a few spats in the last few weeks so I seem to be playing referee a lot more. A is finally starting to come ahead with her speech and we can usually tell what she is on about. She seems quite musical and today she was singing a song about horse poo lol.

Congrats to Taurean on the arrival of baby Chloe! You must be thrilled that she has made an early arrival. Now you can break out that gorgeous purple vanchi :lol: Hope you are both recovering well, I'm sure Iz is going to be the doting big sister!

Hope everyone is well and all ready for Christmas. My two are super excited! (so is their mum lol!). I can't wait to see their little faces on Christmas morning!

Love to you all, try to get back soon with a proper update.

Congrats again Taurean. So this round of babies were all girls? Me, Sanchez, Kelly, Taurean...

Last day of kindy here today. A seems to have suddenly leaped developmentally, more and more words every day and she is doing quite good 3-4 word sentences now. I have no idea where she got it from but she is creative and an artist! She is always drawing something and now she can tell us what it is.

Merry Christmas to everyone, hope you all stay safe and have fun xx

Happy New Year ladies! Wow its quiet in here, I guess that might have something to do with all the little baby girls that have arrived recently! I hope they are all doing well and that the older ones have adjusted well to having a new baby in the house!

Did you all have a lovely Christmas? We had a lovely day and the kids were so into this year. Ethan is still talking about Santa and asking when we can put the Christmas tree back up. I tell him not for a long time and so he asks me five minutes later lol! Clearly two year olds have no sense of time. Summer is well and truly here and we've had a great time taking the kids out to the beach, park, zoo etc. I love this time of year. I keep telling DH we should move to a warmer climate (I hate winter in melb!), pity he's not keen lol! Anyway hope you are all well and have had a great start to the year!

Oh and Ethan is toilet trained woohoo! I'm so thrilled to be rid of nappies (well except for bed time!). He's been trained for about 6 weeks now with no accidents although he does have some issues with doing number 2's. He's a bit scared of pooping on the toilet/potty and will wait until nap time to do it in his nappy (I'm amazed at how long he can hold it in lol!). But just this week he did two in the potty so hopefully he'll get there soon.

Hugs to you all, hope you hear updates from you all soon xoxo

had a great chrissie sangie!

my new DS is 2 months it has flown sooooo fast and my DS1 adores him, have had no troubles with jealousy at all! both are miraculously sleeping right now which is very rare!

will be trying for number three after our wedding and honeymoon in october next year.....so not looking foward to the 9 months of vomiting again! could be another september bub!

hope everyone else is doing well! our little ones will be three in a matter of months!

I found it! Will be back later to post, but anyone else is welcome to update if they want :)

Just resubbing to make sure i get the posts. Thought you might post something Arte so checked it out. Have pile of house crap ie ironing to do so trying to break its back tonight so we can have fun tomorrow instead.

Later alligators

Oh yay, lets start our thread up again!! I'm rocking DD2 off to sleep at the moment but will pop in later or in the morning with a proper update on DD1. Would be nice to share some advice again :D

YAY!
I'll be back after some much needed shut eye :)

Wow, a whole year of catch up! Where to start?!

Last year we moved house at the end of April, which was the end of day naps (no car travel). We are right next door to kindy now. A started attending without me in Term 3. She currently attends from 8.45am until 1.15 all weekdays. I think it is too much considering she is only 3, but she loves it so much. I had her on less days but she put on such a performance when we dropped off DS and had to leave again that I just booked her in. She is very social and happy.
We started toilet training over Christmas. She is dry if I put her on the potty regularly but she won't say if she needs to go so if you don't take her often then she will just wet herself. She isn't a big fan of self care, still not dressing herself or making any attempt to. A bit frustrating really when the other two kids are so independent.

We did a big South Island Road Trip which was good fun.

DS started school this year. He has settled in beautifully and is doing really well. E is now 17 months old, but acts more like a two year old.

OMG just lost my post :wall: Here goes take 2............

E started kindy a few weeks ago. I was expecting some tears and clingy behaviour but it seems he has settled in perfectly. Here in Vic 3yr old kindy is only 4 hours a week (split into 2 sessions of 2hrs each) so it isn't very much but its his first taste of independence I guess. His kindy teacher described him as a quiet, helpful and very obedient little boy. I was wondering if they got mixed up as I'd describe him at home as loud, unhelpful and disobedient a lot of the time lol! But no, it seems he is an angel at kindy and saves his tantrums for me at home :wall:

Speaking of tantrums, he can chuck some major ones and his behaviour has been a bit of a challenge over the last year. DD was never a tantrum thrower so this is all new to me. Thankfully they seem to be getting fewer and further between but there was a stage around 6 months ago where I felt I just wasn't coping with him at all. He threw quite a few in public too which I found hard to deal with. Yes I was that mum dragging a screaming/kicking child out of the shop/cafe or wherever. Thankfully he hasn't thrown one in public for a while now and we are doing our best to explain to him how his tantrums effect everyone (including himself).

Aside from that he is a wonderful and independent little boy. We were lucky that he toilet trained easily at 2.5yrs and night trained only a few months later. We've been a nappy free household for almost a year now yay! He's also pretty good at brushing his teeth, dressing himself and bathing. Although he takes ages to get dressed in the mornings which drives me nuts! He is really into dinosaurs and insects at the moment and he loved the museum. I think he was blown away by the dinosaur bones. Apart from that he is a typical little boy and loves cars, trains, trucks, dirt, sand etc etc.

DD started school this year and he is missing her terribly. They are inseparable usually so poor little guy has lost his play mate. Although I miss having DD around, its been great to do some age appropriate things with my little man without having his sister butting in. He loves puzzles and craft and has just started to write his name. He does really well with the alphabet and counting which his sister mostly taught him. Aside from kindy he does swimming lessons which he loves and we just started him in a pre-school sports program which he does with DH.

This time last year we went to Bali for a family holiday. It was so much fun and the kids still remember it and talk about it often. We are hoping to get away later this year for a much needed break but we haven't made any decisions on where and when yet. DH is potentially changing jobs this year so that will play a factor in our timing for a holiday. I'm still working casual hours and luckily I can fit that in around the kids school/kindy/other activities. I'm lucky in that my mum and MIL help out and watch E for a half day each most weeks so I can get some work done.

Arte your trip sounds like it was fun, how long did you go for? Did the kids travel well? Wow at Miss A doing kindy every day, she must love it and so handy for you to be right next door. I feel like I'm constantly in the car with school drop off/pick up, kindy, swimming, dancing etc. Unfortunately we can't walk anywhere.