September 2005 Mommies - Crawling & Talking Our Way to ONE!!!

[cr8zyforaf]

cr8nme - great...uggg!

[Kay2003]

happy birthday, PATRICK!!

wildcat - glad it wasn't the chicken pox and that the spots went away.

[randysmandy]

I have NO time to write, but I wanted to say HAPPY BIRTHDAY PATRICK!!!

Update: Hunter has slept throught the night the last 2 night-I don't know what was wrong.

[philnikki]

We just got back from Ava's 1 Year WBV!!!

Her stats:

Height: 30.5 inches
Weight: 25 pounds 8 ounces
Head: 48cm

She is 95th percentile in all categories. BIG girl!! :) Her ped did say that bc she is so big, she might walk later. I told him that she is so close to going on her own, and he said that is great! Yay! We got on the list for a flu shot bc of Ava's chronic wheezing (what they think is asthma). Anyway -- we don't have to do any breathing treatments until we see what she does with her first cold. Keep your fingers crossed this winter is better to us than last!

[charmcitygirl]

nikki wow! ava is a big girl!

hair-pulling update since jake was pulling zoe's hair constantly this morning and i couldn't get him to stop, i put a call in to the ped for some help. she told me to start doing time-outs. we've done a few today and it seems to help some. we'll see how it goes tomorrow...

[wildcat]

Nikki - Omg - Ava is such a big gir!! I can't wait to see what Lauren is at 1 year, my guess is 19 pounds even:p.

Lauren continues to be just fine today and went to daycare without a problem, who knows!

Well, tonight was a MESS. My car was acting up over the weekend and my DH charged my battery and it seemed to be fine. On the way to pick up Lauren from daycare, my radio started going in and out and the interior lights were getting dim. I called DH (who was home already) and told him to be ready to come get us if we didn't make it home. Well, we only made it about a block from daycare. So, Lauren and I had to wait on the side of the road for about 15 mins. DH jumped my battery but it wouldn't hold a charge, so we went and gota new battery and put it in and it was still acting funny. By this time, it was 7:30 and Lauren was FREAKING out to eat (she normally eats by 7). So we went to a restaurant and ate, then took my car to get the alternator checked and it tested fine, but the car wouldn't stay running. So, we dropped it off at the repair shop we use. Thank goodness he has a motorcycle that he can take tomorrow so that I can take his car, it just means that I have to both drop-off and pick-up from daycare.

We didn't get home until after 9pm. Poor Lauren. She was all giggly and silly while I was getting her ready for bed, but then when it got time to BF she was so tired that she was impatient waiting for my milk to let down and would just cry and cry.

Which by the way - Lauren started lifting my shirt up (or pulling at it) when she wants to eat. It's a little disturbing to me, which makes me feel more ok about weaning in the next month!

hair pulling - Yes, Lauren pulls my hair to be silly (see a theme? same with biting! she thinks it's funny to cause pain apparently!). She doesn't do it as much now as she used to.

[AndreaMMS]

Happy Birthday Patrick!!(a day late- sorry!)

Happy Birthday Hunter!!

[solongtogo]

Happy Birthday Hunter!

[BeachBum]

Happy belated birthday to Patrick!

Happy birthday to Hunter!



Wildcat-It is totally your business about when you want to wean, but I just want to comment on the shirt pulling up.It is really very smart. :) She knows it is there even when she can't see it. It is the beginning of object permanance understanding. And, when she has a need (hunger or comfort) she knows how to communicate with you to get that need met. I'm sure she is totally excited about these new skills.

[randysmandy]

Well at this time last year I was in Labor-I can't believe it!!! It FLEW by. Fot hose of you who said you cried when you sang your baby happy birthday-I feel your pain! I told him it was his b-day last night and cried. Then I cried this morning. I wonder how we will all take it when they go to school. OK don't want to think about that yet.

Trying to catch up
Poor Addy-glad to hear she is doing OK (is her party this weekend?)
and Lauren-what's up with that? It is WAY too early for CP. yikes-what a scare.

Milk We are up to 1 parts formula 3 parts whole milk and he's doing great. Now onto the pacifier take away!

I have to chase my 1 year old!!! He is shaking his milk all over the floor and sipping and lettting it run down his chin!!!!

I thought this was cute when Nikki did it:
Hours old:
http://i95.photobucket.com/albums/l154/randysmandy/DSC01921.jpg

1 Year:
http://i95.photobucket.com/albums/l154/randysmandy/beach.jpg

[philnikki]

Happy Birthday Hunter!!!

[sabrespa]

Happy 1st Birthday Hunter!

[solongtogo]

Vote for Court please!

http://www.evenflo.com/tabid/210/photoType/ViewPhoto/PhotoID/9631/Default.aspx

[cr8zyforaf]

HAPPY BIRTHDAY HUNTER - he is just so adorable...

solong - voted for Court - great picture as usual! Gosh, she is adorable...

milk - I started whole milk yesterday - and today - Ashley's face was covered in red spots by the time I got her to daycare...could it be the milk? She is on a milk based formula? Who knows..I will have to keep an eye on it.

hair pulling - yes...and she thinks it is funny when I say "OW..that hurts" and pulls a clump again. I've started trying to discipline her which is hard...mostly I tell her no and divert her attention to something else. I did grab her hand and said "NO" firmly when she insisted on playing with the fireplace doors - she already slammed her finger in them once.

Totally agree with the comment about the object permanence (pulling up the shirt to nurse)...I did a test with Ashley where I put something under a cup a few times and then put it under a different object - she still thought it was under the cup because she associated the object with the cup (read this little game in parents mag)...it was cute.

Horrible sleeping night - I think she got used to sleeping with me on vacation...so last night, I just let her cry...she cried on and off for 3 hours...it was horrible but necessary - I can't keep doing this..I am exhausted and it is started to affect my marriage and other relationships - I am so cranky I can barely manage to tolerate anything.

Ashley is also a chunk - I took her to immediate care for what I thought was another ear infection - she was 24 pounds...WOW!

[charmcitygirl]

happy birthday hunter! have a great 1st birthday.

i think time-outs might be working for us... yay. i was really skeptical about it but he really seems to chill out when he's in time-out. he goes in for a minute by the clock (i set the timer near him so that he can hear it go off) and if he goes right back to pulling z's hair, he goes in for 2 minutes. so far we haven't needed to put him in for the 2 minutes. oh, and he does his time in the co-sleeper-slash-prison ;) since he's not sleeping in there for naps anymore.

[AlisonCO]

HAPPY 1st BIRTHDAY HUNTER!!!

such cute pics - have a great day!

solong - Voted!:)

nikki -Wow, A is a big kid! Wouldn't it be funny if she ended up being this tiny, petite adult?:)

cr8zy - Haven't you always suspected that A is sensitive to milk? That rash sure sounds like it was related.

charmcity - I am shocked but happy for you that the timeouts are working.

We started milk too yesterday. She had about 1 ounce of milk and 1 ounce of BM in a sippy. She took a few sips but was mostly surprised that it wasn't water (which is the only other liquid that she has ever had). Then for the next few hours she had the loudest, stinkiest gas. She didn't seem to be bothered by it but it was clearly the milk. I think that I will continue to give the 1 ounce in the am and see if the gas continues or if it stops after her body gets used to it. She has never had a problem with other dairy so maybe there is just an adjustment.

I can't believe how many birthday's we have had and it isn't even September yet! I had forgotten how many of you went early - actually I hadn't really forgotten because I am still bitter that I went late:rolleyes:

Have a great day!

[Brink]

Happy Birthday Hunter!!!!!!

Time is just flying by. Aimee's birthday is still almost a month away, but each time I read about you singing Happy Birthday to your babies, I get all teary thinking about next month (course, that might be partially due to pg hormones).

Speaking of which - I am now 11 1/2 wks pg. Can't wait to get out of the 1st trimester. Definitely a different pg this time around. I don't know if that is because they are all different or if it is an indication that maybe it's a boy. We'll see.

Aimee has started to cry when we leave her at daycare. Lucky for me, it's her daddy that has to drop her off - but still. They said she only cries for about 30 sec. and then she is fine, but I feel bad for her.

No other news around here. Just working a ton and still trying to settle into our new house.

[dbers]

HAPPY BDAY HUNTER!! :)

Alex had her 12 month WBV today. She goes the MMRV (the "v" is for chickenpox) and Hep A. They were going to do the TB test too, but we're going away this weekend and they have to re-check it 2 days later.. so we'll do that at her 15 month appointment.

Her stats:
Height - 28 3/4 inches - 32nd%
Weight - 20 lbs 4 oz. - 34th%
Head Circumfrence - 44.5cm - 27th%

All else was good! I was surprised that the doctor wants me to put Alex on soy milk before trying whole milk. She's being conservative - which is a good thing I guess since Alex had the blood in her poop when she was itty bitty. If all goes well with dairy that is cooked into food, we'll try her on whole milk. Anyone else doing soy?

[pixiecat]

Happy Birthday Hunter!!! - I hope that you have a wonderful birthday, you crazy little guy!

Lily is having a better week - I think that she is happier now that her top tooth has pushed through. She takes a few steps every day, but isn't walking consistently yet. She also cried when I dropped her off at daycare. It is so so hard.

hair pulling/biting - not really experiencing any of that over here, thank goodness!

I hope everyone has a great day!

[jo&sean]

Happy Birthday Hunter!!

I don't remember if I posted in here or not but Addy is feeling much better. The rash is finally clearing up and her cheeks just look rosy red now.

We got her one of those little chairs for her birthday and decided to give it to her early. She went NUTS for it. She even pushed it up to the coffee table and tried to use it to climb on top of it. Scary. This morning, she was climbing all over it and fell off which caused her to bonk her head but she jumped right back up and climbed back on. Must be the cowgirl in her :)

[randysmandy]

Hunter thanks you for all the birthday wishes!
We had a great day. I took the day off (tomorrow too) so we did some last minute shopping for the party. We also went to the Playground (which we never get to do) and he loved it-he even went down the big slide. Then I made him spagetti (his fav) and DH and I gave him his little cupcake, which he devoured. We gave him a few gifts. He actually opened them and cared more about the gift this time than the paper. A bit different than x-mas.
Tomorow we are going to get things over to my BIL's for the party and then sat is the big day.
This time last year I was kicking everyone out of my room so I could sleep :rolleyes:
Good night everyone!!

[hmbay]

Happy birthday Patrick and Hunter!

[Kay2003]

happy birthday, Hunter!

birthdays and cryingI got all teary eyed reading the post about crying during the birthday song. Now I think I'm going to cry at Kaito's birthday. It really is amazing how fast the year went, isn't it?

milk - thanks for sharing your experiences with milk. I don't have the go-ahead to start milk until Kaito's first birthday, so we have a few weeks.

separation anxiety - Kaito cries when I go to work now. This is new. He never really did that. On my way to work, I called our nanny and reminded her to give him some milk in the morning. She had already done that. I think it was just me needing reassurance because I left him when he was crying.

I think Kaito got jealous when I kissed my DH on the cheek over and over. Kaito crawled over very quickly and wanted to be held by me : )

[solongtogo]

Happy Birthday Griffin!

I don't think princesscrappy checks this thread anymore:( but maybe she will today..

[sabrespa]

Happy Birthday Griffin!

[philnikki]

Happy Birthday Griffin!

[cr8zyforaf]

Happy Birthday to Griffin!!!

No milk this morning and no pink dots all over her face. Got a bunch of party stuff done last night - my mom babysat (and put her to sleep - she STTN..I think it is me that is causing her not to sleep) - the clown I wanted is booked - so now I need to decide - do I try to scramble for someone else - or do I just do games? I also never got around to ordering her music box...I suck as a mom. We've got a busy weekend - a bunch of birthday parties and then next weekend, is our party :(.

[hmbay]

Happy birthday Griffin!

[charmcitygirl]

happy birthday griffin...have a great 1st birthday!

[AndreaMMS]

Happy Birthday, Griffin!!!

milk- Not only have I not started her on milk, I have no interest in doing so! Bad, bad Mommy! I like knowing that every nutrient she needs is in the formula, and if she doesn't eat a lot of table food one day, or if I don't give her the healthiest stuff one day, she's covered. I'm going to ask the ped. if we HAVE to switch to milk. Oy- I feel like a freak!:rolleyes:

Kim- Glad Ashley slept last night. SO SORRY it hasn't been consistant! Are you going to try Ferber again?

Just got our new camera. Thought I'd share a few pics. :) ...

http://i26.photobucket.com/albums/c133/AndreaMMS/IMG_0017.jpg

http://i26.photobucket.com/albums/c133/AndreaMMS/IMG_0010.jpg

[Cr8nme]

Hey I came in to post that I am in MD for Noelle's party... Its tomorrow!!!

Happy birthday Griffin!!

[solongtogo]

Kim-you don't suck as a mom...food for thought here. Courtney knows how to play me for the fool I am. It sure sounds like Ash is doing this to you too, if everyone else can get her to go to sleep on her own and sttn. Sadly, I don't know what to do about it.

Andrea- she's so cute! I adore that outfit and headband in the last pic...I wish C would keep stuff like that on her head but she yanks it off. As far as milk...I don't think you have to put her on it, but do you seriously want to pay 30 bucks a week for a can of formula vs. 2 bucks a week for a gallon of milk? Milk has plenty of the same nutrients that formula has as well....

[randysmandy]

HAPPY BIRTHDAY GRIFFIN! Where are you Princesscrappy??

Just came back from Hunter's WV and here are his stats:
Weight: 23lbs 12ounces
Height: 31.5"
Ped. said he is above average for development-yay! She also asked is he was beginning to walk. I had to laugh and tell her he started walking right after our last visit.

Cr8nme Here's to 2 great parties tomorrow! ;) I am hoping the darn hurricane doesn't bring rain our way.

AndreaNaomi looks like such a big girl. you're not a freak....just a caring Mom. who made the rules anyways?

KimI bet it's because Courtney knows you are there and doesn't want to sleep and miss spending time with you. hang in there...she'll come around [hugs] hunter freaks about naps for me, but doesn't for my MIL-go figure.

Here are some pics from yesterday:
playground
http://i95.photobucket.com/albums/l154/randysmandy/DSC05526.jpg
Cupcake
http://i95.photobucket.com/albums/l154/randysmandy/DSC05546.jpg
Present from daddy:
http://i95.photobucket.com/albums/l154/randysmandy/DSC05565.jpg

[AlisonCO]

HAPPY 1st BIRTHDAY GRIFFIN!!!

mandy - I love that first pic of H in the tunnel!

Andrea - I can understand how you feel - it is really no different than continuing to nurse past 1 year, you know that she is getting lots of good fats etc. Cute pics!

cr8zy - Maybe you can hire your mom as a sleep nurse:) Our party is next weekend too - I can't believe it!

cr8nme - I hope that the party goes really well - can't wait to see pics!

Have a great Friday!!!

[jo&sean]

Happy Birthday Griffin!!

Randysmandy - Those pics of Hunter are adorable! I love them :) So glad you had a nice day with him yesterday and hope you guys have a wonderful party this weekend.

Andrea - If you want to give her formula go right ahead. If it makes you feel better, that is all that matters. Love the new pics :)

Cr8zy - You are not a bad mom. I still haven't ordered Addy's piggy bank but I am going to stop by Things Remembered and see if they have something there. As far as the sleeping thing goes - I can relate. I don't talk much about Addy's poor sleeping habits but I was REALLY hoping she could make it through the night with waking up just once by now. She is waking 2-4 times a night still. She still has 2 bottles at night too. We have tried everything (except CIO) to get her to sleep better with no luck. We have been having her eat a bedtime snack in the hopes that will help her not be so hungry but no luck. Sorry, just wanted to let you know you are not alone. I feel your sleep deprived pain.

Cr8nme - Have a great party tomorrow!!

Sorry if I missed anyone else....

Here is a picture of Addy enjoying her new chair:

http://static.flickr.com/75/231092697_026b31d5ec.jpg?v=0

We are off to the craft store to satisfy mommy's scrapbooking cravings...

[solongtogo]

It's funny that our kids are looking not much like babies anymore, but like big kids. What a difference a year makes. Seriously.

[AlisonCO]

It's funny that our kids are looking not much like babies anymore, but like big kids. What a difference a year makes. Seriously.


ITA! The recent pictures of Hunter, Addy and Naomi had me thinking the exact same thing. It is amazing how fast they grow up, the first year just seems to fly.

Have a great (long) weekend!

[randysmandy]

Hunter's party is tomorrow--I am sitting here at 9:30 pm with a husband and baby sleeping...I'm actually bored!
And with my boredom brought me to our old threads. I wish I could have accessed WC, but oh well. Going back to our 2nd semester was enough. We have lost a few girls and gained some. But it was nice to read about all our pregnancies. I feel blessed that I had you girls to confide in and share my experience with.
Our babies DO look so grown up!
I will fill you in on the party after tomorrow. the ain is supposed to hold out til the night-we shall see.
In the mean time enjoy your long weekend and HAPPY LABOR DAY!

[Cr8nme]

It's been raining here all day... Good thing I planned an insided party ;)

I am done for the night...I made brownies, cupcakes, and rice krispy treats tonight...my BIL is making all the real food and DH is picking up the food and cake tomorrow morning...I have my aunt picking upthe balloons and my SIL's are putting together the favor bags! I need to be at the place tomorrow to get set-up at 10:30 the party is at 12 and we are all set... I mustn't forget the ice,LOL

[randysmandy]

Hunter's Party was GREAT! I just got home and he seriously went out like a light..he is sleeping like a baby. I can't believe it, but it did not rain a drop. It was VERY windy though. I have some pics, but my cousin has all the good ones. (she also made the AWESOME hat)
He got lots of big boy gifts and he ran around like the maniac he is.


Cr8nme I hope you have a wonderful party as well.

[randysmandy]

The cake:
http://i95.photobucket.com/albums/l154/randysmandy/DSC05582.jpg

The birthday boy:
http://i95.photobucket.com/albums/l154/randysmandy/DSC05579.jpg

Diving into his cake:
http://i95.photobucket.com/albums/l154/randysmandy/DSC05587.jpg

Does anyone know how to make photobucket pics smaller???

[Brink]

Randysmandy - Hunter's party looks like a huge success! Looks like everyone had a great time. Glad the weather held out for you.

Cr8nme - I hope your party went well.

Jo&sean - Addy's new chair is very cute.

Aimee hasn't been sleeping well lately. She is up 2-3 times per night. She usually goes back down pretty easy but it is still hard to get up that many times. I can't see how those mom's that have been doing this since day 1 can even function. Up until a month ago, Aimee was a terrific sleeper!

Not much going on. My sister and nephew are visting for the weekend. We have had grandparents over too. I still haven't done anything for Aimee's party other than send out the invitations. Bad mommy!

[AndreaMMS]

Happy Birthday Noelle!!!!!!!!!!! I can't wait to hear about her party!

RandysMandy- Hunter's party looked adorable!

Brink- ugh-sorry Aimee isn't sleeping. I know how hard that is!!!


Thanks for the compliments on the pictures, everyone. I can't believe she's almost a year old either. Last weekend at Alexandra's 1st birthday party- which was fantastic, by the way- she tried one of those push-walkers for the first time. I can't tell you how emotional I felt watching her walk away from me!

Milk-


Andrea- As far as milk...I don't think you have to put her on it, but do you seriously want to pay 30 bucks a week for a can of formula vs. 2 bucks a week for a gallon of milk? Milk has plenty of the same nutrients that formula has as well....

Ummm, well, want is kind of a strong word. ;) It's more about what AlisonCo said:

I can understand how you feel - it is really no different than continuing to nurse past 1 year, you know that she is getting lots of good fats etc

Thanks, Alison, and the rest of you who voiced support for me...

Honestly, when it comes to formula, we are extremely lucky (and appreciative) in that the cost isn't an issue for us. My Mother-In-Law - God bless her- told us when Naomi was born that one of her gifts to us would be that we would never have to pay for diapers or formula (obvioulsy we were really hoping that we wouldn't be using formula at all, but since we did need to, this gift is amazing!).

[solongtogo]

Happy Birthday Noelle!

Heheh, one year ago today was my due date!

[sabrespa]

Happy Birthday Noelle!

[AlisonCO]

HAPPY 1st BIRTHDAY NOELLE!!!

cr8nme - I hope that you all have a great day!!!

randysmandy - I love the picture of H in his crown:)

Have a great Labor Day all - I can't believe that I was due on Labor day last year.

[philnikki]

Happy Birthday Noelle!!!

[jo&sean]

Happy Birthday Noelle :)

[philnikki]

http://i26.photobucket.com/albums/c139/philnikki/Ava%20Pics/September%202006/100_6294.jpg

Yes, that is my baby girl WALKING!!

And yes, I cried! ;)

GO AVA!!!!!

[fifibee]

I've been MIA like for.e.ver! I just wanted to drop by and to see how our birthday babies are doing! Like everyone has says so far, I can hardly believe our little ones are turning one already. We definitely should give ourselves a round of applause for surviving the first year and doing a good job so far. :)

Happy Birthday to Noelle!

Hunter's Birthday looks like a huge success!

Yay for Ava walking! Do we have a video of that too?

Max's party in on the 16th and we're holding a bbq at the local park. I'm so behind with the planning but luckily, all the mamas on CC have been such an incredible resource on decorations that I'm going to borrow many many ideas.

Lastly, I'm joining Brink. We're expecting again! EDD: 3/1/2007 :eek:

[sabrespa]

Congrats Fifibee!

[AlisonCO]

fifibee - WOW, CONGRATS!!! I hope that you have a wonderful pregnancy and a healthy, happy baby:)

Nikki - Awwww, so cute! Go Ava!

[wildcat]

Happy Birthday Noelle!!

fifibee - Congrat's!!! We're not ready for our 2nd yet at all, but I always get a little jealous anyway when someone announces they're pregnant, I just loved being pregnant so much!! Congrat's and a H&H 9 months to you!!!!

Nikki - OMG - I just got tears in my eyes seeing that picture and she's not even my own baby!!! I think Lauren getting ready to turn 1 and seeing how independent she's getting (well, how independent she WANTS to be!) is making me all sentimental!!

Ok - you guys are going to have to calm me down a bit, I'm freaking out. DH and I always take 1 trip a year. In 2005, we went to NYC for 5 days in May, when I was about 5 months pregnant. We knew we couldn't go anywhere again until Lauren was done BF'g unless we wanted to take her along (and toting her and all her stuff on a plane doesn't sound like a vacation to me, I am amazed by all you mama's that have done it!), so we decided a year ago we'd go on a vacation by ourselves after she turned 1. Basically, to get a little time by ourselves since we haven't had that for a year (our family doesn't live here so there's probably been 3 occasions in the last year that we've gone out to dinner or out with friends w/o DD). So, to speed this story along;), I booked our vacation today. We leave 10/15 for 5 days, 4 nights to Playa del Carmen. Just 2.5 weeks after Lauren's 1st birthday. Which means I have 5 weeks to get her weaned (which is making me SO sad) and it means I'm going to be without her for 6, yes SIX, nights!!! Our flight leaves at 6am so we'll take her to my parents the day before and our return flight gets in at 11pm, so we won't be able to make the 3 hour drive to pick her up until the next day. I am FREAKING out. I was totally fine with the idea until I realized a few hours ago that it's only 5.5 weeks away! I've never been away from Lauren for even 1 night, how in the heck am I going to do it????? I know that DH and I desparetely need the couple time as we've been full time parents with no break for a year and have had very little time for just the 2 of us, but omg - I'm going to miss her so much. I can hardly wait until she wakes up from naps bc I miss her, how in the heck am I going to handle this???

Please, someone tell me that it will be ok???:(

[pixiecat]

wildcat - it will be okay! :D I completely understand everything though... both the panic at being away from L & the absolute *need* to be a couple again. In a year, I think that DH and I have gone out to dinner together twice and our relationship has really suffered. That being said, I've never been away from DD for one night & I'm nervous to do so b/c she is still co-sleeping and nursing at night. So I totally understand, but think that you & DH will have a *wonderful* vacation!

fifibee - CONGRATULATIONS! That is such wonderful news! Good luck w/ Max's b-day party too! I am also more than a little behind, but I'm used to throwing things together at the last minute, so not too stressed!

randysmandy - great pis of H's b-day! LOVE the crown!

Happy Birthday Noelle!!!

Nikki - wow wow wow!! All of our little ones are getting so grown up & independent! I didn't cry, but was definitely emotional when Lily took her first steps. She's still working on walking more consistently, but is taking steps every day now.

birthday party - so I'm a little late to the game, but we've decided to have a ladybug themed party (solongtogo's was inspirational!) at the end of the month. Everyone will be wearing head-boppers :) L will either wear a cute dress to be bought by my mom (:D ) or her halloween costume, which is the ladybug-ish tutu one at the children's place.

Hope everyone had a wonderful holiday weekend... I don't want it to end!

[Cr8nme]

Aww thank you everyone!! Noelles party was a success and she slept through the clown show ,lol I will be posting pics soon!!!

[Kay2003]

happy birthday, Noelle! can't wait to see pictures.

wildcat - I totally relate to what you're saying. I too have not been away from Kaito for even one night. Two weeks from now I'm going to Wine Country for one night for a bridal shower. That'll be the first night away from Kaito and I was having similar thoughts. I know that your trip is longer. I actually think it's great that you booked your ticket -- I think everything will be fine. If it's any reassurance, know that if you get there and you spend a few nights there and just can't stand it, you can fly back early. I have a feeling that once you're there, though, the time will fly and you will appreciate your time with you DD even more when you return.

philnikki - Whoever took that photo captured the parents' expressions so well. You look you're in awe, and is that your DH in the background with his hands outstretched, ready to catch her should she fall? I think it's a great pic.

congrats fifibee!

[philnikki]

Congrats Fifibee!!!! H&H 9 months to you!!!

wildcat - aww, I know EXACTLY how you feel. We have been away from Ava for overnights in this past year, and even those were torture. I will have to travel for a few weeks out of the year if I get this new position, and that all makes me nervous. You are going to miss her, but it all will be ok. You guys will have some amazing couples time, and she will have a blast with your parents, and the best part about leaving them is coming home to their face when they first see you. {{HUGS}} you can do it! :)

Kay - MIL took that pic! It did turn out great, and yes, that is my DH in the background :)

Thanks for all of the congrats! I still can't believe she's officially walking!

[cr8zyforaf]

Happy birthday Noelle!!! - can't wait to see pictures.

fifi - congrats. I also get jealous when I hear someone else is preggo...but we are not ready. H&H nine months to you!!

Nikki - woo hoo - Ava is walking!!!

wildcat - I can completely understand...that is a long time. I am sure things will be fine and you guys will have a great time!!

randysmandy - the party looks great!!! I love Hunter's little hat!!

Well, this time last year, I was in labor. I can't believe a year has past!

[solongtogo]

Nikki-love that picture how she's got her arms out and toddling. So cute!
Fifi-Congratulations!!
Wildcat-I can totally relate!! You'll be just fine though, and it'll be good for you I'm sure, just keep that phone close :D
cr8n-can't wait to see birthday pictures!!

[randysmandy]

HAPPY BIRTHDAY NOELLE I can't wait for pics.

Nikki Look out Ava-Bay proof EVERYTHING and don't turn your back LOL

fifibee CONGRATS

Halloween costumes A little heads up. I bought Hunter's costume at CP 3 days before Halloween for $3.50. The SAME lion costume is $15.00 right now! So you might want to wait to purchase a costume til mid-late Oct!

[charmcitygirl]

happy birthdday noelle! hope you had a great 1st birthday. can't wait to see your party pics.

congrats to fifibee!

wildcat- i'm sure you'll have a great vacay, despite how hard it will be to leave your kiddo behind.

andrea- i totally get where you are coming from with the formula (and wow! what a great gift from your mil. my mom paid for tons of formula and diapers...) but the thing is, you really need to get her on a feeding schedule at some point so why not just bite the bullet? i admit that there were 2 days last week where feeding j&z were tough, so i gave them my "emergency" formula to help out. just work your way up to it. there's no reason why you have to just stop formula altogether and start 3 squares at the same time. i really had a tough time adjusting to a feeding schedule but we're getting there.

tired mama here. trouble sleeping lately... me and the babies... lots of teeth coming in now.

[Brink]

Happy Birthday Noelle!

Nikki - that is definitlely a priceless picture - made me teary.

Fifebee - Congrats on joining me! Will you be joining us over in March 07 mommies? Now we will definitely have to get together IRL given we will now have 2 kids the same age living not too far away from each other.

Wildcat - I can't imagine leaving Aimee, but I'm sure the day will come. I guess no matter when we have to do it for the first time it will be hard. I hope you are able to relax and enjoy yourself. Also, I weaned Aimee in about 4 weeks.......

[sabrespa]

whole milk-I've been doing 1/2 milk, 1/2 formula for nearly a month now. He's done fine with that so I made the switch last week. Well, it didn't go well. He was constantly hungry and he was eating 3 full meals and 2 snacks a day. So I bought the step 2 formula and we're back to doing 1/2 and 1/2 again. I figure we'll just take it a bit slower and maybe give him another month or so.

[BeachBum]

Hi Everyone!

Congrats, fifibee.How exciting! I feel a little jealous :)

I've been feeling a little choked up all week....I was watching the FSU/Miami football game last night, and well that is what I was doing last year when my water broke. It's just so crazy all that has changed this year.
I remember how fragile he was, and how insecure I was as a mother. I was so worried about every little thing, and so afraid of being too rough with him. Now he is walking everywhere, eating dirt, and I'm ok with it! HA.
Our party is tomorrow night, on his actual birthday...I made his cake yesterday (carrot cake) and when I was cleaning up the kitchen I realized I forgot to put in the carrots! Not funny! So I've still got a lot to do to get ready....

We started kindermusik today. Lots of fun...I wish we would have done it sooner. It's so fun to get ideas from other people on "how" to play with your child. I love (secretly) watching DH with Henry. He is so different than I am....it's good to have the diversity.

overnight trips We haven't left Henry either. Our 5 year anniversary is next month and we had promised ourselves that we would go back to Hawaii (where we honeymooned). But we realized that neither of us could leave him, and we aren't ready for such a long flight. So we will just do something as a family. I'm not sure what yet though. But I'm open to suggestions!
I hope you have a great time wildcat. It sounds like it will be a super time. I'm sure Lauren will be jsut fine! It always seems its the mamas that have the hardest time :)

Well I better get busy doing chores while he is napping.

Great pictures everyone! I just love seeing "our" babies!

[solongtogo]

whole milk-I've been doing 1/2 milk, 1/2 formula for nearly a month now. He's done fine with that so I made the switch last week. Well, it didn't go well. He was constantly hungry and he was eating 3 full meals and 2 snacks a day. So I bought the step 2 formula and we're back to doing 1/2 and 1/2 again. I figure we'll just take it a bit slower and maybe give him another month or so.

Do you think he hit his growth spurt a little early? There is one supposed to be around 12 months...

[Cr8nme]

Noelle's party went really well... Here are some pics!

http://static.flickr.com/90/235080399_0beaebb40f.jpg?v=0

http://static.flickr.com/81/235080398_aaaf2f60b5.jpg?v=0

http://static.flickr.com/86/235080397_b7e59e0298.jpg?v=0

http://static.flickr.com/82/235080395_572eb6d072.jpg?v=0

http://static.flickr.com/97/235080392_4103b648a6.jpg?v=0

http://static.flickr.com/91/235080391_6e2fe3cd20.jpg?v=0

[Cr8nme]

http://static.flickr.com/86/235058810_9a69347d74.jpg?v=0

http://static.flickr.com/84/235058808_3cac9370f2.jpg?v=0

http://static.flickr.com/91/235058799_c08514936d.jpg?v=0

http://static.flickr.com/83/235058802_5f1fe2a4fb.jpg?v=0

[cr8zyforaf]

cr8nme - everything looks so wonderful!! Did you make those lollypops? Noelle is adorable!!

milk - I also tried mixing half and half - but by the time I got her to daycare - there were red spots all over her face..I am going to hold off a bit and try again.

bottle - is anyone else trying to ween from the bottle? If so, how are you doing it..I don't want to just stop cold turkey.

[AndreaMMS]

andrea- i totally get where you are coming from with the formula (and wow! what a great gift from your mil. my mom paid for tons of formula and diapers...) but the thing is, you really need to get her on a feeding schedule at some point so why not just bite the bullet? i admit that there were 2 days last week where feeding j&z were tough, so i gave them my "emergency" formula to help out. just work your way up to it. there's no reason why you have to just stop formula altogether and start 3 squares at the same time. i really had a tough time adjusting to a feeding schedule but we're getting there.



Oh, she is on a schedule- three solid-food meals a day + snacks. But the thing is even though I'm giving her the food, she doesn't always eat it. That's why the formula is such a comfort...for me!

baby's weightI weighed her this morning- according to our scale (not a dr. scale) she is still around 18 pounds- right where she was at her 9 month visit. Should I be worried?

cre8nme
- great party! looked like a lot of fun. I really like all the bright colors, and hello- what a great looking family you have!

fifibee- Wow! Congratulations!

[solongtogo]

Andrea Naomi is probably a bit more mobile than she was at 9 months, as far as crawling faster, etc...I don't think you need to worry. I saw a bit of a weight loss between 9 and 12 months as well...Courtney wasn't up nearly as much as I thought she would have been at her 12 mo. WBV. Also, just saw you had a LJ..I added you.

bottleCourt was at 3 bottles a day, and we've got her down to just one, she's drinking milk from a sippy cup at breakfast and lunch. I tried operation ditch the bottle this past long weekend to see if I could wean her completely, but she wasn't having it. I gave her a sippy of milk and she drank a little, and I tried to lay her down in bed, but she got po'd and stayed awake for quite some time. The pedi said she want's to be done with bottle and paci at 15 months...I don't see that happening. I think that ditching the bottle by 18 months will be better because she'll understand that bottles are for babies, and paci will be much harder. We're going to have to give them to santa some christmas for him to give to the babies, me thinks.

[wildcat]

Ahhh, thanks for the support girls! I'm still freaking out, but I have 5.5 weeks to get more used to the idea! I'm really excited about the trip and I know we can't take her as we need the couple time, but the idea is VERY tempting!!

weaning - I'm glad this topic is coming up! Our ped told us to start giving Lauren whole milk (a few ounces in a sippy a few times a day) at 9 months, but I haven't done it. So, now that Lauren is 3 weeks away from her first bday and she has to be weaned in 5.5 weeks, I gave her a few ounces in a sippy yesterday. She's not a fan of cold liquids, so she spit most of it out. I decided to try the gradual move over instead and for her 2 bottles for daycare today, I gave her 4oz of breastmilk and 1oz of whole milk. We'll see how that goes. I think I'll gradually move that over to whole milk in the next few weeks to where she's only getting breastmilk in the morning and before bed (from nursing). Then we'll work on dropping those 2 feedings (she's getting BM 4 times a day with 3 meals and 1-2 snacks). I think I'm also going to start giving her daycare milk in a sippy. She loves her sippy and drinks about 5oz of water with every meal, so it shouldn't be too hard of a transition, I hope! What are the rest of you BF'g mama's doing or what have you done to get them off the boob?;)

[Brink]

Wildcat - Weaning Aimee off BFing was actually really easy. As I fed her less and less, my supply dipped, so she was happy to get the bottle and be able to eat a bunch. I got to the point where I was just BFing twice per day too and from there it was easy to go to 100% bottle.

Snacks - OK, I feel like a horrible mom. I didn't even think to give Aimee snacks during the day. Here is her typical day:

8:00 - 4 oz formula
9:30 - Breakfast (applesauce/oatmeal at daycare, whateve we are having if at home - i.e. waffles, ham, toast, etc).
11:30 - 4 oz formula
1:00 - lunch (jar of veggies at daycare, at home: PBJ sandwich, mac-n-cheese, etcl)
3:00 - 4-6 oz formula
6:00 - dinner (rotates between jarred food and what we are having depending if it is something she can eat).
8:30 - 6 oz formula
10:00 - 4 oz formula

Am I giving her too much formula during the day and should cut back and give her snacks more often?????? What kind of snacks do you give them? Especially if they are at daycare - I hate to just keep giving her puffs!

[wildcat]

Brink - We recently cut one of Lauren's morning bottles, so instead, she usually just gets puffs and some water, if she needs it. When she's at home, I'll give her some fruit. She eats lunch at 12:30, bottle at 3, and dinner at 7. So, about 4pm she gets a snack of cereal and fruit at daycare...at home it varies...usually yogurt or fruit and cheese...something like that. She tends to get puffs or goldfish if we're out and about. Her typical schedule during the week (which is diff on the weekends):
7am - breastfeed
8:30am - snack (puffs)
9:30am - breakfast (cereal and fruit)
11am - bottle (5oz)
12:30 - lunch (meat, fruit, veggie, bread/cracker, cheese - or a gerber graduate meal and fruit)
3pm - bottle (5oz)
4pm - snack (cereal and fruit)
5:30pm - snack (puffs)
7pm - dinner (whatever we're eating and fruit)
9pm - breastfeed

I'm sure every baby is different! Lauren was getting breastmilk 6 times a day until she started finger foods and we have her down to 4 now. HTH's!

[cr8zyforaf]

snacks - Ashley gets wagon wheels, fruit snacks (the baby kind - softer than the normal fruit snacks), cut up fruit, bread, cheese, fruit bar, crackers (I used a lot of the Earth's best organic snacks).

Brink - Ashley takes in the exact formula that Aimee does - that is why I was asking - plus she gets 1-2 snacks on top of what she eats.

7:00 - 4 oz formula in sippy
9:30 - breakfast - 1 jar of fruit and finger food (pancakes, waffles, toast)
11:00 - 4 oz formula
1:00 - lunch - 1 jar veggies and finger food (chicken, bread, pasta, etc)
3:00 - 4 oz formula
6:00 - dinner - usually what we are eating - protien, veggie, and starch
8:00 - 8 oz bottle before bed

[sabrespa]

I like seeing everyone's feeding schedules. Here's Anthony's:
7 - 6oz of 1/2 Formula 1/2 milk
8 - breakfast (usually pancakes & fruit or yogurt)
10- snack (cheerios, banana slices or something easy) plus 6oz of 1/2F 1/2M
11:30 - Lunch
2-2:30 - 6oz 1/2f and 1/2m
3 - snack
5 - dinner
6 - between 6-10oz of formula and sometimes a snack
7 - bed

Sometimes wakes around 4am for a 4oz bottle of 1/2f and 1/2m

[AlisonCO]

cr8nme - N's party looks beautiful - the colors are great!

Andrea - It is totally normal to not see a big weight gain between 9-15 months because of the increase in mobility.

weaning - I am still SO torn on this and it is something that I think about daily. Because C is so tiny and does not drink more than 2oz of milk/day right now, I think that I will continue to nurse for awhile. My plan is to drop the after am nap nurse and continue to nurse at 7am, 3:30pm and 7pm. Then when she starts to take more milk, I will drop another one. As far as weaning from the bottle, I think that we will continue the before bed bottle for a couple of weeks - I really think that she still needs those calories to sleep thru as she takes 6-7oz in a bottle when I am gone.

milk - As I mentioned above, C is so no into milk. It has only been a week, but most of it gets spit back out. She will drink some if I give it to her in a regular cup, but not the sippy. I have also tried 1/2 BM, 1/2 milk and she still refuses. I guess we will keep offering it in hopes that she will start to take more.

feeding schedule:

6:30am - nurse, 1/2 banana, milk
8am - cereal or toast, yogurt and fruit - milk and water
10:30am - nurse, cherrios, cheese
12pm - protein, carb, fruit, dairy and veggie - milk and water
3:30pm - nurse, 1/2 banana, bowl of cottage cheese
5:30pm - avocado, fruit, veggie, protein, carb - water
7pm - nurse or 6-7oz bottle

One year ago today was my due date - I really can't believe that it has been a year. I was actually looking at belly shots and I was so huge this time last year:) - That is definetely one thing that I do not miss!

[wildcat]

I'm working today, honest!;)

How ironic is it that I *just* got this email???

Weaning

Hi Ashlee,
Although the World Health Organization (WHO) recommends continuing to breastfeed your baby up to two years of age or beyond (complemented with appropriate solid foods after the first six months of life), many mothers wean their babies around one year of age for various reasons.

There is no rule for when to wean your baby; do it when you and your baby are ready. Weaning is easiest and least traumatic when it's gradual. To wean your child, decide which feeding will be the easiest for him to let go of. Be firm in your resolve, and distract him - preferably out of the house - during that time. Take him for a walk, join an activity group, or visit a friend. If you and your baby are busy and having fun, he'll be less likely to miss nursing. Cut out one feeding every four days or so.

Remember to give him lots of your time and your love during the weaning process. He will need reassurance that you will always be there for him. He will still enjoy and need to be held, cuddled, and loved - perhaps more than ever - during this transition.

Omg - drop a feeding every 4 days, that seems so quick!

[solongtogo]

here's our feeding schedule:
6am: sippy of milk
8-8:30: breakfast
11-11:30 lunch
3 snack
5 dinner
7 6-8oz milk in a bottle then bed

Currently Courtney usually falls asleep while drinking that last bottle, which is why we're having trouble eliminating bottles all together. Also, she refused to drink cold milk out of it, so I've been warming the liquid up. I have absolutely no idea how I'm going to get out of giving her warmed up milk in a bottle at this last one. It's so hard to get her to go to bed on her own....
I'm sure I made a gigantic parenting mistake somewhere along the line by not putting her to bed drowsy...

[charmcitygirl]

cr8nme looks like your party turned out really well. love the color scheme. glad it was indoors... it was pretty yucky here in MD on saturday ;)

andrea crazy girl... you're fine then. babies really self-regulate what they eat until 2 years, maybe 3. and she's probably not gaining so much weight because she's gettin' lots of exercise these days. fwiw, zoe was 18lbs at her 12m weigh-in, almost 17lbs at 9m.

feeding wow, you guys are so organized, feeding-wise. my schedule is all over the place. generally haven't done snacks.
B: toast, bagel, french toast, waffle or cheerios and fruit and yogurt or cheese
L: fruit & veg, veg booty or goldfish, cheese. maybe some bread. just started mac & cheese
D: veg, chicken nuggets or mac & cheese or morningstar veg bites or bits of pizza, cheese. teddy grahams sometimes for dessert.
MILK: about 20oz a day. from bottles. won't normally drink milk from sippys.
WATER: they don't really like to drink it, and when they do it has to be icy cold. i only offer it to them in sippys, so that may be part of the problem. but i'd like to be mostly off of bottles by 15m.

[jo&sean]

Fifibee - Congratulations :)

Cr8nme - Noelle's party was great. I love the colors!

Wildcat - Your vacation sounds great. I am sure Lauren will do just fine but I can't even begin to imagine how you must feel about leaving her. We have yet to even leave Addy with a babysitter to get out to dinner....bad I know!

Bottle to sippy - Addy has been drinking water from the sippy for a couple of months now. We just started putting some milk in the sippy and so far, so good. It's a good thing we started transitioning her because she moved up to the pre-tod room at school...

Schedules Ours goes something like this:
Bfast: 7:30
Snack: 10:30
Lunch: 1:00
Snack: 3:30
Dinner: 5:30
Bedtime snack around 8:00
She is still drinking a lot of milk - at least 24 ounces plus about 12 ounces of water. Thirsty baby!

Addy started in the pre-toddler room today at school. I was really ticked with the school (again!) because they didn't even tell us that she was being moved so when we got there today after not being there at all last week, we found out and Addy was not happy. She didn't want me to leave and cried and cried and wasn't used to the new room. I felt so bad for her.

The new room is awesome though. The "kitchen" has a mini sink and play stove, dishes and cookware. The "library" has mini overstuffed chairs and shelves and shelves of books. The "gym" has all kinds of things to crawl and climb on. The outdoor play area has swings, sand boxes, grass, ball pits, a special garden and all kinds of things to explore. They don't sleep in cribs anymore - they have these cute little "cots" and they don't sit in highchairs to eat, they sit at their mini dining room table. It is so cute but yet another demonstration that our babies aren't babies anymore!

[pixiecat]

food schedule:

6:30am - nurse

8:00am - 4oz fruit / cereal

9:00am - 4oz bottle bm

12:00pm - yobaby, 4oz veggie

1:00pm - 4 oz bottle bm

4:00pm - 4 oz bottle formula

6:30pm - 1 slice cheese, puffs, 2-3 oz pureed meat

8:00 pm - nurse

we also nurse during the night :rolleyes: still!

[fifibee]

Thanks everyone for your congrats. We are a little scared, but still excited. :)

Feeding: I just realized that we are feeding way too much formula to Max compared to everyone here! He needs his bottle to take his naps so he takes about 8oz for each nap. I'm with solongtogo in wondering that perhaps I made a huge mistake by putting him to bed with a bottle! :eek:

Here's our rough schedule:


6am: 6~8oz bottle
8am: Breakfast (waffle, oatmeal, yogurt, or cottage cheese,..etc.)
11am: 6~8oz bottle for nap
2pm: Lunch (avacado cheese toast, noodles, or whatever I can come up with)
3~4pm: Snack (fruit, cheese, puffs..)
4pm: 4 oz bottle for short nap
7~8pm: some dinner with us (depending on how hungry he is)
8~9pm: 6 oz to go to sleep

I'm not even sure *how* we're going to start weaning him. :(

cr8nme: Great pink, butterfly party! Funny how Noelle missed out on the clown though. :)

[philnikki]

Happy 1st Birthday Ashley!!!!!


Happy 1st Birthday Henry!!!!!

[solongtogo]

Happy Birthday Ashley!!

Happy Birthday Henry!!

[sabrespa]

Happy 1st Birthday Henry!

Happy 1st Birthday Ashley!

[cr8zyforaf]

Thank you all. Today we got up, gave Ashley her music box - she was more interested in the bow and took some pictures. I was sad to drop her at school.

I am in the same mindset as solong and fifi - total mistake putting her to bed with a bottle - for the past two nights - she has played her in her crib from 7:30 until almost 10 and I have to go back in and rock her down and then she is up all night...solong - didn't you go through this with Court? Did she just stop doing this? I know she is exhausted and she is napping like cr*p at daycare. She woke up fussy today, I was late for work again and I am exhausted. This sleep thing really has me upset!

[EJH]

Aug. mom popping in to say Happy Birthday Ashley!

:D Erin

[solongtogo]

Normally Court falls to sleep drinking her bottle, then I got lay her in her crib. Last night she didn't fall asleep, so I put her in her crib anyways at 7 and by7:45 she was out.. a rare occurance in my home. Normally she refuses to go to sleep on her own at night, I know she can do it, but she's a stubborn little thing. That said, she was also up from 1am-4am...a little victory followed by defeat ya know?

I tried to give her some milk from a sippy a few ago before bed but she was not having it, it's just not the right time to ditch the bottle. We'll try again later. I'm ok with her sleep for right now and how she goes down to bed, whatever works, you know...so I'll tackle this whole issue at another time later, when she can hopefully realize that bottles are for babies and she's a big girl.

We did go through a phase (a very LONG phase) where I'd put her down to bed, she'd wake up and be up for HOURS, and finally I'd give in and go rock her to sleep, mostly because we had to get up so frickin early the next day for work and daycare. That dosen't happen much anymore, but it still does occasionally.

Next time we have a baby, no more of this feeding to sleep crap. It's just so hard though, especially when you are nursing because you can't gauge when they are going to fall asleep and you have no clue being a first time mom.

[hmbay]

Next time we have a baby, no more of this feeding to sleep crap. It's just so hard though, especially when you are nursing because you can't gauge when they are going to fall asleep and you have no clue being a first time mom.

FWIW we bottle-feed Colin to sleep and gave him a nightly bottle of milk until around say 14/15 months I think it was and he sleeps perfectly fine today (at almost 3 we put him to bed with a sippie of water if he's thirsty). Now Alex at a few days short of 12 months will sometimes to down without a bottle/nursing and sometimes not. Part of his issue is he reserves most of his eating for the hours "mommy is home" vs when daddy takes care of him during the day. So anyway the point I was making is that it's not so much the bottle/nursing to sleep as the personality of the child I think since I did the same with both and one sleeps great and one doesn't.

[hmbay]

party recap--we had Alex's party a week early because my parents were going to be on an Alaskan cruise next weekend. We had it together with my two SIL's (One neice was turning 1 on the 8th, one was turning 3 on the 9th and Alex was turning 1 on the 10th) at our house. It was hectic but nice to only have to deal with one party. It was pretty lowkey--ham sandwiches, pizza and cake and ice cream. A local high-end grocery store gives away free 1/4 sheet cakes to babies for their first b-day so we went with the free cake (which was excellent):

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v237/hmbay/a-9-03-06-cake.jpg

Alex liked the cake (which is weird since he doesn't have a sweet tooth):
http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v237/hmbay/a-9-03-06-1.jpg

Some gifts he got:
http://images.amazon.com/images/P/B0001X0DR6.16._SCLZZZZZZZ_SS260_.jpg http://images.amazon.com/images/P/B000B6R36C.16._SCLZZZZZZZ_SS260_.jpg http://ec1.images-amazon.com/images/P/B00005BTL7.16._SCLZZZZZZZ_SS260_.jpg http://www.toybiz.com/2005/spidey%20and%20friends/TrainSet.jpg

[hmbay]

Gifts Cont:

Books:
http://images.barnesandnoble.com/images/7420000/7429129.gif http://images.barnesandnoble.com/images/11480000/11488832.gif http://images.barnesandnoble.com/images/10290000/10298885.gif http://images.barnesandnoble.com/images/11070000/11077759.gif

[Cr8nme]

Happy Birthday Ashley!!

Happy Birthday Henry!!

[solongtogo]

FWIW we bottle-feed Colin to sleep and gave him a nightly bottle of milk until around say 14/15 months I think it was and he sleeps perfectly fine today (at almost 3 we put him to bed with a sippie of water if he's thirsty). .


This makes me feel much better!! I think sometimes I over worry, and in reality, it'll all work out eventually I'm sure.

[AlisonCO]

HAPPY 1st BIRTHDAY ASHLEY!!!

HAPPY 1st BIRTHDAY HENRY!!!

hmbay - Cute party and cake - looks like A scored with the gifts!

I think sometimes I over worry, and in reality, it'll all work out eventually I'm sure.

Very true!!! My DS had a bottle before bed until 16ish months and at that point we changed the bedtime routine and he adjusted within a couple of days. It is SO stinkin' hard with your first because there just seem to be so many rules, but everything does eventually work out.

Next time we have a baby, no more of this feeding to sleep crap. It's just so hard though, especially when you are nursing because you can't gauge when they are going to fall asleep and you have no clue being a first time mom.

When I was on the fence about #2, my DH said that we absolutely had to have a second so that we could use all the hard earned stuff we learned with #1 and get our money's worth (so to speak):D

[Sandie78]

Happy Birthday Henry and Ashley!

[Brink]

Happy Birthday Ashley!

Happy Birthday Henry!

Jo&sean - Addy's new room sounds like fun. I hope it doesn't take her long to adjust.

Hmbay - sounds like a fun party. Glad everything went well.

[solongtogo]

[SIZE="4"]



Very true!!! My DS had a bottle before bed until 16ish months and at that point we changed the bedtime routine and he adjusted within a couple of days. It is SO stinkin' hard with your first because there just seem to be so many rules, but everything does eventually work out.




My ped wants C off the bottle AND pacifier by 15 months...I just don't see that happening. The fact that we're down to only 1 bottle a day is a feat in itself I think. The paci think will have to come later on down the line when we can give them to santa clause to give to babies.

[charmcitygirl]

happy birthday to ashley and henry! hope you have a great 1st birthday.

jo addy's new room at school sounds so cute and fun for her.

[AndreaMMS]

Happy birthday, Ashley!!!!!!!!!!!!

Happy birthday, Henry!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

[jo&sean]

Happy Birthday Ashley!!

Happy Birthday Henry!!
Hope you both have wonderful days :)

Hmbay - The party looked great and what a great cake! Looks like A received some great gifts.

We had a very scarry thing happen at home last night. We have two ceiling fans with big bowl type lights in our living room. The one directly above Addy's play area FELL and the glass broke into a million pieces. THANK GOD Addy was not playing with her toys or sitting on her chair. She was standing at the end of the couch though which was close enough and was so scared. She just wanted me to hold her the rest of the evening until she fell asleep. I am still really shook up about it today. That could have killed or seriously injured my baby! To make matters worse, DH is out of town. I had to wait until Addy was asleep before I could start cleaning it up and cleaning up shattered glass is horrible. I spent over an hour picking up glass and vacuuming. I vacuumed more this morning to make sure I got every last litle shard. Horrible. I don't know what the heck happened or why it would fall. The two fans are identical so I am scared the other one will fall too now. I checked it out and it feels stable but I am not turning it on at all. To top it of, it left several gouges in my brand new floor.

Needless to say, I am giving Addy lots of extra hugs and kisses today. Well we are off to go visit our horse and feed him some apples. Addy hasn't seen him in a couple of weeks so I am sure she will be excited.

[pixiecat]

Happy Birthday Ashley!

Happy Birthday Henry!!

hmbay - cute, cute cake & gifts!

jo&sean - omg, that is so scary! I'm so sorry, and thank god Addy wasn't hurt!

Lily had an "ouch" report at backup daycare today (a different center from our normal one) - apparently she was climbing one of the little tables, slipped and bumped her chin, head and bit her tongue. I feel so bad for her! I know that these things are going to happen, but just thinking about it, makes me sad. And angry b/c the *receptionist* was watching the kids (for whatever reason) and she let the baby climb on the table? Grr.

[Cr8nme]

Jo~ OMG I too am soo glad that noone was hurt!

[fifibee]

Happy Birthday Ashley!

Happy Birthday Henry!

jo&sean -- what a scare!!! Kudos to you for holding up so well even with DH out of town. I would've been so freaked out that I would call up for some support just to keep us companied for the rest of the evening. I'm so glad Addy wasn't playing underneath at all. Gosh, I'm so glad you guys are ok.

Brink -- I know you just moved recently and unfortunately, I think you've moved further away! I'm in the Santa Clara area so I'm afraid we're a little far for meeting up anytime soon. :( I'll definitely check out the March 2007 mama thread. But I've been so tired from the pregnancy and taking care of Max that I rarely post nowadays.

[wildcat]

How scary for Addy!!! I'm glad she's ok!

Happy birthday Ashley!

Happy birthday Henry!

Lauren had a bad day today. She threw up on the way to daycare (about 7:45). Daycare called me at 9:30 to say she threw up again. I called the dr. to see if it could be a reaction to the whole milk she had the day before (I gave her 4oz of breastmilk and 1oz of whole milk in each of her 2 bottles at daycare). They really didn't think it was bc she eats so much cheese and some ice cream, but said to hold off on whole milk for 24 hours and try again. Well, daycare called again at 12 saying she'd thrown up her 11:30 bottle but that she wasn't running a fever but was acting like she didn't feel well. I asked them just to give her crackers for lunch and call me back and let me know how she did. Her head teacher called me back 2 mins later saying she threw up 2 more times while she was on the phone with me. So I left and picked her up and gave her some pedialite at home and then the two of us took a 2.5 hour nap:D. She seemed totally fine so I breastfed her and gave her some more pedialite (as at 5pm, she'd only had 1 wet diaper all day) and then we went to the circus with my brother and his family as planned! (which by the way, she LOVED!). I think she's playing sick so mommy will come pick her up;).

[Kay2003]

happy birthday ashley & henry!

jo- that ceiling fan story freaked me out. I'm so glad everyone is okay.

Wow, this thread has been moving fast lately. It's only been a day or two since I last checked CC but so much has been posted.

cr8nme - I too love the bright colors you chose for the party.

hmbay - we too are going to do something pretty simple. pizza and cake! I'm impressed that that nice 1/2 sheet of cake was free. It's very cute.

schedule

Kaito's schedule today:

7 AM - BF
9 - Breakfast (cereal and plum, plus cheerios)
~10:30 BF before nap
12:30 - lunch (rice, chicken, pumpkin and spinach all mixed up, a little bit of cheese, cheerios)
3:45 - bread pieces, tried to get him to eat yogurt and apple sauce but refused
4:30 - BF before nap
7:15 - dinner - mashed potato/cheese/spinach/yogurt mix, little pieces of steak, cheese and broccoli, little pieces of bread. He didn't eat much....
8:00 - BF before bed

I expect to breastfeed him again at around 4 in the morning.

This is my day with him. I work Mon, Tues., Thursday, Friday and Saturday. On those days he gets formula before his naps but pretty much the schedule is the same but we also weren't very good on snacks.

[cr8zyforaf]

Happy First Birthday Henry! - sorry I am late birthday twin!

We are off to the doctor this AM...she is either teething or has another ear infection - she has been HORRIBLE - clingy, crying all the time, won't sleep. Last night, she was awake in her crib for 2 hours before finally conking out.

I am going to ask about weening..however, I am in no rush...I figure I will just try to follow her lead. This weekend we were out and about and the only bottles she had were the AM and nighttime bottle and she seemed fine. As far as the pacifier - yes, we will be waiting to give them to santa..she is very attached to paci.

hmbay - the party looks fantastic..great cake - and it was free?? Wow! We also asked for the fridge magnets - I can't wait to get them!

jo - Addy's new room sounds great! Ashley is also in the process of transitioning to the next room up. That is so scary about the light - thank god Addy wasn't playing under it. So scary! Addy has a horse? What a lucky girl!!

[randysmandy]

WOW mamma's-you are chatty these days! i don't know if I can catch up, but I will try.

Happy birthday Henry and Ashley

Jo THANK GOD Addy is OK. I would take the other light down anyways.

Food
7am: milk with either waffles, cereal, toast, and fruit
11am Snack: yogurt, fruit, applesause, etc
4 ounces milk
12am Lunch: (This is a hard one) low sodium lunch meat, cheese, ravioli, veggie
1pm: 4 ounces milk (NO MORE FORMULA!!)
3pm snack: Anything he didn't have listed at the morning snack
Supper: Whatever we are eating!
5 ounces milk before bed at 7pm
Juice/water throughout the day
The bottle is gone with the exception to his bedtime bottle
Paci at bedtime is here to stay for a little while longer

Here are the pics my cousin took at the party:
http://i95.photobucket.com/albums/l154/randysmandy/100_0413.jpg

http://i95.photobucket.com/albums/l154/randysmandy/100_0422.jpg

can anyone find out how to make the images smaller on photobucket?!

[jo&sean]

Pixie - Sorry about Lily's ouch report - things will happen but there are lots of things that can be prevented. I wonder why the receptionist was watching them?

Wildcat - The circus sounds like fun :) It could be the whole milk. Addy can't have whole milk but she eats cheese, yogurt, cottage cheese etc. just fine. My understanding is that there is a difference in the way they pasteurized.

Cr8zy - Hope Ashley starts feeling better and that she doesn't have another ear infection. Yes, Addy already has a horse. He's actually my old horse that is now retired & Addy just loves him to pieces. He loves her because she feeds him apples :) They are so cute together and Addy gets soooo excited to see him.

Randysmandy - Those pictures are wonderful!

Thanks everyone for your support on the light issue. I took the glass light part off the other fan last night just to be safe. DH will be back tonight and he is going to take that fan down too. They can't be trusted.

Addy and another little boy are having their bday party at school today so I took cookies and cupcakes for the children and teachers. Addy did better this morning and she started to cry when I left but she went back to eating her snack.

[BeachBum]

Thanks for all the birthday wishes. Our party was last night. I posted pics in the birthday thread if anyone is interested. I had a lot of fun, and am sad that it is over.
We took AlisonCo's advice and got the FP Laugh and Learn home. Henry (and the other kids) just loved it. Such a hit! Thanks again for the suggestion.

We had our WBV today as well. Everything seems to be just fine. :)
W: 23lbs 13 oz
H:31 1/2 inches

I'm sorry Ashley and Lauren aren't feeling well. Too bad Ashley was feeling bad on her birthday :(
What a scare with Addy!
Hunter is goign to town with that cake. Henry barely licked any icing.
Great pics of Noelle and her party. Looks like it was a ton of fun. So funny she fell asleep. :)
Very cute pic of Alex. Haven't seen him in a while--he looks so grown up! Lots of birthday loot! So fun :)

When I was on the fence about #2, my DH said that we absolutely had to have a second so that we could use all the hard earned stuff we learned with #1 and get our money's worth (so to speak) That is soooo funny. I will have to tell my DH that one! He's the one on the fence :)

It was interesting to see everyone's schedules. Henry is down to only one nap, which has it's pros and cons. Here's our schedule if anyone cares.
7:30-wake up, nurse
9- breakfast waffles w/apple butter or ww toast with cream cheese are favorites, fruit
11-nap
1- lunch, usually steamed veggies and leftover dinner from night before
4-snack, veggie/pirates booty/crackers if we are out,fruit & cheese if we are home,
6-Dinner steamed veggies w some sort of protein, maybe what we are eating

[wildcat]

Update on Lauren...she threw up on and off last night so we had to change her sheet about 4 times and one time required a bath (at 4:30am). I called the ped again today, and they wanted to see her as she only had 2 or maybe 3 wet diapers in 24 hours and none in the previous 6+ hours. We're trying to pump fluids and watching her close...if she doesn't have a wet diaper in the next 3 hours or so, I have to call the dr. back...not sure if they'll jump to an IV or anything, but he did mention it.:( She's sleeping now, so I'm really hoping for a wet diaper when she wakes up!!!

[philnikki]

Gosh, how scary for you Jo and Addy!!! That is the most random thing. I would be just be beside myself. Definately giving lots of extra hugs and kisses today!

Wildcat - I will be thinking of Lauren today. I sure hope you can figure out what is wrong! Hope you get a pee diaper soon!!!

[Brink]

So, I thought I would drop a picture of my ultrasound by: Notice anything different?????


http://i101.photobucket.com/albums/m65/Brink_06/Newbabies/ultrasound9-6.jpg


TWINS!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

[cr8zyforaf]

Holy sh*t brink...congrats. I looked and though - OMG..that looks like two babies...wow.

wildcat - thinking of Lauren and praying for a wet diaper.

[wildcat]

OMG Brink!!!!!!! Congratulations!!! Did you about pass out when they told you????? How exciting!! Are you or did you find out the genders??

[Brink]

Holy Sh*t was pretty close to my reaction, Cr8zy! I made the doctor check three times to make sure. At first I thought he was kidding me. I think I only hyperventilated for a few seconds before I calmed down. Wildcat - we don't know the sex yet, but we will find out. My OB thinks they are in the same sac, therefore identical. That makes me high risk, so hopefully everything goes well.

[charmcitygirl]

brink: i also posted in the twinmama thread, but omg! twins! congrats.

[AlisonCO]

Brink - WOW - double congrats! That is amazing news. I hope that eventhough you are now high risk, that you have a smooth pregnancy and 2 healthy babes:)

wildcat - Hope L is feeling better! I forgot to mention before that I too think that 4 days in between dropping nursing sessions is a bit quick - I would go with more like 6-7 days to ease the transition and make sure that you don't get a plugged duct or mastitis.

jo - Gosh, how scary. I am so glad that neither of you were close to the glass!

BB - Your party looks fab - H is so cute! I am so glad that he likes the L and L home, I can't wait for Caitlin to open hers on Sat.

solong - I wanted to go back and mention that I think that asking you to have C give up the bottle and paci in one month is alot to ask. I know plenty of peds that are OK with limited paci use up to age 3.

cr8zy - I hope that A is doing better - poor thing!

We are doing well - I wrapped C's presents today and need to pick up her cake tomorrow afternoon. She is walking about 50% of the time now. She seems to walk more when Aidan isn't around - I think that it is because she gets frustrated with not being able to walk as fast as she can crawl. Right on schedule I packed up a bunch on 6-12 ad 9-12 month clothes last night. Yesterday she started saying Bye Bye when she waves.

[hmbay]

jo--how scary. I'm glad everyone is ok.

Brink--wow! Congrats(x2)

cr8zy--hope Ashley is feeling better soon.

[AndreaMMS]

Wildcat- Oh, poor Lauren.:( Hope she feels better soon!!!

Brink- Holy cow!!!!!!!!:eek: :eek: Wow - congratulations!!!! I must admit - when you said "notice anything different?" I was actually looking for "boy parts"!

[pixiecat]

Brink - WOW! THat is really wonderful and amazing news!! I would have *freaked* !!! :eek: In a good way, you know?! :p CONGRATULATIONS!!

[Cr8nme]

Brink~ WOW WOW WOW!!! I am in shock over here...you would think it was me who was having twins... Okay so when do you get to find out... THey sure look like they are touching!!! What did DH say? Congrats and happy and healthy 9 months!!! Oooh I am going to send you a gift when you find out what THEY are :D

[solongtogo]

wow

Holy shat brink!!! Congratulations! I'd LOVE to see belly pics now compared to when you were just carrying one!

[Cr8nme]

ooohh mee too solong :D

[AndreaMMS]

Ooooooooooh, yeah, Brink! What WAS your husband's reaction?!?!?

[philnikki]

OMG!!!!

WOW!!!!

I just got chills over here!!! That's craziness!! CONGRATULATIONS!!!! :D

[jo&sean]

Congrats Brink!!! That is just awesome!! You will have to tell us your DH's reaction :)

DH got home from out of town and was able to inspect the fan. All I can say is that he feels like the biggest yahoo of a contractor that ever walked. It fell because he didn't tighted a MAJOR screw that holds the entire thing up. I don't think he understood the brevity of the situation until he saw the actual fan and what really happened. He thought it was just the glass light cover that fell which would have been bad enough but seeing the entire fan itself - motor, blades etc. he just looked at me and kept apologizing and kissing Addy.

Anyhow, I am ready to put those scary thoughts behind me.

I can't wait until tomorrow!! We have lots of fun things planned for Addison.

[Brink]

You guys are too great - thanks for all the congrats. I will definitely post belly shots. I was feeling huge before. I just figured it was a second pg and you are always bigger, but I had a complex because of how big I was. Seriously, I look 5-6 months pg!

We have our u/s with the specialist on Tuesday. I don't know if they will be able to determine the sex yet. I will only be 13 weeks, so I don't know. If they can tell, we certainly want to know. You'll all be the first ones I share it with.

Oh, DH's reaction - he loves it! We had been going back and forth on how many kids. I really wanted two and he wanted three. I had always said that we will have two, see how it goes and then negotiate the third. Well, he got his way - so he is happy!

[solongtogo]

Happy Birthday Addison!!

[AndreaMMS]

Happy birthday, Addison!!!!!!!!

Solongtogo-you're up early!

[solongtogo]

Happy birthday, Addison!!!!!!!!

Solongtogo-you're up early!


always...i come into work at 6am :) Kindof sucks but it's nice leaving at 3

[AndreaMMS]

Wow! Impressive. Naomi gets my up between 5:30-6, but I don't have to be dressed and functional at that time. Go you!;)

[BeachBum]

Wow Brink, Congrats! How exciting. And please know that we want to hear updates on the babies :) And see belly shots. I know that you have another thread for that stuff, but don't forget to update us now and then :)

[hmbay]

happy birthday Addison!

[wildcat]

Happy Birthday Addison!!

[charmcitygirl]

happy birthday addison! have a great 1st birthday.

dh just left to go camping with the boys for the weekend. really nervous about how the weekend will go with the babes... i haven't been alone with them for this much time since they've been mobile. should get interesting. i'm gonna need a vacay by the time he gets back ;)

[fifibee]

Brink -- Congratulations! What exciting news! This is really shocking actually, but definitely in a good way. Does anyone else in your family have twins? DH and I joked that we'd like to have twins just to get it over with, but we don't know anyone in the family who has twins. :P

Happy Birthday Addison!

[AlisonCO]

HAPPY 1st BIRTHDAY ADDISON!!!

Happy Friday everyone - Have a great day!!!

[Cr8nme]

Happy Birthday Addison!!!!

[Cr8nme]

Birth Control~ So I thought I would bring this up since I think there are some of us that are waiting a little while... I really want this new birth control called Implanon its made by organon and it's the only implant BC on the market(norplant is no longer offered) So basically it can stay in there for up to 3 years but you can take it out before then and get pregnant right away if you want... It goes in your arm.

Has anyone heard of this. I am really interested as DH is growing tired of using condoms :eek:

[Brink]

Happy Birthday Addy!

fifebee - no twins on either side of the family. Can't figure out where they came from.....

BeachBum - I will definitely keep you guys posted.

I actually do have some news about the twins. I don't think I posted it here, but I did in other places. I guess I could use a few hugs and a few well wishes over the next few days. My ob thinks the twins are in the same sac. I didn't realize this was a big deal until yesterday when I did a little research. It is called monoamniotic and basically the survival rate is only about 50%. With major monitoring, it goes up, but that means most likely I will be admitted to the hospital for 24/7 around week 24-26 and they are lucky if the babies make it to 32-33 wks. Most cases have premies that spend 4-6 wks in the NICU. Not a promising outlook. I'm trying not to panic too much yet. They say that many of these cases are misdiagnosed in the beginning. I have an appointment with a specialist next Tuesday to confirm if we have this condition or not. I'll keep you all posted.

[randysmandy]

HAPPY BIRTHDAY ADDY Hope you are all having a great day!

Brink I didn't get to congratulate you yet!! Sorry to hear about their condition. I hope everything goes OK and I will be thinking of you for the next 7 months!!!! Stay Positive.

TGIF

[Cr8nme]

Brink~ I hope that everything goes well !! You will be in my thoughts!

[wildcat]

brink - The internet is a really good tool, but it's also really good at scaring the crap out of us! Try not to worry and see what happens on Tuesday! Here's to a H&H 9 months!!

Lauren threw-up at 3am last night...resulting in another episode of bath in the middle of the night and sheet changing. She had a wet diaper then, but that's the last wet one she's had. The dr. yesterday we'll be concerned after 12 hours...we're nearing that mark in 2.5 hours.:( She's at daycare today (as she's totally fine during the day other than the dehydration). She's still having diarhhea too. She needs to be pumped with fluids and they weren't able to get her to finish her bottle this morning. I'm tempted to call DH and ask him to go get her as I can't really leave again bc I missed the last 1.5 days and it's only my 3rd week at this new job.:rolleyes:

[Sandie78]

Happy Birthday Addy!

Congrats Fifibee!

Double Congrats Brink! Prayers that things go well.

Wildcat-Hope Lauren feels better soon.

Cr8nme-We're not avoiding so I don't know anything about that BC. Hopefully someone else will.

[pixiecat]

Happy Birthday Addison!!

Brink - ugh, that is scary. I am thinking very positive thoughts for you & the babies. Pls keep up posted.

wildcat - poor baby! She definitely sounds sick... Hope she is on the mend soon.

Cr8mne - that sounds pretty interesting! I was thinking of the copper IUD for the same reasons, but now am close to weaning, so will probably just go back on BCPs. I wish I could chart, but WHO KNOWS when I'll ever get consistent enough sleep for that!

Hope everyone has a great day, I'm just waiting for it to end, so I can go home and play with my little walker!

[AndreaMMS]

Wildcat- How's Lauren? I've been thinking about her today...

[solongtogo]

Happy Birthday Caitlin, Anthony, and Alex!

eta & Cr8nme too!!

[wildcat]

andrea - Ahhh, thanks for asking! She's still throwing up (at night) and still has diarrhea. She saw the dr. again on Friday and he said she's still hydrated and this could continue through Monday.:rolleyes:

[Cr8nme]

Happy Birthday Caitlin, Anthony, and Alex!

Today is also my birthday sooo what lucky people we are :D

[pixiecat]

Happy Birthday Caitlin, Alex, Anthony& Cr8mne!!!

wildcat - I hope that Lauren is feeling better today!

[charmcitygirl]

happy birthday to caitlin, anthony and alex... hope all of you have a great 1st birthday!

also, happy bday to cr8nme.

wildcat any idea what's up with lauren? hope she's feeling better.

between both kids, we have 4 teeth coming in. sigh. maybe that explains the afternoon crankies?!

surviving my solo weekend so far. dh is coming home this afternoon and i'm surprised that it hasn't been too, too bad. on friday, we went out with my mom and ran a bunch of errands and yesterday we spent the afternoon at the mall. jake broke my cell phone on friday so i went to get a replacement. then, i took them to the mall play area and they both figured out how to use the slide. so freakin' cute!. zoe just kept giggling every time she went down. i just wanted to eat her up. unfortunately, though, some kid decided to follow them everywhere and was coughing all over them. nice. then antoher kid (he was about 7 or 8. ummm... a bit old to be in the kiddie area, no?) was blocking them from the steps to the slide. it really pissed me off and i asked him to please let them through. he continued to block them so i just took them and left. and they freaked. i should have known better than to take them to the mall on a saturday afternoon. so we had some ice cream and came home. i got a bunch of things done at home too: hung new blinds and curtains in our bedroom, tons of laundry, scrubbed bathrooms top to bottom, and organized some crap in the office/guest bedroom. all in all, a much better weekend than i anticipated. it's quite nice out today so after their nap, i think we'll try out the slide at local playground.

hope everyone had good weekends. and that those of you who had birthday parties had very successful days.

[AlisonCO]

HAPPY BIRTHDAY ALEX, ANTHONY AND Cr8nme!!!

I hope that you all are having a wonderful day - Caitlin thanks you all for the birthday wishes:) Unfortunately she got a bit of a bug Friday. She has had a low fever now for a couple of days and has been very cranky. She also has hardly been eating (very unusual for her.) I am slightly worried about her throat, but it could be teeth. If she is still feeling bad in the am I might take her in to check ears and throat - it would be her first non-WBV so I can't complain too much. We did have a small party yesterday and she did well considering. She and Aidan both like the Laugh and Learn home, but she absolutely loved the 2 dozen balloons - especially this morning when she woke up because they were all on the floor.

Here are a couple of pics:

http://www.allsam.com/SEP2006/images/090906_84.jpg

http://www.allsam.com/SEP2006/images/090906_150.jpg

I know that a bunch of you already said this but I truly cannot believe that one year ago today I was in the hospital holding a 12 hour old baby. It is very bittersweet. Here she is about one year ago:

http://www.allsam.com/SEP2005/images/091005_55.jpg

wildcat - Poor L - I hope that she continues to feel better!

charmcity - I am glad that you survived the solo weekend - my DH leaves today for the week so I hope it goes as well for me!

[randysmandy]

HAPPY BIRTHDAY ALEX, CAITLIN, ANTHONY...and Cr8nme
What a full day!

Today DH and I walked 5 miles (along with 10,000 people) for Cancer Research at UMASS. I lost my grampy to it in 2003, and we just found out that my stepgrandmother has breast cancer and they also are treating her at the stem of the brain. I only assume she has it throughout her body, but won't release the info to my stepmom or her siblings. My Dad is due back from Iraq in 30 days...not a nice thing for him tocome home to. Like his last year wasn't bad enough. We ended the day with a trip to the playground.

Charmcity Slides are SO much fun...too bad older kids don't understand the logic of babies.

Alison Good looking fam (and Aidan too f course) Caitlin hasn't changed much LOL

I hope lauren gets well soon

Brink how are you feeling?

[BeachBum]

Birth Control~ So I thought I would bring this up since I think there are some of us that are waiting a little while... I really want this new birth control called Implanon its made by organon and it's the only implant BC on the market(norplant is no longer offered) So basically it can stay in there for up to 3 years but you can take it out before then and get pregnant right away if you want... It goes in your arm.

Has anyone heard of this. I am really interested as DH is growing tired of using condoms :eek:

No, I'm not familiar with it. But, have you thought about nuva-ring? I might have spelled it wrong. My sister is on it and loves it. You insert it monthly, and it is a slow release of hormones. All in all, less work than the pill, but not as easy to forget as the implant.

Brink I know you must be scared. {{hugs}}

Alison- Great pics! Hot hubby :)

SLIDE Question So how do your kids go down the slide? Sitting up? Henry tries to lean forward and tends to fall when he goes sitting up. On the realllllllly tiny baby slides he goes down on his tummy feet first. I'm just not sure what I should be encouraging him to do?

[charmcitygirl]

sliding j & z go down tummy down feet first.

[Cr8nme]

Beachbum~ Thanks! Yes, I used to be on Nuvaring! However while I liked it I would much rather have something I can forget about,LOL ;)

[Sandie78]

Happy Birthday Caitlin, Anthony, and Alex!

Zach had his birthday party yesterday. My family and DH's family came. Zach got some great presents and we had a fun time. Here are some pics.

Birthday cake is yummy!
http://static.flickr.com/83/239956293_361307db12.jpg?v=0

Here's the cake I made and decorated. I tried to draw a frog that matched the one on the napkins.
http://static.flickr.com/85/239950436_35b61eed55.jpg?v=0

[solongtogo]

QOTD Are your kids using a fork/spoon yet?

[philnikki]

QOTD - that would be a no ;)

Happy Birthday Wishes to ALEX, CAITLIN, ANTHONY and Cr8nme

We had a crazy weekend! We were in the ER on Friday evening. Ava has ANOTHER ear infection. And she has spots, and we aren't sure if her spots are chicken pox or what. Going to follow up with her ped tomorrow.

She had a fund weekend despite feeling a little under the weather. Here she is on the swings yesterday:

http://i26.photobucket.com/albums/c139/philnikki/Ava%20Pics/September%202006/100_6419.jpg

[hmbay]

Happy b-day to Caitlin, Anthony and Cr8nme!

Thanks for the b-day wishes everyone. We didn't actually do anything big for his b-day since we had the party last weekend. I had bought him the cute little dragon robeez I loved so he got them. Otherwise all we did that day was tour a 2.2 million dollar house because we were bored. I still can't believe he's 1. And still not STTN. Who would have thought I could survive on not a full nights sleep for this long without going postal?

[solongtogo]

Who would have thought I could survive on not a full nights sleep for this long without going postal?

amen sister

[AndreaMMS]

Happy Birthday Caitlin, Anthony and Alex!

QOTD- good question! we are just starting to intrduce her to a spoon. Maaaan, what a MESS she makes with it! She loves to rub the spoon in her hair!:rolleyes:

[Cr8nme]

QOTD: Yes Noelle uses a spoon but not a fork... she still doesn't have it all down packed except with mashed potatoes... I think because they are so thick,LOL she tried it with rice yesterday and got mad when her spoonful weren't really full LOL

[charmcitygirl]

qotd oh god, no. i probably should but just the thought of the mess... it's quite messy now only using hands ;)

sandie that pic of zach eating bday cake is so freakin adorable! love the bib. is it one of those easy wipe ones? where did you get it?

[wildcat]

qotd - DH introduced the spoon a few weeks ago when I wasn't home and he said it took some time to show her how to do it "right", but that she ate all her cereal with her spoon by herself!! I've since tried to get her to use it but it's so messy and she doesn't quite have the hang of it!! I know I should put both her spoon and her fork on her highchair tray and let her experiment but the mess always keeps me from doing it:rolleyes:. Ok - going to let the mess go and let her have them tonight!:p

OH and good news for us....we had our first puke-free night last night since last Tuesday!!!!:D

[wildcat]

I spoke too soon:(, daycare just called...Lauren threw up. day six.:confused:

[cr8zyforaf]

wildcat - so sorry about Lauren. Hope she feels better soon!

Happy Birthday Caitlin, Anthony and Alex!! and anyone else I missed

Our party was this weekend and things went very well. I won't be posting pictures as I had a scare last week with someone finding stuff on the internet about my daughter - so it will be posted in my LJ soon as friends only - if you are interested just let me know.

[AlisonCO]

QOTD - Yes Caitlin loves to practice with the fork and spoon. She is getting pretty good at stabbing things with the fork but then uses her other hand to take the food off and eat it that way. The spoon is still hit or miss - she does well with things that are thicker but yogurt or cereal becomes a huge mess. My SIL is Korean and when they were here to visit last summer their DD (who is Aidan's age) always used one of those Chinese soup spoons - the ones that are short with a long, deep scoop. She did so well with yogurt and soup. I gave one to Caitlin the other day to try and she couldn't get the stuff in her mouth - maybe she is too small yet.

Sandie - SO cute!

cr8zy - I am so glad that A's party went well but I am sorry about the internet scare!

wildcat - Poor L!

nikki - A is so cute - so sorry about the ER visit!

So DH is gone all this week and I am already so pooped! Caitlin seems to be feeling better today and she ate breakfast, but she is sleeping like crap. She just can't seem to settle down. Last night she was basically up from 10:30-2am. I tried holding her and rocking her and letting her fuss. So I got to sleep from about 2:30-6 - uggh it is going to be a long day.

Get well sick kiddos!

[randysmandy]

spoons/forks Hunetr tries to use both, but I have to dunk his spoon in food or put food on the fork. He turns it upside down and does good. After a while he resorts to his fingers though!

Slide I made sure H is kinda laying down and let him go-DH is at the bottom ready to catch him! Although one day he got away from me and actually sat down himself and went down!

Zach Looks like he had a good time!

Wildcat Poor Lauren!!!! All I can say is that I hope she gets better soon...[hugs]

[Sandie78]

...love the bib. is it one of those easy wipe ones? where did you get it?

The bib is vinyl so yep it's easy to wipe. It also has pocket at the bottom to catch food. It works quite well. I got it for a shower gift so I don't know where it came from. Sorry.

QOTD We have not attempted utensils yet. I'm not sure when we will. I don't really think he's ready.

WildcatI feel sad for Lauren. I hope you are able to soon figure out what is causing this.

Everyone's pics are sooo cute!

[solongtogo]

they sell the vinyl wipe off bibs with food catcher pockets on them at target, a 3 pack is like 5 or 10 bucks or something...

[Brink]

Busy, busy thread this weekend!

Happy Birthday Caitlin, Anthony & Alex!

Alisonco & Sandie - the pics of Caitlin and Zach at their parties are great.

Randysmandy - so sorry to hear about your grandmother. So proud of you guys for getting out and doing something about it with the walk. My grandmother had breast cancer too. She survived that and then ended up passing about two years ago from liver cancer (that she survived once before). I hope she is doing ok.

Nikki - Scary about Ava and the ER. I hope she is feeling better.

Wildcat - I can't believe Lauren is still sick. The poor thing.

Cr8zy - just curious - what happened on the internet?

Randysmandy - I'm feeling ok, thanks for asking.

I'm really nervous about tomorrow's appt and having trouble concentrating at work today. I'll post tomorrow and let everyone know what happened. Thanks for all your support - you ladies mean a lot to me.

[cr8zyforaf]

Brink - thinking of you...

Basically - someone PM'd me with very specific information about our daycare. The PM was from someone who joined CC the day the PM was sent and that user has no posts. This person knew the center name, location, and my DD name...so I got a little flipped out...turns out I did mention the name in a post from March and this person did a google on the name of the center and the word complaint...so, this time it was innocent but it got me thinking about the dangerous things that could happen.

With some detective work, anyone could find out where we are...and that had me very upset. I am probably over reacting, but the whole incident had me very scared...

[jo&sean]

Happy Belated Birthday Caitlin, Anthony & Alex :)

Charm - Glad you made it through you solo weekend ok. It's so much work! Hope the teething doesn't cause too much crankiness.

Alison - Great pics!

Randysmandy - That is great that you guys did the cancer walk. I am sorry that your dad has to go back to Irag. I can't even imagine...

Wildcat - Poor Lauren. Did they say it was stomach virus or something?

Sandie - Zach is such a handsome little guy. Great pic!

Nikki - Hope Ava is feeling better.

Cr8zy - Sorry about your internet scare. It does remind us that it is easy to find out information on here.

Re: Slides - I haven't taken Addy down any slides yet...I bet she would love that!

Re: Forks/Spoons - We have been trying. Addy is really good at feeding the dog with her spoon. She thinks that is great fun.

Addy's party went really well on Saturday. She had a lot of fun entertaining her guests and was in such a good mood the entire time.
Sorry the pictures are so big!! I need to figure out how to resize them on photobucket!!
Getting ready to eat cake!
http://i115.photobucket.com/albums/n301/dallyup101/000_0172.jpg

Sharing some of her loot with her beloved dog:
http://i115.photobucket.com/albums/n301/dallyup101/100_1435.jpg

Opening presents with Daddy
http://i115.photobucket.com/albums/n301/dallyup101/100_1446.jpg

She really liked opening her presents and LOVED her cards :)

[fifibee]

Happy Birthday Caitlin, Alex and Anthony!

Brink -- I'm definitely thinking of you and I really hope that the appointment will bring good news.

Wildcat -- I hope Lauren feels better real soon.

cr8zy -- So sorry about the internet scare. I often wonder about public posting on pictures myself, but haven't done much about it.

jo&sean -- What a great party! I am especially impressed that she didn't need a bib to eat that yummy-looking cake. :)

QOTD (Utensils) -- We haven't tried yet, but I've been thinking of starting in the next month or so

QOTD (Slides) -- Max has been down the slide a few times face up feet first. Perhaps we should try the tummy side feet first next time.

[solongtogo]

Happy Birthday Zach!

I love the picture of Addy sharing her cake with the pup. Precious.

[wildcat]

Happy Birthday Zach!!

I'm LOVING all the birthday pics!!! Addy's with her puppy looks so familiar...Lauren loves her puppy too, especially sharing her food!

slide - We haven't even been to a playground with Lauren! We should really do that this weekend, I bet she'd love th