She's a beauty Bea! But then so are you, so that's not a surprise! We don't have anything planned unfortunately. Moving house has wiped out our savings and its looking more likely I might have to go back earlier. Boo. With a bit of luck we might go to France for my 30th in the Spring and I am hoping to convince hubby to go on holiday with my family. He's not keen though!

Snow I'm another one who thought would show sooner. I had a tiny pop belly around 17/18 wks but nothing obvious for a while after that. I didn't tell my colleagues until 22 weeks and in a coat or a jumper, strangers were shocked when I said I was pregnant at 31 weeks and he ended up 8lbs! Perhaps you have an anterior placenta too? My sister who pp was a good 7-10lbs lighter than me and 5ft 2" is massive at 25 weeks She doesn't have an ap but the trade off is she feels her baby moving constantly. Finlay would nudge, shimmy and prod but never that strongly and rarely on demand.

We are okay. He has a stinky cold and that is making the nights even worse. Last night I felt I was up constantly.

Hands don't feel bad about finding it tough. The lack of sleep makes us all less patient than we like. Many a morning I have had to take a deep breath and put on a smile to get Finlay up. Your hubby owes you lots of lie ins and breakfasts in beds! Development wise Dex will be doing so much soon and you can start helping him to discover what he likes, which will make all the adventures you want to have seem even better. I take Finlay to Baby Explorers which is a sensory class and he loves it. There's a weekly theme and the lady does songs to match the theme, some with actions, others with a puppet show, or a parachute game as well as some tactile or messy play. Tomorrow 's is bonfire night do I'm expecting lots of sparkles and lights which he'll love. (He's such a magpie!) it's given me the confidence to invent games to help his learning and we can do little trips together. Last week we went to the park yo listen to the wind in the trees and we picked huge leaves which I decorated the stroller with. Hubby thought I was nuts, but F loved it.

Before I forget why do you guys call it Trunk or Treat? We call it Trick or Treat. xx

Nic, dex already goes to the park with me on warm days and sits in one of the baby swings as i push him, and i do take strolls with him and go to walmart and church and etc with him... its just not quite the same though. Im hoping when hubby gets back that it will be better and that he wont let me down.

As far as Trunk or Treat goes.... its a new thing that a lot of people are doing. We call it Trick or Treat as well when people go door to door ... but because of neighborhoods becoming unsafe to let little ones run wild, poisonous candy, and many other factors .. .a lot of organizations like churches, military units, and etc ... started having functions called Trunk or Treat.

It is where several people sign up to bring their cars to a big parking lot and decorate their TRUNKS. A lot of times there will be games at each car like ring toss, apple dunking, and etc... and kids go from car to car trick or treating instead of house to house. There is usually also other free food... like our church gives out chili, popcorn, cotton candy, and hot chocolate to anyone who wants some... and we have a cup cake walk. Sometimes we host a pumpkin painting craft table or put on its the great pumpkin charlie brown for people to watch on the side of the building.

Kids can go around and around to the cars as much as possible but most parents put a 1 or 2 time limit on their children.. .and people pass out candy from their trunks as kids go by trick or treating.

Trunk or Treats are really nice if you have small children so instead of unbuckling and rebuckling them into their carseat with their costume on at each stop or trucking them along block after block in your arms... you can just take them out and go around 1 parking lot and get a bag full and then go home.

Ah what a shame that it has become unsafe. Who would poison sweets? That's so wrong. When the kids trick or treat here they tend to only do their own street, or that of a relative or friend so that they know the people whose houses they go to. Parents either bring them round or for slightly older kids they sit in a car and watch. It sounds like everyone makes it fun though xx

Hi all.

Not got loads of time at the moment to st as I am sure you can all sympathise, but I am checking in regularly to see how everyone is getting on. As soon as I get chance to get in the PC I will post pics I promise, but for nw I am sticking with the one handed iPad posts!!

Elliot is getting big quickly and is already out f his newborn size clothing and into 0-3 months....good to know that all the feeding is dining good, as is can be quite draining as I am exclusively breast feeding at the moment. This weeks challenge is to try and express as you girls are not the only on who have recommended doing it sooner rather than later...well see how that goes!

On Sunday we took him to the local bonfire party, I was worried the fireworks would be too loud for him, but he slept soundly all the way through the firework display!! Brilliant! I love bonfire night!

How is everyone doing? Been very quiet recently.

Bex - how is the bottle going? I introduced the bottle to Dex at 3 weeks...when i was excusively BF. Im glad i did it early.

Snow - im thinking of you hon. Let us know how you are getting along.

Lisette - How is melina sleeping?

Nic, Bea - Keep me posted on your little ones. You two are leading the pack as far as development goes.

AFM - Dexter's rolling over is still happening at night and im exhausted. In fact last night i woke up to him wimpering.. i dont know how long he had been crying but he was on his back trying to sleep whimpering with dried tears down his cheeks. I felt awful about it.... but nothing i can do when im that exhausted that i dont even wake up to his cries. I just hope it doesnt happen again.

He sometimes will hold his bottle and sometiems will grab his spoon to put in his mouth... but not all the time and he isnt the greatest at it yet.... but he's becoing more and more independent.

Hey Hands. It sure has been quiet in here lately. Everyone is busy with their babies! That is good news that he holds his bottle and spoon! Pretty soon he will be doing it all the time!

Bex - Yeah for Elliot growing into big boy clothes! I love bonfires too!

Nic - Hope the cold has gone away!

Bea - LOVE the new picys! Getting so big already! No trips planned here - just a quick get-a-way for a night or two to the mountains (a few hrs away) in Jan for our Anniversary.

Hey Lisette!!

Glad I'm not the only one that is staying small during pregnancy even though it seems like I am. I guess I will find out where my placenta is next week at my U/S. Today is bitter sweet for me. I miscarried exactly a year ago. Such a sad day for me but happy bc here I sit pregnant again - even listened to the HB this AM on doppler. The past week or so I have had horrible RLS at night. I guess it won't be going away either and I can't take anything for it. Sucky.

Ah Snow. I can't believe how much has happened in a year. I can't wait for your scan. Will you post pics?

Finlay's cold is now a chest infection. The antibiotics have started to work and he seems so much happier which is a relief. I love him so much , but it is hard to wear a smile every day when your baby is a screaming, grumpy pants and you had 2 hours sleep and have a dreadful headache. He is a clever poppet though. Already in to everything. It's going to be mayhem when he crawls!

Hands - sounds like Dex is pretty advanced already. He'll be showing F what to do soon! I'm sure he must have been crying very, very quietly. Sometimes I hear sort of moany chat and when I drag myself to check on him he's been laying across the cot with his legs sticking out!!

Nic - I hope Finlay is feeling better. It really is no fun when they sleep regress... especialy when they are grumpy while they are awake too.

Dexter came down with the stomach flu over the weekend and its been a rough go of projectile vomiting and explosive diarrhea. He doesnt really keep anything down... not even the pediolyte. He's refusing to eat/drink, and im worried about him staying hydrated. He's had it since Sunday... so hopefully this virus will go away soon. My poor baby.

On the plus side. The army has given us orders on where we are going to move and when. We are headed to Arizona in March... yay!!

Bex - He's a month old!!! YAY!!!! How did the bottle go?

Lisette - how are you and melina doing?

Snow - you are almost out of 1st Tri!!!! How are you feeling physyically and emotionallly? Only about 2 more months until you can find out the gender. YAY. Im getting excited. Has Demi sensed that something major has happened yet?

Hey ladies! Everything went great yesterday at the U/S. The fluid in the back of the neck was normal. HB was 154. Baby is measuring 2 days ahead so I was super happy about that! I did the blood work and will get the results from both next week. I am still feeling great and so excited to be getting out of 1st tri next week or so. Hands - I was a bit emotional last week. I've been having some headaches recently. I don't think Demi has any idea what is going on. She will be a great big sis though. Except I fully expect her to think that baby's toys are her toys!! I am going to try to schedule the gender U/S when my parents are in town visiting for Christmas - I will be 18 weeks and my parents will LOVE it. It will be special for all of us. I think I will try to make the appt next week when I go back to the OBGYN. Oh yea tummy is starting to fill a bit out. I can tell my pants are a bit tighter and tummy looks like I've eaten too much cake!

As promised. Some pics. I kept referring as baby as a "He" so I think my inner conscience thinks it's a boy. Baby was wriggling around and bouncing and waving. It was really awesome!!

Snow... i know my gut feeling was right when it came to feeling like i was carrying a boy.

I'm glad all is well with the baby and hope you can find the gender out soon and the baby doesnt play shy with you.

I can't believe that you are basically in 2nd tri already!! Time sure does fly!