April/May 2008 MOMS (all others are welcomed too)

[Cocoa]

Hi Kipatte and the gang !

Well, The first birthday's are approaching for our group and I just cannot believe it!!! Where did this year go????

I am doing a buffet luncheon birthday party with EVERYONE we know! I really don't get a chance to see family very often so instead of gathering for a funeral (as we have the last couple of times we've all gotten together) I decided to gather at a happy event! So the party is on their birthday (a Saturday this year! yeay!) from 1-4 and I am going to have games and music and such - dont' have a "theme" per se but I will try to tie it all in in my own way... Not doing a spectacular cake but having a tasty one I am dreading getting it all together without going nuts! BUT - its all worth it... What fun they are at this age and then.... HOMEWORK....SCIENCE FAIRS....SPORTS EVENTS....SLEEPOVERS....BUNCHES OF KIDS IN AND OUT OF THE HOUSE...!!! OH MY - WHAT WAS I THINKING GETTING PREGNANT AGAIN!?!?!?!?!? Ahh, I love it! (but not all the worrying when they start with the independence stuff...)

K, gotta get back to work!

Love,

Cocoa

[Mandy J]

Hi girls,

I am so pleased, Ellie is 10 months old today, and she finally started to crawl a couple of days ago. No0w of course I am following her around the house and into cupboards checking what is not safe for nosey little girls.

For Ellies birthday, it will be mainly family and just one other child, but I am thinking of a Barney theme....dress code purple, or possibly a pretty in pink party, or a teddy bears picnic, or a BBQ or........Arggghhhh I haven't got a clue!!!!!

We have started going swimming again now the weather is a bit better, Ellie loves the water, it is so much fun. We are also going to Tiny Tots...which is baby sign language. Are any of you going to mother and baby groups? If so, what sort of things are you doing?

Have any of your babies started to say Mama yet? Ellie will say dada, but I've asked her nicely to practice in time for UK mothers day in a couple of weeks, but I don't think she was paying any attention!

Ellie is starting to gget a bit more fussy with her food, she isn't eating her porridge or weetabix in the morning, so I end up making toast which she loves, I think I will start tryinbg scrambled egg on toast tomorrow.

We are looking forward to our holidays this year, we are doing a house swap with an old school friend. They want to come up to the Lake district and we will go to their house in Shrewsbury which is handy for Chester Zoo and lots of other great things to do. That should save us around £600 on accommodation costs. Do any of you have plans for this year?

Mandy
x

[kipatte]

Hi Mandy:

I am glad everything is going well with Ellie. Send me a photo when you get a chance.

It's so exciting approaching 1st B-days, what a miracle for all of us.
Stephie does say MaMaMa a lot. Not quite Mommy yet. She also says da da.

I love the house swapping idea. We are going to visit friends in Southern France in April. Thats all for now.

Love to all
K

[carolina1girl1]

We are doing a outside bbq with family and friends. Theme defentily the backyardigans!! Miley loves them!! We did her room with them. I even find myself singing along, lol. Miley says mama, dada, and baba. We go Thursday for her 9 month shots!! Anyone walking yet? Miley will take a step or two then sit down.. I can't wait!!

[Vlada]

Hello all!!!
I don't know yet what kind of Bday party we are going to have for Tesa, but i will be going to Russia with her to baptise her ( Russian orthodox) and I am NOT looking forward for the plain ride

[Cocoa]

SCITEACHER'S BABY IS HERE!!!!

His name is Shane and he was born yesterday (March 10) by C-section and is a whopping (as his mom put it )7+ pounds 19 inches!!!

We are now waiting for LisaPa's baby!!! Another 4 weeks!!!

xxxCocoa
ps- I think I will do the Blue's Clues Theme - the babies LOVE Blue's Clues!!!

[carolina1girl1]

miley is still not waving bye bye or playing pat a cake..... she can do it have seen her when she was playing by herself wave bye bye and clap. i have had several people tell her bye bye and when she doesn't wave ask me how old she is and when i say 9 months they tell me oh she should be doing that by now....

[Mandy J]

Carolinagirl: Just ignore them!!! Totally!

I had a lady tell me a few weeks ago that Ellie would be dyslexic because she hadn't crawled...what a load of bol***ks! Ellie only stated to crawl a few days before 10 months...they are all so different in what they do. Ellie still won't say mama, although I am desperate for her to do it, I am certainly not worried about her mental capacity yet. (Mind yoy, if she does turn out like DH, I will have something to worry about...lol)

Mandy
x

[kipatte]

Did you know that crawling is not even a milestone anymore. Some babies go from sitting to walking.

Carolina girl, Stephie does not wave bye bye and she is 5 days from being 11 months old. However she is officially WALKING! She will get up and take about 10 steps before she will fall down. It's so cute to watch.

[Cocoa]

Hey Girls -

Carolina girl!!! Who is that wench who told you that she should be waving bye--bye at 9 months?!?!?! Ahhhhhgggg!!! I hate when people do that its so rude! Like THEY know! I am an early childhood development specialist and even I would never say that because simply put - it is NOT TRUE!!!! Development is a range from ages 0-5 - it is a very wide range from 0-3 and some children crawl by 7 months, others will crawl at 10 or almost 11 months. Walking can occur anywhere from 9 months to 14 months without cause for concern (my sister walked at 16 months and she had some slight delays but she has a good life - married and a dog groomer).

Mandy - that lady was just down right RUDE!!! Why do people say such things?!?! If nothing else it is NOT helpful it is hurtful!

Kipatte - hey - Stephie is a cutie pie... I don't often get a chance to read with TWO babies but I did read ONE book in the last month! Tell me more about the book club...

OK - at work - gotta go... looking forward to the babies first birthday party!

xxxCocoa

[kipatte]

Cocoa- Bookclubs are great for meeting people and having interesting discussions. It was a life saver for me when I first moved to England because I didn't know anyone. We had a book club in my neighborhood in the states also.

Here we meet once a month. We alternate each others houses and we each take turns in recommending a book. We have one person who gets 12 copies of our book from the library and disseminates them at each meeting. We meet the first Wednesday of every month. It's nice to have an adult conversation!

K

[kipatte]

Cocoa- Bookclubs are great for meeting people and having interesting discussions. It was a life saver for me when I first moved to England because I didn't know anyone. We had a book club in my neighborhood in the states also.

Here we meet once a month. We alternate each others houses and we each take turns in recommending a book. We have one person who gets 12 copies of our book from the library and disseminates them at each meeting. We meet the first Wednesday of every month. It's nice to have an adult conversation!

K

[Cocoa]

Kipatte!

The book club sounds GREAT!!! I will look into it around my area but you will have to give me a clue as to how to do so... Also, if I don't have one around me could I start one? Does your DH watch Stephie? How long are you together when you meet to discuss? What time of the day? I know its a lot of questions but I am really interested especially since my neighbor is a NY Times bestselling author!!! I will try to talk him into it!

xxxCocoa

[kipatte]

Hi Cocoa:

We meet at 8:00 and usually leave at 11:00. My DH watches Stephie. When I lived in CT I started a book club in my neighborhood by putting invitations in everyones mailbox and asking to RSVP if interested. 8 out of 19 neighbors responded so we met and rotated houses. In the states we also met at night around 7:00 and it usually ended around 9:00. However in the states we only met every 3 months. In England we meet every month.

Can you share who the NY times author is who lives near you?

Kipatte

[Mandy J]

Hi Gals,

Well I have just have my best ever Mothers Day!!!! Well as its my first one I suppose it would be. Ellie was so sweet, she bought me a little teddy bear ornament holding a sign with Mum written on love hearts, isn't she so clever! SHe also got me an egg cup and flowers and took me and DH out for lunch....where did she get all that money from...lol

She is now in bed, and unfortunately didn't say mama before the end of the day, despite me constantly asking her too, what a stubborn wee lass she is...and what a 'nag' am I?!

I did have a laugh today though, ever since Ellie was tiny I would say 'How big are you?' and then hold her arms up in the air and say 'I'm THIS big', well today she put her arms up above her head all by herself, so that just made my day, she clapped her hands when she knew how clever she was!

The book club sounds a lovely idea, I am a bit of a book worm too, I end up staying awake until 3am sometimes because I can't put a book down, but must admit I don't seem able to cope without my sleep as much now, so books are limited to around 1 per month nowadays!

Here's some photos:

http://i80.photobucket.com/albums/j181/ ... G_0443.jpg

http://i80.photobucket.com/albums/j181/ ... G_0541.jpg

http://s80.photobucket.com/albums/j181/ ... I_0555.flv