July 2006 Mommies - Our little fireworks are here!

[Wrighty26]

Lil_mrs - Sorry to hear that your schedule is putting a strain on things :( My DH and I have a somewhat opposite schedule too (although it's not as extreme) and while we're handling it pretty well, it pretty much sucks sometimes! Especially since we rarely get a full day off together! Even then, we end up spending half the day doing different things.

rolling over - Braeden rolled over from his belly to his back once on Saturday. It was like he was saying, "You happy? I can do it, OK... now leave me alone!" because he hasn't done it since!

supplementing - I haven't had to supplement with formula and I'm really hoping I don't have to. We'll see though. He's been rejecting me for a bottle lately. I'm not sure if it's because the bottle is faster or what, but it's super frustrating. I end up having to give him an oz or 2 of EBM before he'll latch on to me. Grrrr. My supply has been really good (pumping around 15 extra oz a day -- and he takes 5 oz bottles) until recently too and I'm wondering if I'm about to get AF. I'm really hoping it is AF and NOT that I am PG again! (Yes, I'm still worried about this! I haven't gone so far to take a PG test, but I have been having cramps, my bbs are sore, and I've been tired.)

Can't Wait - Bella is such a cutie!

Hair - Braeden has hair, but it's very thin and doesn't need to be cut in any way yet. He has this patch in the back that we call his mohawk mullet. It's really funny looking.

Cereal - My ped said I could start giving cereal to Braeden (if he was showing signs of being more hungry) if I wanted to around now, but I'm going to hold off until 6 months or so. Both asthma and allergies runs in my family and I'll like to do anything that I possibly can to avoid it! I don't think he really needs it right now -- he's eating 6-7 times in a 24 hour period and sleeps through the night.

Lindybug - How is work going for you? That is the CUTEST picture of Ryan in your avatar! I love that hat. It makes me wish I had bought it a few months ago. I think I might have to go back there soon and get the bulldog one!

clothes - He's just starting to wear his 3-6 month stuff, but it's still big on him. He can fit into some of his 0-3 stuff still. I'm having to bust out the 6-9 sleepers though-- because he has long legs (like me!).

[Lil_Mrs_0702]

MMK- I didn't take offense to your comments at all. Ideally I would love to bf exclusively but it just doesn't seem practicle in our situation. The kid goes through 6-8 oz a feeding!! I would come home so excited that I pumped 2 bottles through out the work day and to find out that he went through 5 bottles. I have no clue why the lil guy is such a porker. I talked to my dr about it and he just laughed and said that some kids just eat and grow more than others and that it didn't sound like we were over feeding him.

Wrighty- Wowsers! I couldn't imagine being pg again so soon, but I know it happens- Just think people have children 1 year apart all the time. Anyone of us could be announcing another pregnancy soon. This makes me think- Is anyone else thinking of TTC in the near future?

Clothes- Collin is already in 9-12 month clothes. As I said the kid is huge. I am thinking that DH and are going to have to get eachother convertible car seats for eachother for Christmas- that's if Collin stays under 22lbs that long. He is already 17 or 18 lbs at 4 months.

[Soulmate]

I have a $6 coupon for Bright Beginnings up for grabs!

rolling over Logan for one day would arch his back and roll to his side. He was soooo close. But he HATES being on his tummy so he had absolutely no incentive to complete the roll. But he is no where close to rolling.

supplementing We've been all formula since 2-3 weeks. Having to stop BFing was so very sad but I like the extra freedom. I learned that my mom sustained me solely on cows milk from 3 months on (sooo not a good thing) and I am very intelligent and healthy. Breast is most definitely best but I think they demonize formula a bit too much. I feel like I have to justify myself when I say I FF (I had no choice...see ;) ).

Wrighty :eek: at the thought of being pregnant again! I think I'd die. I am actually feeling ok with having another baby but having to go through another 9 months of pregnancy so soon would really wear on me!

cycles Speaking of getting pregnant again...I will be ovulating in the next day or so. I love how my body gives me glaring signs of fertility! It is just weird to have my cycles back after 1+ year of no AF.

[mmisabel]

Hey ladies! Happy hump day!

Lil' Mrs - Collin is such a big boy! So cute. That must be a really tough schedule for you guys! I give you a lot of credit.

Can't wait - LOVE the hair.

Wrighty - I'm dying to know if you're PG again. I know it can happen when you BF, but isn't it rare??

Soulmate - Don't feel like you have to justify FFing your child. The majority of us were probably bottle fed and we're fine! I'm totally pro BFing, but I think it's gone a bit much in that direction. I'm always surprised by how much other people seem to care what you end up doing!

solids - my dr said 5-6 months to introduce, but I could try after 4 months if I really wanted to. I'll probably wait until he's about 5 months since he'll be 16 weeks tomorrow and I don't think he's anywhere near ready. He's kind of a peanut, he was 11#15oz two weeks ago.

hair - he's pretty bald too

clothes - mostly in 3-6 months, especially in PJ's since he's long. He fits into some 0-3 month stuff still and most of the 3-6 are big.

supplementing - haven't noticed any difference in my supply or any problems with Nathan latching.

TTC - hell no!! Although I'd like to have #2 sooner than I originally thought. I'm thinking we'll try again around this time next year.

[Wrighty26]

I really think I'm just freaking myself out about being PG because I feel better today. It's very rare while breastfeeding, but it can definitely happen - especially since he's sleeping through the night and I have to pump 3-4 times a day. I am SO not ready for another baby or pregnancy!

I know I mentioned above that Braeden has been refusing to nurse from me, but last night was SO frustrating. He clearly did not want to latch on and it was really upsetting. He did latch on both @ 4 and at 7:30 (I stayed home to see what he would do) this morning, so I'm hoping that we've turned a corner. This has been going on since Sunday and it's just so heartbreaking to see him cry when I try to feed him!

[Sophia]

Wrighty: What??? You might be PG??? :eek:

TTC: I'm 37, have 3 children, I had trouble conceiving, DH & I have decided not to try for any more, and I have occasional urges for another. :rolleyes:

Solids: We're waiting till about 5 months. There's history of diabetes all over the place on all the grandparents' sides, so I want to minimize the risk if possible.

Hair: She was born with lots of hair, but it's uneven. She has some strands that are several inches longer than the majority, and then has patches where her newborn hair is rubbing off and leaving patches of very short baby hair. I want to even it out a bit (cut the really long strands to match the length of the majority), like I did with Bella, but I'm afraid of poking her in the eye or something.

Clothes: She's all over the place. Lots of her 0-3 stuff still fits, but without extra room. Most of her 3-6 month stuff fits ok, but soem of it swallows her.

Supplementing: She hasn't had any formula since about 6 weeks, I think. It took me a day for my pumping output to match her growth spurt needs. I was able to increase my output before her 3 month growth spurt & didn't need to use formula.

EPing: Still EPing. I've made it past 3 months, which I'm really proud of, and I'm getting at least 30 oz/day. She goes through most of it within 24 hours, and I freeze a bit regularly.

[Lizard]

Supplementing - We do a formula bottle about 1-2 times a week, when I'm out of the house and DH needs to feed her. I was pumping EBM, but it seems like when I pump it screws up my supply for the rest of the day. Also, the pump really wreaks havoc on the nips. :( I don't mind doing occasional formula bottles, but I really do enjoy nursing and hope to keep it up.

Solids - We're going to see what the ped says at her 4 mo WBV. I've noticed in the past week or so that she's starting to watch us eat, and she LOVES to chew. But she still has her tongue thrust reflex and I'm not sure doing cereal would be of any benefit at this point. Her 4 mo visit is on 11/1.

Haircut - My BIL's daughter has NEVER had her hair cut, and she's 4 years old! Her parents just don't want to cut her hair, it's crazy. Every time we see her DH says he's gonna go get the scissors and cut it himself. :D

Clothes - DD has been into 3-6 for over a month, and we're having the same problem as Wrighty where her legs are super long. I put a 6-9 sleeper on her the other day, the legs fit perfectly but we had to roll the arms up several times. With 3-6 sleepers, the legs are starting to become too short and the top half is fine. I have long legs too and often have to buy Long size pants, so I guess she's taking after me. :)

Cycles, TTC, etc - I still don't have AF back, and hopefully she stays away for a while. Every once in a while I feel crampy and wonder if she's coming, but she never shows up. We don't plan on TTCing for a while so it's no big deal right now.

----------------------------------------

We have been going through some weird stuff with DD's pooping. I had mentioned that she's had diarrhea for a while. Well, she still has it and it's been nearly 2 weeks. I ended up taking her to the ped yesterday, and they ran a test on her stool that showed her sugars were high. The ped said this is a sign of mal-absorbtion that could mean 2 things - either she's breastmilk intolerant, or her intestines are swollen because of all the diarrhea, and causing the high sugars. The weird thing is, she's not concerned. She said to give it another week and see what happens. Of course, I hear "breastmilk intolerance" and freak out, but the ped was surprisingly reassuring and said to continue BF, if worse comes to worse I will have to go 100% dairy and soy free again. We'll see what happens.

Any babies laughing yet? DD hasn't, but her smiles are gigantic.

I'm excited for the weekend, my grandmother, aunt, and father are driving out to see us. They haven't seen the baby yet (my father is my birth father... my mom is remarried and they were out here after the birth). It'll be so fun to hang out with them all and take them around the city. Hopefully DD cooperates, she tends to get so fussy when company is around.

Gotta run, DD is sleeping and I really need to get some cleaning done.

[sunchaser26]

Solids:

We're waiting till about 6 months. That is what our Ped recommended since it is found that food allergies etc. can be link to early solids.

Hair:

Just like Sophia said, He was born with lots of hair, but it's uneven. He has some strands that are several inches longer than the majority, and then has patches where her newborn hair is rubbing off and leaving patches of very short baby hair.

Clothes:

He's all over the place too. Most of the Carter's 0-3 stuff still fits. All of his 3 month stuff by Little Me fits but might not much longer due to his lenght, all of the 3-6 month stuff is quiet large and he isn't really wearing it yet.

Last night Jacob was really excited when we came to my mothers after the gym he was squealing and trying to laugh and so animated it was so cute! Also yesterday Jacob started rolling from his tummy to his back during tummy time.

[lindybug]

Lindybug - How is work going for you? That is the CUTEST picture of Ryan in your avatar! I love that hat. It makes me wish I had bought it a few months ago. I think I might have to go back there soon and get the bulldog one!
Thanks, I love the Gymbo outfit too! It was a gift. I love the bulldog line though, and am hoping it goes on sale soon.

Work is going okay. I miss my boy so much, but at the same time it's nice to have a little break. I wish I could say I loved my job, but I don't. At all. I'm not too busy yet so I've been spending my days crunching number to see if we can afford for me to stay home. :P It would be so tight though, it makes me nervous.

solids ~ I think our ped recommends starting around 4 months. I will find out at our WBV on 11/17. I am excited to start though!

laughs ~ DS will giggle once in a while. It's the cutest thing!

[Sophia]

Laughing: yep, and it's so cute! :D

[Wrighty26]

Be back with more (my little man is cracking himself up in his crib when he SHOULD be napping) but I just wanted to update that I'm NOT pregnant. Thank you God.

[mkvh]

Busy around here--GLAD to see it!!!

Hair--Clara has what we lovingly call "fuzz". And she puts herself to sleep by rubbing her fuzzy head. From far away she looks BALD. And because she's big, people constantly mistake her for a boy. :rolleyes: Even when she's wearing pink.

Clothes--We're exactly the right size for 3-6 right now. Though not for long. She has worn 2 6-9/12 month outfits in the last week or so. I'm guessing she's about 16-17lbs and 25.5" at 3 months.

Diapers--We're having crazy blow outs in the 2s, and they're starting to look like low riders, so we're finishing this pack today and moving to 3s. 3s start at 16lbs, so I guess we're right on track.

TTC--Officially, we're waiting till she is 1, but we're not preventing now. I want another early summer baby, so if I got PG right now, I'd be fine with it. Then, we'll prevent till July or so and start trying in earnest in August.

Laughing--OH, yes. And squeals of all sorts. Clara is VERRRRY vocal. Nothing like her momma :rolleyes:

Supplementing--NO! My personal definition of successful BF is one year with no formula, straight to cow's milk. That's just MY goal. I think we all do what we have to do as BF moms, so if you supplement, that's the right thing for you. That's one peeve I have with LLL--they aren't particularly supportive of alternatives to exclusive BF, and that bothers me!

Solids--My ped said we'll talk about it at her 4 month WBV. But I want to hold off till 6 months. Although she is starting to show interest in what we are eating, which can be a preliminary sign that she's ready for solids. But she also is inordinately nosy.

Baby Tricks--Clara rolled belly-to-back early at just over 2 months. Then she quit. She just did it again last night, easily. She seems to be getting ready to roll back-to-front as well. Both of my sister's kids sat up unassisted for their 3 mo. pics, so of course Clara is "behind". Anyone sitting up yet (besides Collin--I remember you mentioning it, LilMrs)? We're not there, but she does pull up from a recline and hold herself erect. Her new thing is pulling out her pacifier and trying to get it back in all by herself.

[Lil_Mrs_0702]

Laughing- Collin laughs at everything. He loves "drop the baby" "flying baby" and "milkshake" all silly things that Mommy does to make him laugh. It's funy because he only finds it fun if I play drop the baby with him because he only trusts me to not actually drop him. Anyone else and he gets this look of absolute terror. Also he also leans back and closes his eyes to be dropped whenever I tilt him back in the slightest.

[Can't_Wait]

Thanks for the compliments on Isabella's hair. I just don't know if we should get it cut or not. I don't think cutting it will help how it stands straight up on the back top of her head! But the hair in the back is already down past her clothes about 1/2 an inch.

Clothes- Collin is already in 9-12 month clothes. As I said the kid is huge. I am thinking that DH and are going to have to get eachother convertible car seats for eachother for Christmas- that's if Collin stays under 22lbs that long. He is already 17 or 18 lbs at 4 months.
OMG! How much did he weigh at birth?


Supplementing--NO! My personal definition of successful BF is one year with no formula, straight to cow's milk. That's just MY goal. Me too. :)
but she does pull up from a recline and hold herself erect. Bella does this too.

TTC Not even considering it right now! I can't imagine having 2 babies yet. ;)

solids We'll wait until she is 6 months... regardless of what the pediatrition says b/c I don't think we always see eye-to-eye on things.

laughs Isabella has laughed 2x but she squeels & smiles all the time.

[Soulmate]

laughing DS giggles in this sort of huh huh way. It took me a while to realize that he was actually giggling and not doing another babble sound. But he is clearly giggling. No full blown laughing though.

sitting up Nope, but he has been doing little crunches to have me sit him up more. I also give him "sitting up time" since he hates tummy time. I put his bottom in the hole of the boppy and assist him in sitting up while he plays with a toy. He handles that much better than tummy time and it helps to build at least some of the necessary muscles.

solids I am 98% sure our ped will give us the green light for solids at DS's 4 mo WBV. She already recommended rice cereal in his bottle (for his AR) but his system wasn't all that happy with it. It wasn't horrible but it wasn't normal either.

We found a new sitter for DS!! This type of situation is where I really value my degree and experience. It is really scary how risky some places are and it is very hidden.

[Sophia]

I got video of Lili laughing at the dogs. I'll delete the link tomorrow.

[ShelbyMay]

This will probably be short because DH is nagging me to come to bed.

supplementing: Had to do it for the first time this week. I had plans to go out and was just not getting anything when I tried to pump. Dh said she took it fine and didn't really seem to notice a difference.

Speaking of which, I am kind of concerned about my supply. Sometimes she does not seem satisfied after a feeding (and I let her nurse until I just can't take anymore). And then the pumping hasn't worked lately, either. I am going to try a few things (water, oatmeal, More Milk Plus) to get my supply back up. I hope it works.

hair: She was born with tons and it has just kept growing, but she has a lovely bald patch in the back. She has some weird combover/mullet look going on these days. I have considered giving her a haircut, but I don't know how I would want to cut it. There aren't exactly any baby hairstyle magazines. I have had to snip little bits of her hair 2x now because it got tiny mats in the long pieces on the back. Weird.

rolling over: She rolled from her back to her front last week, but not a single time since.

sitting up: not even close. Can't really even imagine it at this point!

laughing: Yes, and it's the best sound EVER.

solids: Her ped. said we'd talk about it at her 4 month wbv. I think we will wait until 5 or 6 months, since she doesn't seem interested yet and also does not have complete head control yet. I also don't want my supply dropping any more than it already has.

pregnancy: I am so afraid of this happening any time soon. I actually did take a pregnancy test last week just to be sure. I've started having noticeable CM again the past couple of weeks, so I was worried. Was actually happy to see a BFN, which is a switch. I don't even want to consider #2 for at least a couple of years.

[Can't_Wait]

Speaking of which, I am kind of concerned about my supply. Sometimes she does not seem satisfied after a feeding (and I let her nurse until I just can't take anymore). And then the pumping hasn't worked lately, either. I am going to try a few things (water, oatmeal, More Milk Plus) to get my supply back up. I hope it works.
I hope everything works out! Could it be that DD is going through a growth spurt & therefore nurses more (wanting more milk) which will increase your supply? I had the same thing you describe happen to me a little while back. I would just let her nurse as long as I could & then nurse her often. This eventually did the trick of increasing my supply.

We got the Kozy carrier the other week & we love it. Isabella prefers to sit in it facing out w/ her legs crossed in the carrier. She likes to be able to see everything.
For those of you that use a mai tai type carrier to go shopping... where do you put it on? I've tried putting it on in the car & it is difficult b/c of the confined space. The straps are so long that they woul get dirty on the ground if I tried in the parking lot.

[Wrighty26]

For those of you that use a mai tai type carrier to go shopping... where do you put it on? I've tried putting it on in the car & it is difficult b/c of the confined space. The straps are so long that they woul get dirty on the ground if I tried in the parking lot.

First off - yay for liking the Kozy! Braeden likes to face out too, unless he's tired. To answer your question, I either put it on in the parking lot (my straps are black - so dirt is hard to track) or I put it on in the store. If I am wearing him, I usually bring my stroller in just in case because he can just switch from loving being worn to hating it in about 2 seconds! The stroller pretty much doubles as a shopping cart :)

ShelbyMay - I'm glad that I'm not the only one freaking about possibly being pregnant! Glad you tested negative as well :) I'm with you on the waiting for #2. I'd like Braeden to be either 3 or 4 when we have the next one!

Sophia - The video was so cute!

Laughs - Braeden definitely giggles. It's funny because it's super high pitched. I'm still waiting to hear a full-blown laugh.

Sitting up - He has started to pull up a little when I have him laying on my lap (which is better than the pushing off he had been doing). If I put him in a sitting position he will stay there for a few seconds before tilting to the side (which is hilarious to watch).

Braeden's newest fascination is his feet. He still likes he hands (he likes to stare at them for a few minutes and then attack them with his mouth like they are going somewhere), but when he's in his Bumbo he is just AMAZED that he has feet. So cute. Oh, and he's started to pull of his pacifer and then put it back in his mouth. It's nice because it keeps him very occupied :)

[hokiegirlie]

I keep waiting for Matthew to play with his feet. If he sits up and I show him his feet, he loves them, but he doesn't do it on his own yet.

I can't believe so many of us have taken hpts. As much as I am enjoying no AF, I need it to feel reassured!

Matthew still hasn't had a BM. We gave him karo syrup twice today (per the ped) but still nuthin. He doesnt seem uncomfortable, but he does have really bad gas (not painful). I feel sorry for him. We'll have to go in tomorrow if he doesn't go tonight.

[rande]

Well, I have been trying to catch up but haven't had much time for posting. DH has been traveling a ton for work so I have been very busy with my two little ones. Glad to hear that all our babies are doing so well.

I also have to admit, I have been a little jealous of all the great little sleepers in this thread. Due to her reflux, Olivia can still only eat small portions and is up every three hours at night. If we are lucky, we get one 5 hour stretch.

We leave for Boston in two weeks for my sister's wedding so we have been busy getting ready for that. Should be great fun!

Olivia is doing great. She loves smiling and cooing. She is also starting to teeth but she is not too uncomfortable yet. She still doesn't have much hair. Our little neighbor girl asked me the other day why she had a mohawk!!!!! Ha! Andrew is a great big brother and loves petting her head and giving her big wet kisses. So sweet! So crazy that some of our babies have already had haircuts!!!!

I got my first outing without the kids yesterday and went into Hollywood for a taping of Dr. Phil. It was fun!!!!!

TTC-We plan to wait at least two years and will probably go for one more, God willing!

Love all the cute baby pics and thought I would share some!

Olivia in her wedding outfit:
http://static.flickr.com/83/274413332_0d76a2c166.jpg?v=0
Livie trying on her halloween outfit:http://static.flickr.com/105/274413333_fa5b19549f.jpg?v=0
Nice smile:
http://static.flickr.com/88/274413331_1b20be42a0.jpg?v=0
Big brother Drew at 3 1/2 months (I can't even believe how much they are starting to look alike):
http://static.flickr.com/97/274413330_856e93fe09.jpg?v=0

[mmisabel]

Yeah it's Friday!!

Rande - the resemblance is uncanny!! Olivia is so cute, sorry she's not sleeping better.

Soulmate - I'm glad you found a new sitter. It must be such a relief to be in a more comfortable situation.

laughs - it's so cute. He sounds like he can't catch his breath and gets this huge smile.

sitting up - Nathan prefers to stand. Whenever I hold him and try to sit him down he gets all rigid and wants to stand. It's the weirdest thing!

[maybebaby]

Rande they look so alike and Olivia is just beautiful. Love the smile pic--what a pretty shirt/dress she has on.

[maryanne]

rande---olivia is absolutely adorable

Josh's mom and husband are arriving tonight from Florida. This will be the longest that we will soend togethor (only 3 days). I am looking foward to it. It is the first time that she wis meeting the lil buddha bear...we are scheduled to do LOTS of shopping and dining!

[maybebaby]

rolling over yep, she can get from her side to her back and she's working hard at getting all the way over! I've seen her do it a couple of times but it kind of comes and goes (back to tummy).

supplementing we just started topping her off with a little formula. I've been exclusively pumping due to our whole issue with Anya not breastfeeding after having bottles in the NICU; it sucks and I'm really hoping to get to breastfeed with the next baby. We started supplementing because we were having some concerns she wasn't gaining enough weight and the pediatrician thought total calories were the most important thing. I'm still trying to ensure she gets mostly breastmilk.

TTC yeah, like in five years. getting pregnant now would totally scare me!

laughs I love them!

solids my pediatrician thinks it's better to wait until six months because there is some risk of choking. she said she has many patients who start at four months, but optimally, she would prefer we wait. we'll wait based on her recommendation.

[klav]

soo long since I've been here sorry I can't keep up!! things have been hectic and I just was able to get to the computer... we went and visited friends in NC and saw my girlfriens new baby well not new but I have not seen him yet and this was the first time he's 7 monthes tooo cute will post pictures when i have a mintue i'm finding it hard to get any pictures printed or posted now a days'!!

[Wrighty26]

Rande - Olivia has the most beautiful eyes! So cute how much her and Drew look alike.

[sunchaser26]

Olivia is absolutely gorgeous! It is rather funny how alike they look.... They definitely look like they are related that is for sure.

[Mystikal]

Sitting up not unassisted, but she is always pulling herself forward to a sitting position when we cradle her in one arm. We've been putting her in the boppy and in her jumperoo and she's really good about holding herself up, so that's something, right? Like soulmate she HATES tummy time with a passion and we have to do something, so we chose that. ;)
Rolling over nope, nowhere near rolling over yet. That's fine with me, though. That much longer before she's getting into everything and I'm all kinds of paranoid. lol. :D
Laughing ALL.THE.TIME. I love it. I actually got video of her laughing last night. It's the best sound in the world. Two no fail ways to get her laughing are to say "what's the doggie say? Doggie say woof! woof!" and to look at her and say in a low, quiet voice "I'm gonna get you" and then give her a great big kiss. She loves it. She also loves when DH does flying baby. Of course, then she pukes all over. :rolleyes:
Another baby not until we are out of this house, even if we are in an apartment. This one is just way too small. It probably won't be for another two to three years. (Although, I'd love another one right now. Crazy, I know.)

I guess that's it. Sorry I haven't been around lately, DH's been on vacation this week so I've been spending as much time as possible with him after DD goes to bed.

[hokiegirlie]

What are you BF moms doing about drinking wine/beer?

Now that Matthew is sleeping through the night, I've been having a couple of glasses of wine/beer after he goes down (not every night). I'm not feeding him until 7:30 or 8:00 am, so I figure I'm okay?!

We went to a wine tasting and I just pumped and dumped twice that night and first thing the next morning. We're going to a wine festival tomorrow and I'm planning on doing the same thing.

Is this okay? The ped said as long as I don't 'feel' the alcohol, then I'm fine with feeding him, which is why I figured it's okay to feed him in the mornings.

[maybebaby]

I occasionally have a glass of wine with dinner. Just one. I used to pump and dump, but now I don't think it's such a big deal if it's not a lot of alcohol.

[Wrighty26]

I drink a glass or two of wine a couple of times a week. My take is that if I feel safe to drive, then I don't need to "pump and dump." I have gone out a few times and gotten a little tipsy -- pumped and dumped when I got home and then fed him in the morning (5-7 hours later).

I believe that there was a question on this in the breastfeeding thread - and someone (probably Marisa) said that your blood alcohol levels are at the highest a half hour after you consume the alcohol. HTH!

[a_spark]

I usually have a glass of wine or two a couple nights a week. I've read that it's not necessary to pump and dump if you don't feel the alcohol anymore, since alcohol leaves your milk at the same rate that it leaves your bloodstream. The only reason to pump and dump would be for your own comfort (if you missed a feeding and were uncomfortably full). Also, only about 2% of the alcohol you drink enters your milk. So, you're fine, hokiegirlie :) Enjoy that wine!

I know I've been MIA- life is so busy right now. I'm following along, though! Everyone's babies are SO cute. Rande, Olivia is gorgeous!!

I'm working at home and it's really hectic! Thank goodness for my laptop, because I get a ton of work done on the couch nursing Ava. She's going great, though. She gets cuter every day.

supplementing Nope. Ava was supplemented in the hospital, so I'm obsessed with her getting only BM until 6 months when we'll start solids. I had such a hard time getting BF established that it's really important to me to be exclusively BF. Just my personal thing, though. :)

sleeping She's still sleeping in her bouncy seat on our bed due to her reflux. She sleeps GREAT in it but I'm starting to feel like she should transition to her cosleeper soon. Her nursery is on a different floor in our house, so I'm not ready for her to leave our room yet. Plus, I'd miss her! We'll try to transition one night soon when we're both home and have no big plans the next day (in case of lack of sleep). She had been sleeping from about 7pm-6am, but now it's 7pm-3am, then until 7am. Fine by me!

sitting up Not yet, but she keeps doing crunches when she's reclining, so I'm guessing she's trying!

laughing Not yet, I am waiting for this! I'll be so happy when she does- I think she's close.

rolling over Nope, not yet either. She's SUPER close on this one, though. She rocks back and forth when on her belly, from side to side, so it's just a matter of days before she flips over.

She's super chatty, always cooing and babbling and is a major flirt! She likes to grin at people, then hide her face in my chest. She also loves to stand supported on our laps- that's her preferred position. Oh, and she recently learned how to squeal and shriek. :O Very very noisy!

I'm really excited because in January we're going to hire a nanny part-time so that I can get some work done actually at my desk. I'm the primary earner in the house (DH is a teacher so not much $$ there!) so it's really important that I get work done. Also, it'll be SO nice to get the break every day. I love being home with A, and DH is really helpful when he gets home from school, but it's always so hectic around here and I feel like I have zero free time because when I do get a free moment, I'm working.

[Soulmate]

Today marks my first CD1 in over a year :D I don't know why I am happy but I am. I guess it just feels nice to be getting back to "normal". It totally caught me off guard because I was drowning in EWCM and having O pains just days ago. Maybe my body was all pooped out of progesterone and my LP was super short...or that I wasnt Oing when I thought I was and something else was going on. So that means that it took about 3 months after BFing for me to get AF.

Nothing really new. It is a rainy day so Logan is taking an extra long nap. He better because he barely napped (or ate!) yesterday.

[Amaye]

Hi everyone...it's been a while but I've been lurking. Mia is three months today! I can't believe how time flies by, l feel like she was just born yesterday.

supplementing Nope, not yet. I am going back to work in one week so we will see how pumping all the time goes. My goal is to get to 6month EBF but I am flexible to supplementing. Never say never is my motto.

Sitting up Mia is not seating up yet but l do try and pull her up to a sitting position a couple of times a day to get her going.

Laughing She has laughed a couple of times when we are playing but it's not consistent yet. I can't wait to hear her laughing all the time. It's so cute and makes me starting laughing too!:D

Rolling over Mia rolled over twice last month but that's it. I think it's cos she is in the bassinet which is getting small. I need to transition her to the crib before she gets too attached.

Sleeping Ha! What can l say. Mia does take some good naps during the day but putting her to bed at night is another thing. I bathe her around 7/7.30pm and from there, it's a battle. The earliest she has slept is 10.30pm but usually she goes to bed at midnight. She might fall asleep earlier but always wakes up when l put her down. I try putting her down 3-4more times and then give up. I don't know what to do to get her to sleep.

Mia has a bad cold - she is super congested and coughing! I feel so bad for her. I feel like we are trying everything but nothing is helping. I use Saline drops, aspirate her, prop up her head to sleep, and use a humidifer and nothing seems to be really helping. To make things worse, I now have a bad cold and I'm not sure what to use. Ugh!!

We hired a nanny for Mia - she starts on Monday to give us a week to get Mia used to her. Mia is quite attached to me. She does cry when other people carry her including DH at times. I think it's cos she has been BF (no bottles really) the whole time and I'm home all day with her. I need to get her used to other people so I can get a break!! The good news is that she finally accepted a bottle this weekend so that's one less thing to worry about!

Mia loves loves loves to talk! It's hysterical to hear her talking/blabbing especially at night when she starts to screech. We are in for some trouble as she grows older!

[Amaye]

Oh, quick question for BFing moms. If you have had a cold, what brand of medication did you take? I'm all congested and coughy!

[rande]

Thanks everyone for all the sweet comments on my kiddies!:)


Well, Dh just left again for another trip so I am on my own again this week. It sure is tough! We went to Sea World with Drew and Livie yesterday and had a blast. He loved watching all the shows and she slept all day long which is highly unusual for her. However, it took us forever to get her to bed last night. She ended up going down around 10 and then getting up for the day at 2 this morning. Lovely! I am exhausted. I think that I will probably go take a nap now.

Amaye-My doc says that Robitusson DM is okay as well as Benadryl for allergies. Hope this helps! I was sick last weekend and it was aweful.

Olivia is crying, gotta run!

[Amaye]

Rande Thanks! You are a life-saver!!

[a_spark]

amaye Here's a link to lots of info about medications and BF :)

http://www.kellymom.com/health/meds/index.html

[mmisabel]

Hope everyone had a good weekend!

Amaye - I hope you feel better. Yuck. Good luck with going back to work, you will definitely be in my thoughts.

Soulmate - Yeah for CD1!!

Hokiegirl - I think it's totally fine to feed in the AM if you've had a few drinks. If you were totally hung over it might be a different story!! I can't even imagine dealing with a whopping hangover and an infant at this point in my life! So sad!

Not much else exciting to report. Nathan has his 4 month appointment on Wednesday and he just turned 16 weeks last Thursday. Where does the time go???

[Can't_Wait]

First off - yay for liking the Kozy! Braeden likes to face out too, unless he's tired. To answer your question, I either put it on in the parking lot (my straps are black - so dirt is hard to track) or I put it on in the store. If I am wearing him, I usually bring my stroller in just in case because he can just switch from loving being worn to hating it in about 2 seconds! The stroller pretty much doubles as a shopping cart :)

Thanks for sharing. My straps are the off white/beige type color so I have to be careful about them dragging unless I want to wash the carrier all the time! Also, I have to sit down to put her in the carrier... not confident enough to do it standing up so that is why we've been doing it in the car. It is okay, I guess. It works anyway, just not super easy.

I wanted to share that we went to Target this weekend to grocery shop & Isabella did wonderfully. She has been doing great in the Kozy for short trips to Target but this was our first long trip. We brought in the car seat just in case she got tired of being in the Kozy but we never needed to use it!! We were there for at least 2 hours & she sat in the Kozy facing out the whole time just perfectly. It wasn't until we were in line that she started to get a tad fussy but not crying fussy. Then I just took her out when we got to the car. Not only was she great, but she also fell asleep in the Kozy!!! Facing out!!! Sitting indian style! I was amazed at this b/c I thought she wouldn't be able to do this one because of all the distractions in a store & two b/c I didn't figure sitting up w/ your legs crossed would be comfortable enough to fall asleep. So after that Target trip I was so happy & proud of her. :) Maybe we're turning a corner w/ her fussiness out in public.


rande Don't feel bad about the sleeping. Isabella doesn't have reflux & she is still up every 2-3 hours at night for a feeding. She has had a few long stretches where she has slept longer but overall, she wakes up a lot. I've just started feeding her while laying down & I sleep while I'm feeding her. I hate nursing while laying down b/c it isn't very easy & it is uncomfortable... but I guess when I'm tired, it is easier b/c i just fall back to sleep!

[Lil_Mrs_0702]

I usually have a glass of wine or two a couple nights a week. I've read that it's not necessary to pump and dump if you don't feel the alcohol anymore, since alcohol leaves your milk at the same rate that it leaves your bloodstream. The only reason to pump and dump would be for your own comfort (if you missed a feeding and were uncomfortably full). Also, only about 2% of the alcohol you drink enters your milk. So, you're fine, hokiegirlie Enjoy that wine!

I'm the same way. I have talked to my doctor and he mentioned that the actual amount of alcohol that gets to the baby is pretty insignificant. In most cases common sense will tell you when it is okay to drink- Of course 95% of the rules are for that 5% that lack common sense.

[mia's mama]

I havn't been by in quite a while and am SO far behind...life with 2 is quite busy!
We just returned for a week long trip to Boston for Jackson's baptism...we had a great trip.

All of the babies are so adorable! Rande- I can't believe how much Drew and Olivia look alike! M & J look similar to one another, but not as much as your kids!

Supplementing- nope still exclusively BF.

Sleep- was going great until this week when he has wanted to eat every 2 hours day & night! Growth spurt? I feel like I am having a hard time keeping up with J's demand, but hopefully my supply will step it up a notch pretty soon here.:rolleyes:

Laughing- he just started yesterday and now I can get him to really belly-laugh pretty easily. So damn cute!

Grabbing toys- started this about 2 weeks ago...he's getting so much more interactive!

Weight- at 3 months, he is about 13- 13.5 lbs. No idea how long he is, but we've been in 3-6 month clothing for a few weeks now.

Wine- I'm all about the wine these days and my OB is totally fine with it. I have a glass or 2 a few nights a week and just time it so that I feed him, drink the wine and then don't have to feed him for another 2-3 hours or so. I would only pump and dump if I have more than 2 glasses- which hasn't happened yet.

Thumb sucking- Jackson is a finger sucker. He sucks the first 2 fingers on his left hand and often uses his right hand to hold the left one in place. Really cute.

[maybebaby]

Thank you Liz fot the coupons!

[maryanne]

Yes!!! Thank you Liz for the coupons! We already used them!

We had the most amazing weekend. I found out that I adore my other MIL!!! :) :) :) The weekend flew by and I enjoyed myself immensely. It was so much fun getting to know her and her husband. I had met her only two times before, once for dinner while traveling in Florida and then during the wedding, so I was pretty nervous about this visit; but there was no reason to. We ate and shopped and spoiled the baby abd ofcourse watched the workd series. The time flew by.

The best part was that Melody got to meet her grandparents. She took a liking to them immediately. She was an angel each time we went out to eat. She even fell asleep at the steakhouse and let me eat an entire meal in peace!

Poor girl though, she was so exhausted when they left. Her psuedo schedule was completely off. She HATES sleepng when there is stuff to see, people to smile to and places to go. She was such a trooper and barely even whined the entire weekend....

except for her complete meltdown yesterday...we were at the house chilling out for most of the afternoon. Josh's mom wanted to go shopping for the baby. We were planning on leaving the men to watch the football game while girls went shopping. But Melody fell into a milk drunken stupor and was about to pass out in her grandpa's arms. It seemed cruel to drag her along with us when she could be cozy and asleep by the fire. I thought for sure she would be fast asleep within moments after we left but instead she screamed and hyperventilated for two hours while I was gone.

As soon as I pulled into the driveway, Josh met me at the door in tears, with her in hysterics. I ran over and picked her up and she immediately stopped crying! She just buried her head in my chest and clung on for dear life. I felt like the worst mother ever....

I know that it isn't my fault....but......ya know motherly guilt :rolleyes: We have only been seperated 4 times for less than 12 hours total since she was born---but I think that the worst part of it was, I was completely surprised at this meltdown. I felt so secure that she was going to fall right asleep. I totally misjudged the situation.

She wouldn;t let go of me for the next three hours. Finally she simmered enough that we decided to try out her new toy that grandma bought her. It is a combination jumper and discovery center. She is still a little small for it so we put a book under her feet and propped her with a blanket. She seemed very interested but had enough after a few moments.


We tried it again today and she was all giggles and smiles!

I have been having problems with my hosting, please let me know if you see this and then I will post more.

http://photos1.blogger.com/blogger/3389/4082/320/IMG_9405.jpg

[maryanne]

here's some more shots from the weekend......


http://static.flickr.com/89/278478878_0072ccb635.jpg?v=0

the look of total exhaustion, post freak out

http://static.flickr.com/113/278478895_8ba873a70f.jpg?v=0

and finally, this personifies why I call melody my buddha bear!
http://static.flickr.com/97/278481787_5e066df79d.jpg?v=0

[makena32204]

maryanne - Love, love, love that last picture of Melody!!!

[Can't_Wait]

mia's mama Those pictures are adorable! Isabella sucks her whole hand & uses the other one to hold it in place too! So cute!

maryanne I can understand you feeling bad... I would too! Poor girl. She is looking cute though. Which exersaucer is that one in the picture?

We go to have our first professional photos done today... hopefully Bella will do well. Then we're rushing off to TX for DH grandfather's funeral. Then camping for the first time w/ Isabella this weekend. Should be an eventful remainder of the week.

Thought I would share a couple recent pics...
Sitting pretty... Can you see her super long eyelashes? She gets those from her daddy.
http://static.flickr.com/99/279059758_163da3ea9c.jpg

Bathtime... her crazy hair & such a serious look on her face!
http://static.flickr.com/119/279059761_095a60da27.jpg?v=1161783310

All smiles. :)
http://static.flickr.com/99/279059763_44f974988f.jpg?v=0

[maryanne]

ooh you've got a lil laughing buddha too!

it was a jumper/ exersaucer by baby einstein.

[klav]

maryanne how does Melody like her bouncer? we have the same one but have not pulled it out yet.. did not think Liam was ready yet? he's only 4 monthes. shes too cute!! I have to post up more pic's

Can't_Wait beautiful!

mia's mama my little one does the same thing jackson is doing with his fingers, do you think it could be teething? wondering if he's starting andy ideas?

[makena32204]

maryanne & klav - Where did you get the exersaucer? I looked online at Target or BRU and didnt see it. I am looking for an exersaucer for Amelia for Christmas. thanks!

[maryanne]

I got ours at BRU. I have never seen it before.So I think it is a new product. It doesn't have as high of a jump as the door jumperoo, but Mel seems to like it.

[mmisabel]

Hi ladies,

Mia's Mama - Jackson is SO adorable. How can you stand it?? Glad the baptism went well.

Maryanne - Too cute! She is a little buddha bear. So sad with the red eyes in the second pic!:)

Can't wait - love the hair. She's a good sized little girl, huh??

jumperoo - we have an exersaucer from SIL and a friend is going to lend us there jumperoo. I think we'll try them out soon. It looks like fun. I heard the ones that hang from the doors can be dangerous.

Nathan had his 4 month appointment today. He is 24 1/2 inches and 12lbs. 10oz. He is still a bit of a peanut, in the 10th percentile for weight. But he is consistently gaining weight, so the doctor was not concerned at all. I was telling her how he hates tummy time and isn't even close to rolling over. She wasn't concerned but decided to see what he did when she put him on his stomach. Wouldn't you know the little devil smiled and proceeded to roll over for her!!! I couldn't believe it. The kid is already making a liar of me! Other good news, his flat head seems to be getting better so we're going to keep watching it. He got 4 more shots, and cried harder this time around. It was sad! I nursed him for about 20 minutes and he fell asleep the ride home. I just gave him some tylenol and will probably give him some at bedtime. Poor bugger.
Quick pic
http://i17.photobucket.com/albums/b74/meglevey/gapboy.jpg

[maryanne]

lol at him rolling over!!!

[mkvh]

Cute babies!!!

Just a quick update--I weighed Clara (clothed) last night, and she's 15lb. 3oz. at 15 weeks. Piggy!!

We're using a hand-me-down walker (I know, bad parents :rolleyes: ), and she loves it!! She can't make it move, so it's like an exersaucer for now!

[rande]

adorable babies!

Maryanne-The red eye pic is so sad. Don't feel too bad. Livie cries every time DH holds her. She is quite the mama's girl.

Mia's Mama- I am jealous of your trip to Boston. We leave next Wed for Boston for my sis's wedding. I can't wait.

Mmisabel-Nathan is a cutie! He doesn't look like a peanut!

Can't wait- I am so jealous of your little one's hair. And those eyelashes, how pretty. Both of my little ones also have daddy's long lashes.

[rande]

Pumpkin patch:
My newest pumpkin
http://static.flickr.com/89/279352320_a69c09315c.jpg?v=0
http://static.flickr.com/121/279352314_5d6203a292_m.jpg
My pumpkin last year
http://static.flickr.com/106/279352311_a9c464495c.jpg?v=0

[cece]

hey girls!

i'm a terrible july mama...i haven't posted here in about 2 months i think! not by choice, but only because i just don't have much time for anything these days. my days are consumed by the boys, life and my business. all good things, but i wish i had more time to catch up here....more time for alot of things actually!

you all sound really great. your babies are absolutely gorgeous.

the latest with harrison:
i'm afraid he had a touch of "the bug" as i'm calling it. he sure cried an awful lot. wow, that was really difficult. but, at 3m + 1w, he literally turned into another kid, and he is so amazing. he smiles all the time, sleeps great, naps great. life is good. he had his 4m checkup last week and was 14lbs and 25" long. he sleeps through the night 8p-6a and takes a morning nap at 9:30 and then a 2hr nap mid-afternoon. he laughs these great belly laughs, talks, and grabs at things. he also found his thumb last week and started sucking his thumb. just about the cutest thing i've ever seen. finn was/is a pacifier addict, but harrison wants nothing to do with them. he's breastfeeding mostly, i've tried to start weaning him but he's not a fan of the bottle. my babysitter is the only person he'll take a bottle from...he gives my husband a really hard time if i'm gone shooting and he tries to feed him. dh says he finally gives in and takes it knowing it's his only choice for the time being!

oh, and wine. yes, i indulge in a glass every so often. so little that i don't even worry about it.

here's a 4m of harrison and his daddy:

http://i32.photobucket.com/albums/d44/cece_0829/cook01_c.jpg

-c

[klav]

makena32204 we got ours at BRU

cece i love your pic's they are so professional!!

liam gets his next series of shots tomorrow !! hoping it goes well

[klav]

can you share photos frm snap fish?

[klav]

sorry so big, but here we are pumpkin picken!

http://i6.photobucket.com/albums/y219/klynch/liam/DSC04085.jpg
http://i6.photobucket.com/albums/y219/klynch/liam/DSC04057.jpg
http://i6.photobucket.com/albums/y219/klynch/liam/DSC04078.jpg
http://i6.photobucket.com/albums/y219/klynch/liam/DSC04072.jpg

[klav]

have a question: any one that is or has given there little one formula, how long do you have until you have to throw the powder away? does it expire after opening it?

[Lizard]

I haven't checked in for a while - it's been busy around here! My grandmother, aunt and father all drove down to visit for several days, and left on Tuesday. It was great to see them and they enjoyed loving on DD. :) Her diarrhea might be gone... at least the past 2 days she hasn't had any. Crossing our fingers. I posted in 0-18 about her leaky diapers and by suggestion we moved up to size 3 yesterday. Hopefully that solves it or at least cuts down her outfit changes.

Her 4 month appt. is next Wednesday. Still no rolling over except the one time, but I think she's getting closer. When she's on her back she can roll over far enough to put her face on the ground, and her bottom half gets over, but it's like she's stuck on her left arm. She should figure it out soon. No laughing yet either. :( But she jabbers and coos all the time. She loves waving toys around and batting at things. Her newest weird habit is that she scratches her nails on her crib mattress. So at 4 in the morning I'll hear *scritch scritch scritch* :D

Interesting how many of our kids are starting to wake up at night again. DD slept through the night for a few weeks, and now she's waking up regularly at 4 AM again. She seems starving, so I end up feeding her and she goes back to sleep for 2-3 hours. I'm not too worried about it - she actually sleeps later in the morning this way. If she doesn't wake up in the night she's often up by 6 for the day.

I started taking Fenugreek because of my lower supply at night, and I think it's working. She seems much more satisfied.

I'm sure I've forgotten something but I'll have to post later, someone's up from her nap already!

[mkvh]

Drive-by...

Liz--we went up to a 3 last week for the same reason. Problem solved!

[a_spark]

I am so glad to hear that Ava is not the only July baby to pick up he 4am feeding again! I was so used to her STTN. I'm so tired!! Is this the end of STTN for awhile, or do they drop the feeding again soon? anyone know?

[makena32204]

While Amelia has never STTN, she was only getting up once. Lately, her sleeping routine has gone to crap. It's very hard to get her to go to sleep, she wakes up twice during the night and wont go back to sleep. I just figured that it was b/c I went back to work two weeks ago and her routine was changed, but now I'm wondering if it is normal since a lot of you are also experiencing this. who knows??

[rande]

Okay, gals,
Please, oh, please tell me your nighttime secrets. I would kill for one feeding per night. My son did not sleep through the night until 10 months and Livie is still eating every 2-3 hours even at night. It is killing me!!!! This means that I am still getting up around 4-5 times a night. Any suggestions??????

[lindybug]

i am right there with you, rande! *yawn*

[rande]

Lindy,
I feel almost bad saying this, but I am glad that I am not the only one!

[makena32204]

CONFESSION ALERT - I was so tired last night and Amelia was so cranky, that at 11 pm, 2 am and 5 am, I just brought her into the bed and let her nurse while I laid there - going in and out of sleep.

My sister called and Amelia has only taken one 1/2 hr nap this afternoon and her morning nap was very short. I think I'm in for another bad night.

[MMK]

uhgg...raising hand to be part of the crappy sleep group! While Andrew goes down very easily at around 7pm, the last three nights he was up at 10pm and then every 2 to 3 hours to eat after that. I'm losing my mind. It's like every week his sleep habits get worse rather than better. I was getting way more sleep a month ago than I'm getting now.

makena: so with you. Let Drew sleep all night in bed with us last night (and we've never co-slept!) just trying to get a little extra sleep. Forming bad habits already! Also I pretty much only get 1/2 hour naps throughout the day...maybe that's the problem???

[smurf]

Man, I'd kill to have a baby who only woke up once a night! This week Kate's only been waking up 2-3 times a night, and that's an improvement!! I've actually been getting 4 hour stretches of sleep--I feel like a new woman!

Makena & MMK--Add me to your co-sleeping group. Every now and then, especially when Kate was waking up 5-6 times a night I'd just bring her in bed with me. Of course, before I had her, I was always the one saying I would never allow my baby in my bed, oh how my tune has changed :rolleyes:

Sitting up—not yet, but she really wants to. Any time she’s in our laps, she wants to be pulled up either to a sitting or standing position.

Laughing—she’s done it a few times, but it’s not regular yet. She really thinks the zippers on her sleepers are funny.

Supplementing—not yet, but I sure have been tempted. I sometimes wonder if giving her a little formula would help her sleep better at night.

Amaye—You and I are so in the same boat as far as sleeping goes. One thing I’ve found that helps her stay asleep when I put her down is to keep my hand on her back (she’s a tummy sleeper, but you could keep your hand on Mia’s tummy.) for a few minutes after I put her down. That way she still feels like she’s being held. Then, after a few minutes I take it off very slowly and usually she stays asleep (for a while anyway!)


Okay, so we're having the hardest time giving Kate baths these days. She used to love the bath, but now she gets really mad because she doesn't want to lie down in there. It's okay when DH is home b/c then one of us can hold her in a sitting position while the other one washes her, but it's almost impossible to do that by myself. I even went out and bought a different tub to see if that would help, but it didn't make a difference. Anyone else dealing with this or have any ideas that might make bathtime less of a struggle?

[smurf]

We took Kate to the pumkin patch over the weekend. She wasn't too impressed, but we got a couple of funny pictures (sorry they're so big):

http://i68.photobucket.com/albums/i5/jblogan1/pumpkinpatch003.jpg

http://i68.photobucket.com/albums/i5/jblogan1/pumpkinpatch002.jpg

[Lil_Mrs_0702]

okay so I'm a couple of days late but Collin had his doctor appointment the other day. My regular dr is in Guatemala for the month on a community service project so we had this fill in dr and I have to say that I am not impressed.

First of all Collin is 70% for height and 90+% for weight. Well then I don't know if she had him confused with a 6 month old half the time or what. She had my DH feeling like crap. She told him that Collin should be crawling by now but kids his size typically seem to be lazy and unmotivated. Then she asked about his sleep habits and Collin is usually pretty active but this week he has been sleeping a lot- My common sense/ parental instinct tells me that means another growth spurt in the works but instead she told DH that Collin is probably tired from tryign to support all of his weight. She also gave the okay for Cheerios and told us that we need to get him started on those ASAP- And get this- It will help with his hand eye coordination since it doesn't seem to be up to par!!!

Does anyone else here have a doctor giving them the okay to do Cheerios? About what size objects can your child grasp? I didn't think at 4 months that they should be able to pick up Cheerios with their finger. Are anyone's children crawling?? I am so confused!! Is he behind? I thought he was pretty on track.

[a_spark]

Okay, guess I'd better stop complaining about getting up once or twice a night to feed Ava :) I had just gotten used to being rested so it's hard to be so tired all the time again!

lil mrs CRAWLING?? What is that doctor smoking? That's so weird. And Cheerios! I've never heard of a 4 month old to be eating actual solid solids. Sorry your DH had such a weird appointment.

[Wrighty26]

I'm sorry for all of you ladies dealing with sleep issues! I don't have any advice - I think I'm just lucky. Braeden goes to bed @ 7 and wakes up any time between 4:30-6 and generally falls back asleep until 7 or 8. Sometimes he wants to "play" @ 5am, so I hand him off to my DH after I feed him. I think what has helped us is eating a lot during the day. He generally eats every 2-2.5 hours in the afternoons. I'm good with waking up once a night - actually I kinda like getting up @ 4:30 because I get to spend time with him before I go to work in the morning. Today he didn't wake up till 6 and I didn't see him until noon :(

Rande - What a cute pumpkin you've got there!

Smurf - Kate is SO cute. I love that she was not impressed. Hee. I'm sorry she's hating her bath. Which kind of tub do you have?

klav - OMG. Liam is SO cute. I love that last picture!

cece - Good to see you in here! I wish you lived closer - I'd hire you to take some pictures :) I sounds like life is busy! Harrison is SUCH a cutie - I love his smile.

mia's mama - I LOVE the way Jackson sticks his tongue out when he smiles. Braeden has just started doing this and it cracks me up!

mmisabel - Nathan doesn't look like a peanut at all! He sounds like he's long and lean :) I can't believe he rolled over the Dr. He is going to give you a run for your money! Love the picture - so cute!

lil_mrs - Oh wow. I can't believe that the Dr. said to you. I would SO call another Dr and ask. I really think she thought that Colin was 6 months old and not 4. Babies don't generally crawl until AT LEAST 6 months (and some don't crawl) and I would say Cheerios are a big no-no right now because of choking!

Things here have been busy. Work has finally picked up and it unfortunately involves sitting in a bunch of meetings. I can call in from home, but I feel bad for Braeden. Today the meeting ran over by 45 minutes - I managed to keep him occupied, but he was not feeling it at the end. It's such a vicious circle lately, I feel guilty not being at work at such an important time (we just kicked off a new project) and then I feel guilty when I'm at work. I keep reminding myself that it won't always be like this. I do try to enjoy every minute that I can with him though.

Product reviews - I recently bought a Hooter Hider and a Moby Wrap and I HIGHLY recommend both of them. I wish I had the Moby Wrap since he was born because we both love it. The HH is especially nice now because he is ALL over the place with his hands!

Here are a few recent pictures of my little guy:

*images removed*

[Soulmate]

Okay, gals,
Please, oh, please tell me your nighttime secrets. I would kill for one feeding per night. My son did not sleep through the night until 10 months and Livie is still eating every 2-3 hours even at night. It is killing me!!!! This means that I am still getting up around 4-5 times a night. Any suggestions??????According to Ferber (DS is so a Ferber child), children over 3 months only really need 1 feeding in the middle of the night (by 5 months you can wean them off all middle of the night feedings). Below is his recommendation:

Day 1: Min hours b/w feedings = 2 hours; ounces in each bottle = 7 (or 1 ounce less than normally eaten)
Day 2: Min hours = 2.5; Ounces = 6
Day 3: Min hours = 3; ounces = 5
...and so on. So you increase the time between feedings and lower the ounces. That way they slowly get adjusted and start eating more during the day to compensate. If you are BF, just increase the minimum time b/w feedings and do not worry about the exact amounts consumed.

I did this when DS only had his 3am feeding (which he has gotten back :mad: ) and it worked. I would only give him 3 ounces, next night 2.5, next night 2, and the next night he STTN every night until recently. I think he needs that final middle of the night feeding because he consumes a whole bottle and still asks for more. I'm going to start weaning him again when he is 5 months.

CONFESSION ALERT - I was so tired last night and Amelia was so cranky, that at 11 pm, 2 am and 5 am, I just brought her into the bed and let her nurse while I laid there - going in and out of sleep.Not to be a wet blanket...and I am so not anal about stuff (blankets and a stuffed animal is in DS' crib) but DH told me about a woman in our county who did this with her baby and she ended up accidentally killing him/her by suffocating them. I guess she fell asleep and they couldn't breathe with their nose and mouth being so close to the boob. The thought of accidentally killing my child is one of my absolute worst fears in life.

Does anyone else here have a doctor giving them the okay to do Cheerios? About what size objects can your child grasp? I didn't think at 4 months that they should be able to pick up Cheerios with their finger. Are anyone's children crawling?? I am so confused!! Is he behind? I thought he was pretty on track.Don't worry she obviously had him confused with a 6 mo old. But does that mean his percentages are off too? But no our babes are no where close to crawling and they do not have the teeth to eat solids like cheerios. They would choke!

DS has been going to bed ~5:30pm the last two nights :( He sleeps until 6am or so (with a 3am feeding) so that is not the problem but it has gotten me depressed because I do not feel like he knows I am his mommy. He is at the sitter for most of his waking hours and only sees me for about an hour and a half each day if he goes to bed this early. Today I was a little worried that he was not making eye contact with me as much and when we got to the sitter he stared at her with these loving eyes. I wanted to cry :( I feel like he thinks I am his night time sitter and the sitter is his mommy. I think I am just hormonal because I was always with a sitter and I knew who my mom was. Plus I keep him protected and make the important decisions regarding his life so even if he is confused I know no one else can compare. I just miss him. Today was a lot better as he was snuggling, smiling, and keeping eye contact with me. Plus he is a morning person and by the time I pick him up he is decently cranky and overstimulated. I just need to vent because everyone else tells me I'm being silly. I know you ladies can relate at least to having feelings that defy logical thought ;)

[maryanne]

gawd braeden is so cute!!!

back from 4 mo wbv. iwth no shots!!!

14.4 pounds and 25.5 pounds!

cheerios? that doc is messed up!

smurf- those pics are adorable.

Mel's falls asleep 9ish and wakes around midnight, then 3:30 on the dot!, and then is up at 5:30.

[Lil_Mrs_0702]

Those pics are soooo ctute!!

Thank you!!! I knew that lady was nuts!! Of course now I have to convince my dad that she was crazy because he already bought a toy that dispenses Cheerios. I tried telling him that I think she had him confused with a 6 month old then he went on and on about how we should start treating him like a 6 monthy old because he is soooo advance... I love my lil guy but I'm not giving him that much credit. I don't think he is at all ready for Cheerios- he's barely ready for baby food.

I'm pretty sure that the percentiles are correct because another mom mentioned that her child is 25 inches and in the 75th percentile. I think the doctor just forgot his age 5 min into the appointment

[maryanne]

the percentiles sound right b/c mel is 25.5 and about the same %

here is a chart

http://pediatrics.about.com/cs/usefultools/l/bl_percentiles.htm

[Lizard]

Cheerios!! OMG, that ped is crazy. Are you going to mention what he said to your regular ped when he gets back?

The Cheerio thing reminded me that DD has just started to pinch things. I thought it was a fluke when I saw her do it a few days ago, but she's continued to pinch her toys. :) It's neat to watch her do it.

Also, DD's officially into 6-9 month footie sleepers already. She couldn't even straighten her legs in the 3-6 month ones, so I pulled out the 6-9's and they fit her perfectly. She's still in 3-6 month clothing as a whole though - just the one-piece things don't work. She must be long - I can't wait to see her measurements next week.

[mrst2b2003]

Everyones babies are soo cute...I love all the smiling toothless faces:)


Supplementing- I have been supplementing with formula since I went back to work and Avery doesn't seem to mind either way. I still nurse him in the morning before I go to work and in the evening when I am home.

Sleep- Avery is a great sleeper and has been since about two months. He goes down around 8ish and then sleeps most nights till 4 or 5, then goes back down till 7:30. He takes 1 long nap during the day and three small 20-30 minute naps.

size-Avery is a big eater during the day he still eats every 2-2.5 hours during the day and when he is eating a bottle he takes around 5-6 oz with little spit up...he is my little chunker. At 3.5 months he has to weigh 15 to 16 pounds... he is wearing mostly 3-6 month clothes at this point.

He loves to suck on his hands and is very good at standing up, but he still is very good at grabbing things consistantly. If you put something in his hand he holds on to it and tries to put it in his mouth but he isn't really playing with toys yet. He does love to look at himself in the mirror and is very chatty with himself and us...he is also laughing alot and it is great to be able to make him laugh. He is still sleeping in the co-sleeper in our room and I wish I was able to let him sleep in his big boy crib because he is a noisy sleeper, but I am still not ready to let my baby boy go...i know I'm crazy.

Right now he has the sniffles so I worry about his breathing.

He is so much fun now and both me and my DH love watching him experience everything for the first time.

I am lucky because my mom watches Avery on Mon. and Wed. and my DH watches him on Tues. Thursday and I watch him on Fridays so there is no need for daycare.



Here are some recent pictures of our DS. His mommy loves to torture him with dress up time I think he looks so cute with hats on!!
http://www.dropshots.com/photos/157493/20061017/184446.jpg
http://www.dropshots.com/photos/157493/20061020/110910.jpg
http://www.dropshots.com/photos/157493/20061020/110204.jpg
http://www.dropshots.com/photos/157493/20061020/110245.jpg
http://www.dropshots.com/photos/157493/20061020/121602.jpg

[Mystikal]

Quick post since DD is fussing...Soulmate my DD is the same way with sleep. She will fall asleep on the way home at 5:00 and sleep until around 8:00, get up to eat and then back down for the night. I hate it because I don't see her all day long. I've even begun to relish the 4:30am feeding because she is in a good mood when she is awake and I get some smiles in.

4 month WBV today
Weight: 14 pounds 15 ounces
Length: 25 inches
75th percentile for both. I'm so proud of my girl! :D

[makena32204]

Not to be a wet blanket...and I am so not anal about stuff (blankets and a stuffed animal is in DS' crib) but DH told me about a woman in our county who did this with her baby and she ended up accidentally killing him/her by suffocating them. I guess she fell asleep and they couldn't breathe with their nose and mouth being so close to the boob. The thought of accidentally killing my child is one of my absolute worst fears in life.


Maybe I was a little unclear when I wrote my original post. I dont FALL back asleep while nursing Amelia. I am a very light sleeper and cant sleep when she's nursing. However, laying down while nursing allows me to feel more rested. Additionally, it allows me to feel much closer to her and to enjoy it, even at 3:00 a.m., which is very important to me now that I am back at work.

Also - the lady in the story either had to be a very heavy sleeper or drunk. Or maybe she just has enormous boobs, which I dont! :D

We went to the pumpkin patch last night. Okay, I live in FL, so it was basically a pile of pumpkins in a church's parking lot, but here's a few pics. As you can see, it was a bad hair day. :D

[klav]

makena32204 LOL LOve the hair!!! we have the same onesie!!

mrst2b2003 love the pic's he's adorable. my husband hates when I put the cute hats on Liam He thinks there stupid I think there awsome!!

Wrighty26 I love the pic with the bubbles on his head!! gave me a chuckle!!

smurf she's too cute!!

we had our 4 month apt. Liam is now 14pd 15 oz is 26.25 inches long . The Dr said that it was the 50% strange since Mystikal DR said it 75% humm conflicting info? anyway he's doing well
as for sleep I have to wake him up!!! he make little noises at about 7 am I feed him, he's not reall awake then he goes down again for about another hour or two.... the dr was shocked when I told her this. and he goes down to bed around 10-10:30. So i apologies to all thos mm's who are still getting up more than once. Liam was doing a 4am feeding but it's now slipped back to 7am.

as for the cheerios hello there are no teeth to crunch it up.. no it should be rice cerel. I think your Dr is very wrong. were even holdng off untill 6 monthes because of diabetes in the family and my husband nut allergy so Liam will be eat cerel at 6 months!! not 4

[mkvh]

Amelia and Isabella and their crazy hair CRACK ME UP, Can'tWait and makena!!

Soulmate--I know what you mean about not getting to spend time with DC after work...and I only work 2 full days/week. I LOVE the fact that DD is a good sleeper, but it makes me sad that I only get about an hour with her those 2 evenings.

Liz--Yup, sounds like you got a long one on your hands! Oh, and I noticed an increase in supply one day into taking it!

cece--Ditto Wrighty[/g]...I so love your style!

[b]Sleep--Don't hurt me...but we're still STTN, going down between 7 and 8 and waking to eat between 6 and 7. I pray daily that it continues because I am not a nice person when I don't get enough sleep. I really contribute it to the fact that she is now a thumb sucker. :rolleyes: We are not encouraging that, but she now prefers it over a pacifier. The bonus is that she can easily soothe herself back to sleep.

Nursing in bed--On the mornings that I don't work, DH usually brings Clara into bed for me to nurse for her early (6:30) feeding, and then we go back to sleep. I am paranoid about rolling over on her, so I put her waaaay over on DH's side of the bed after we finish nursing. I too only doze when nursing and often can't fall back into a deep sleep at all with her in the bed. According to one of my LLL leaders, EBF moms are attuned to their babies and won't suffocate them. I don't necessarily buy it, though, because I read somewhere that co-sleeping babies are 40 times more likely to suffocate.

smurf--They have bath "seats" that suction cup to the bottom of the big bathtub. I haven't used one, but it sounds like Kate would like it. I think BRU might carry them... And yeah...she looks less than thrilled about the pumpkin patch!

maryanne--Yay for a good 4 mo. WBV! I can't believe it's that time already...

Mystikal--You go! Nice job on the nice, big girl!

klav--Love the pumpkin patch pics! Liam has the cutest expressions!


Lil Mrs.--How much did Collin weigh? Just out of curiosity... And the ped was a MORON. Oh yeah...at 4 months he should be CRAWLING?!?!? Lots of babies aren't even rolling over yet. And lovely that she called him "lazy". You should document EVERYTHING that she said and file a written complaint with the practice. I would.

mrst--Wow...Avery IS a great eater! Piggy!!

Wrighty--Braeden is too cute!!

Growth Percentiles--I have done some reading on this, and there actually are a couple different versions of the charts. I have a very cool site in my favorites on my PC at home that I will share--you can save your child's monthly information and see their trends on a chart. Anyway, one version of the charts was update in 2004 with a representative sample of BF and FF babies. The original charts were from the 70s, and all children were in OH, and the vast majority were formula fed, so the percentiles were VERRRY skewed. Also, the ethnic makeup was very homogenous. You have no way of knowing which charts your ped uses, but you can chart on your own with the "right" ;) one.

[lindybug]

Liam is now 14pd 15 oz is 26.25 inches long . The Dr said that it was the 50% strange since Mystikal DR said it 75% humm conflicting info?
I think there's a difference for boys and girls. So, 14 pounds may be heavy for a 4 month old girl, but only average for a boy. KWIM?

[mkvh]

I think there's a difference for boys and girls. So, 14 pounds may be heavy for a 4 month old girl, but only average for a boy. KWIM?

Yup...you're right. There are different charts.

[Lil_Mrs_0702]

Lil Mrs.--How much did Collin weigh? Just out of curiosity... And the ped was a MORON. Oh yeah...at 4 months he should be CRAWLING?!?!? Lots of babies aren't even rolling over yet. And lovely that she called him "lazy". You should document EVERYTHING that she said and file a written complaint with the practice. I would.

He is 25.5" long and 17.5lbs. So he definitely is a big boy by anyone's standards.

[mkvh]

He is 25.5" long and 17.5lbs. So he definitely is a big boy by anyone's standards.

Yes, he is...and there's NOTHING wrong with that!! (From one chunky monkey momma to another. :p )

[klav]

i did not know that thank you lindy!

[sunchaser26]

Just went for our 4 month WBV today:

Weight: 12 pounds 15 ounces
Length: 24 1/4 inches

Our little guy is still a peanut but he is definitely getting longer. According to our ped's charts he went up from 17% to 27% in length between his 2 and 4 month visits.

I agree it seems that every ped's charts are different...

Love all the great photos of everyones cute babies!!!!

[a_spark]

"boo" onesie-- LOL! We have that one too. Gotta love Old Navy! :)

[mkvh]

sunchaser--AWESOME job on porking up that lil peanut! He's THREE TIMES his birthweight already, isnt' he??

[maybebaby]

Goodness, we have some cute babies in this thread!

MrsT I love that monkey sweater!!

And the pumpkin patch pictures--gorgeous!!

[hokiegirlie]

We've got a big baby!! We have our 4 month appt in a week and a half. But, my husband weighed him last week and it said 18 pounds :eek: Matthew is huge!! Adorable and huge.

This will be the last week in the SnugRide. Poor little guy hates the thing. We ordered the Decathlon, so hopefully it comes asap. I hate to put him in the snugride. He arches his back and tries to scoot down and out of it. We try everything we can think of to distract him while putting him in but he just hates it.

He's been rolling over more now. I swear, he does it when nooone's looking but won't do it for an audience. I tried hiding behind the closet door the other day to watch him, but he knew I was there and looked at the door the whole time. Then, I go to the bathroom and come back and he's on his tummy.

We're leaving him overnight for the first time tomorrow. We have a wedding in DC so we're gonna spend the night and come back early sunday. My parents are SO excited but I'm a little sad to be leaving him. It will be nice to spend some time with the hubby, though.

[sunchaser26]

sunchaser--AWESOME job on porking up that lil peanut! He's THREE TIMES his birthweight already, isnt' he??

Thanks, mkvh!!! He is, I can't believe it.

[maryanne]

I am really bummed right now. We had big plans for tomorrow (today) and it is supposed to be absolutely horrid out. 100% chance of rain and iwnd up to 60 miles an hour

It was supposed to be a day of OUTDOOR Halloween celebrations starting with a parade in the shopping area where my MIL's store is and then we were going to head into Central Park for a Halloween Haunt at the Zoo and a Jacko'lantern release at the boat pond. None of these events have rain days...

Halloween is my favorite holiday...I really wanted to do this :(

******

Her costume is almost done. I just have to figure out the best way to attach the ears to the costume itself. Would you believe that I can not find any needles in my sewing kit?? or in my first aid kit??? It is 3 in the morning and I want to sew the ears on and I have nothing to do it with, I am fighting the urge to go to the 24 hour drugstore in the gale force wind and rain to buy a sewing kit...how crazy do you think the drug store employees will think I am? lol!

I am just too wired right now and I know I have two hours of peace before mel wakes up for her next feeding.

***

which brings me to the next issue. She has been acting really strange lately. For the last week or so, she has been so clingy. She won't even let Josh hold her. The hardest part is that she will only sleep if I am holding her. She will wake in a howl if I even move her beside me where she is still touching me.She wants to be in my lap ONLY, I feel so bad for her. She keeps going into hysterics -full gasping for air-turning bright red screaming. She settles as soon as I move her back to my arms.

what to do? I think that she is teething, so hopefully the anxiety will lessen soon. I am so worried about leaving her next sat for the wedding. his family doesn't respect her boundaries at all and I am not going to be there to enforce that naptime means don't **** with her ;) they all crowd her space and loudly approach her---ofcourse the idea of naptime is probably wishful thinking anyway,..b/c I doubt she will even sleep with them around... after last weekend's incident when I left her with her dad, I am so worried what she will be like with others. and we will be an hour away and it is an event that I really shouldn't leave early from....uugh!

[Mystikal]

maryanne I'm sorry to hear about the lousy weather. I hate when my plans get ruined because of stinky weather. (Which seems to happen a lot in NY, doesn't it?)

I'm loving everyone's pictures so even though I'm trying not to post pictures of my babe online anymore I'm going to and I'll just remove them in a couple days. lol.

[maryanne]

fun shots! you're looking great too,mystikal!

[Amaye]

Wow!! We have some very cute babies in this thread. I am loving all the pics!!

Just quickly stopping by so l can't respond to everyone (mia is getting tired of playing on the floor).

Sleep Not to be mean, but I'm so glad to hear that other babies are waking up at night. I keep wondering what I'm doing wrong in terms of getting Mia to sleep. We are nowhere close to STTN - if she wakes up once a night and goes right back to bed, it's an amazing night. I'm going to increase the amount she eats during the day and see if that helps. we haven't gone through her 3month growth spurt so maybe that will help.

Work I'm going back to work this Monday and sad about it. Ok, glad to be getting out of the house but I don't know how I'm going to deal with missing Mia. Her nanny (who we LOVE) started last week and I got out to do some errands and I can already see that bond between them. I know it's going to be there as I only get to see her in the morning and put her to bed at night....I don't know how l'm going to deal with going from being with her 24hrs to seeing her for a couple of hrs a day. UGH!

Nursing in bed Guilty as charged!:D Had to do it last night. She woke up at3am, didn't want to sleep till 5qam and was up at 5.30am AGAIN. I just brought her back to bed with me.

[nuhmah]

Wow! So much to catch up on! I got behind when I went to visit my parents for 2 weeks and just never caught - my apologies.

nursing in bed - I do it all the time, and we are pretty much co-sleeping part time. DH doesn't care for it, but I like having him with me. He is nervous that he is going to roll over onto him, so I just put a huge pillow under him so he doesn't roll without feeling it. I am using the co-sleeper more and more. DH wants to set up his crib and start putting him in it, but I am just not ready for that, yet.

sleep - we were STTN, but then he hit his 3-month growth spurt and hasn't done it since. I am getting sleep deprived - thank goodness I am not working and can catch naps. He doesn't stay awake, he just wants to nurse and then goes right back down.

4 month WBV - ours is next week, but I put him on the scale the other day and he weighed about 14 pounds!

We went to the Roloff Farm the other day and picked out some pumpkins - they are the family featured in that show on TLC called "Little People Big World." We had a great time!

[Can't_Wait]

Co-sleeping/nursing in bed: I think you just have to know if you are a heavy sleeper or not. If you are, then you are probably in the high risk catagory when it comes to sleeping w/ your baby & rolling over on them. I co-sleep (never intended to but DD hated her bassinet co-sleeper, so it was easier to just have her sleep with me). So we are still this way as she will hardly even nap in her crib during the day. I am a light sleeper & so I know I will not ever roll over on her. When I feel the urge to roll over, I wake up b/c I am uncomfortable then I move DD to my other side so I can roll over. I do also nurse her while laying down (just started this a couple weeks ago & stuck with it b/c I get so much more sleep as DD still wakes up several times a night to nurse). My boobs are not in any danger of suffocating her as I am small (I wear a small nursing bra & probably am a large B cup right now). If my breast ever covers her nose, she unlatches & moves her head. So I think with co-sleeping & nursing in bed you just have to evaluate yourself in order to determine if it is safe. And never co-sleep if you are drunk as you don't sleep the same as you do sober.

percentiles DD has been in the 95% at each dr. visit (weighing 13 lb 6 oz & 24 inches at our last visit at 2 months & 2 weeks). The doctor said that babies often move all around in their percentiles as they grow. I realize that I have a big baby, & I am okay with that. Especially since I am breast feeding, I feel that her weight is definately healthy.

[maryanne]

count me on as a co sleeper too. we fall into such a cool pattern of breathing/sleeping togethor that I feel totally comfortable with it. we sleep on the couch b/c my bed is too mushy and I am worried if she rolls over.

[Mystikal]

Just wanted to chime in on the co-sleeping discussion. I agree with nuhmah you really have to evaluate yourself. When DD was nursing it was so much easier to have her in bed with us, and I would also wake up if I needed to roll over and I would move her. I would also be very aware of DH's placement in bed, and if he started to move I would put my hand to block him. My mother coslept with me and all of my sisters and never had a problem.

[klav]

posting a picture of the two boy's in my life dressed up for halloween!!
http://i6.photobucket.com/albums/y219/klynch/liam/DSC04235.jpg

[klav]

http://i6.photobucket.com/albums/y219/klynch/liam/lliam1.jpg

[mrst2b2003]

Klav-very cute picture of your hubby and your little lobster!!


Here is a picture of the card that I made and sent out of our little dragon in his first halloween costume!

[maryanne]

too cute amy!!!!

here's my newest fav of melody.

http://lh4.google.com/bearlyanne/RT2DPVmVABI/AAAAAAAAApI/blbcCSU_o00/IMG_9427.JPG

[maryanne]

Happy Halloween!!!

http://static.flickr.com/107/284663674_36504189e8.jpg?v=0

[lindybug]

Happy Halloween from us too!

http://i2.photobucket.com/albums/y43/lindybug/794474602403_0_ALB.jpg

http://i2.photobucket.com/albums/y43/lindybug/286084602403_0_ALB.jpg

[maryanne]

too cute lindy!!!

we just went trick or treating in a bunch of journals--swing by mine with the kiddos :)

[Wrighty26]

Awww - the kiddies are so cute!!!

Happy 1st Halloween to all :)
*images removed*

[smurf]

The babies are so cute, I can barely stand it!

Here's Kate in her lion costume:
http://i68.photobucket.com/albums/i5/jblogan1/littlelion.jpg

[klav]

everyone looks so cute!!!

[CarlaB]

Happy 1st Halloween to you and all the beautiful babies!!

[a_spark]

ADORABLE babies, you guys! Happy Halloween from the three of us :)

http://www.hughesdesign.com/clients/cpics/halloween_us3.jpg

[Can't_Wait]

a spark We have the same costume!

Here is Isabella
http://static.flickr.com/114/285824413_db229cf8d9.jpg?v=1162396510

Here we are with the dogs in their halloween bandanas!
http://static.flickr.com/111/285824408_e7f249a25e.jpg?v=1162396567

[a_spark]

can't wait Lol! That looks so cute!!

[sunchaser26]

I'm so jealous everyones little babies look so adorable in their costumes. DH didn't let me get one for Jacob saying he wasn't going to go trick or treating so what was the sense in buying a costume for him. Men!

[mkvh]

Everyone was SOOO cute!

Happy Halloween from Clara as well.

http://images.photo.walgreens.com/348563677%7Ffp64%3Dot%3E232%3C%3D378%3D%3B%3B3%3DX ROQDF%3E232356%3A38%3A%3B%3A3ot1lsi

http://images.photo.walgreens.com/348563677%7Ffp69%3Dot%3E232%3C%3D378%3D%3B%3B3%3DX ROQDF%3E232356%3A394%3B64ot1lsi

Notice her red cheek? Yeah, DH and I DON'T win for "Parents of the Year". :rolleyes: We propped her up against the front door to get a pic with the Halloween doormat and pumpkins, and she promptly wiggled herself into a face plant on the concrete! :eek: She scratched her cheek pretty nicely, and we felt HORRIBLE. BAD MOMMA AND DADDY!

[nuhmah]

VERY cute pictures!

I didn't dress up DS... we were SUPPOSED to be in Paris and heading out to EuroDisney, but they cancelled our trip because of troubles with tools here in the US. So, DH is in Boise, and I was home alone. But I did get quite a few trick-or-treaters... what is up with teenage kids just going from door to door without a costume? :rolleyes:

[sunchaser26]

nuhmah,

Sorry to hear about your trip being cancelled!!! Don't feel too badly we did not dress up DS either, and I was home alone too with DH in TN for work. We did not get too many kids since we live on the outskirts of the development we only get the little kids mostly from nearby. They all had the cutest costumes.

[makena32204]

Add us to the no costume group. I just had Amelia in her "boo" onesie. It was probably a good thing that we didnt get a costume. She was very fussy last night (i.e. screaming). She's been chewing on anything she can get in her mouth, banging her head side to side while she sleeps (IF she sleeps) and very cranky lately. THere is just no calming her down in the evenings. We are pretty sure that she has started teething - or atleast her teeth are moving down in her gums. I know that the bottom ones are first, but I swear that i can feel one of the top teeth coming through! Anyway, we put some Baby Oragel on her gums last night. After a minute of trying to spit it out b/c she didnt like the taste, she calmed down IMMEDIATELY. Our happy, smiling baby was back! So, she may be a little early, but we're pretty sure her teeth are coming soon.

[Lizard]

Just a quick drive-by, I'll make sure to stop by tomorrow. We had our 4 month WBV today.

Weight: 13 lbs 9 oz (60%)
Height: 26 inches :eek: (95%)

She's meeting all her milestones and things look good. We also got the go-ahead for solids - I have a box of cereal here but I don't know when we'll start it. I'm not really in a hurry.

We did get a referral to a pediatric dermotologist because DD has a growth near her left nipple. It started out as a birthmark looking brown spot, but just within the past week it's become swollen and weird looking. Our ped was stumped. Hopefully it's nothing to worry about. :(

Halloween costumes look great! We did not buy a costume this year because we just didn't think it was worth it. However, we did have a hand-me-down bunny costume that we stuffed her into for pics, LOL. It reminds me of Ralphie's outfit from A Christmas Story. Here is DD and DH.. of course DD has her usual "deer in headlights" look. :)

http://members.cox.net/lcruver/halloween.jpg

[lindybug]

sleep ~ We finally have progress!

DS has never been a good sleeper. Since day one, he was up 3 or 4 times every night. It was hard to get him to fall asleep, and once he did, we were lucky to have a 4 hour stretch of sleep. A week ago tonight, I decided I had had enough. Weissbluth says you can start "sleep training" around 3-4 months of age. DS was 3 1/2 months so I figured we'd give it a try.

He was starting to get fussy around 7pm, so I fed him and rocked him to sleep. He was in his crib asleep by 7:30. I decided that if he cried, I wouldn't go to him at all until at least 10pm, 3 hours after I last fed him (which is how long he goes during the day between feedings). Of course, at 7:42, he started crying. It was hard, but I didn't go in at all. Just sat on the couch crying along with him. :( By 8:07, there was silence. Just 25 minutes of crying... Although it seemed like much longer. And he slept until 2:30am! I couldn't believe it. I fed him and he went right back to sleep, this time until 6am. Wow! Could this CIO thing really work?!

Next night, I did the same thing. He fell asleep, I put him in his crib, he woke up a half hour later, and cried. This time, only for 10 minutes. Yeah! Again, he woke up for a feeding at 2:30 and then up for the day around 6am.

It has gotten better and better each night. (With the exception of the time change, which meant he was waking up at 5am!) He's going to bed earlier, with less crying, and sleeping for longer stretches. Last night was the best so far... I nursed him at 6pm, put him down in his crib AWAKE at 6:45pm and left the room. He fell asleep without a single cry! He woke up at 2:30 to nurse, back down at 3, and slept until 6:05am.

I don't mind getting up for the one feeding in the middle of the night since a) he is clearly hungry, b) he's still young enough to need that feeding, and c) he has been going right back to sleep afterwards.

I am LOVING this! DH and I get some time at night to ourselves, I can get an extra pumping session in, and I feel SO well rested. I just hope it lasts...

Next, we'll have to work on getting him to NAP in his crib. Right now he can only fall asleep for naps by being rocked... So, in the swing, carseat, or stroller. And he usually only sleeps for 30-45 minutes. We'll work on that sometime soon.

[Wrighty26]

smurf - OMG - too cute!

Carla - Spencer is SUCH a cutie.

a_spark and can't wait - Ava and Isabella as SO sweet. What a great costume!

mkvh - Clara is adorable! I just want to squeeze those cheeks :)

Lizard - Dorla is one long baby! She's too cute. I love the "deer in headlights" look :D

Lindy - I am SOOO excited for you!! That's definitely some GREAT progress. I would totally be sitting on the couch crying too - but it sounds like it's definitely paying off!

Anyone else HATING the time change? Ugh. Poor Braeden is all screwed up -- even though we gained an hour! He was napping really well until Sunday too. Yesterday we fit in 4 naps, however one was 20 minutes, one was almost 2 hours, and the other 2 were 30 minutes. Even though he was exhausted (he would fall asleep in my arms in about 2 seconds ALL DAY), he just refused to sleep.

IS your hair just falling out of your head? My hair is coming out in clumps. I'm not super worried about - since I have a lot of hair and I was expecting it - but it's GROSS. I constantly have to apologize to people because my hair is EVERYWHERE.

[mmisabel]

LOVING THE COSTUMES!!!

Too cute, dressing up these babes is SO much fun! Nathan pretty much hated his costume, but he looked so cute!

Another Monkey, wrighty
http://i17.photobucket.com/albums/b74/meglevey/monkeyboy.jpg
http://i17.photobucket.com/albums/b74/meglevey/what.jpg

can't wait and a_spark - that has to be the most adorable costume I've ever seen! Where did you get it?

lindy - Yeah on sleeping better! CIO is SO tough, but they need to learn to fall asleep. Are you back at work?

STTN- We were! Not anymore. He gets up 1x in the night, STARVING. Then he falls back to sleep. Which leads me to......

Solids - I was going to wait until Thanksgiving, maybe I should try sooner?

Hair - SO GROSS! It's everywhere. I've always shedded, but this is the worst. I'm talking clumps and clumps. I find it in Nathan's hand, around his pacifiers. DH found some in his diaper the other day. It's awful!!!

nursing strike - it's been terrible. Since I'm back at work he gets 3 bottle during the day. I was off yesterday and he just refused the boob in the morning. He keeps pulling himself off the breast. Smiles and won't go back on. I gave him a bottle at noon and tried again at 4pm. He went on one breast for 6 minutes and not the other. I think he might be weening himself?? I'm a little sad, but not sure I'm up for fighting him. Anyone thoughts??!!

[mkvh]

IS your hair just falling out of your head? My hair is coming out in clumps. I'm not super worried about - since I have a lot of hair and I was expecting it - but it's GROSS. I constantly have to apologize to people because my hair is EVERYWHERE.

Quick post to respond to this... One of my girlfriends said her hair did this right before AF made her first PP appearance. So be doubly sure to "protect"!!!

[Soulmate]

I am so loving everyone's halloween costumes! All the babies look soooo adorable! We didn't buy DS a Halloween costume either but a friend of ours gave us a little marital arts uniform (the friend was DHs MA student) so we used that. He was soo cute!

hair I got my first PP period last week. My hair started seriously falling out about a month before. I am so sick of it! It is seriously everywhere!

time change It effected DS just a little but he is getting back on track now. Before the time change he started trying to go to bed for the night at 5:30! Then with the time change, 4:30. Last night he took a nap around 4 and went to bed for the night at 6:45. I cannot have my little guy going to bed so early! I miss him!

lindy How awesome CIO worked so well for you! I am jealous the easy way worked for you! Our sitter has DS CIO for naps and it really effects him in a bad way. He is getting better but for a while he was acting really scared to go to sleep at night (he would fervently grab for my hands, gasp, and hold onto my hand when I would put the pacifier back in). But CIO is definitely the way to go for many babies.

Speaking of daycare, DS starts his new daycare on Monday! His current sitter had a ratio of 8:1 yesterday :eek: and he started to develop diaper rash because he sits in wet diapers for so long. She also just has him sit in a bouncer (and watching TV!) all day long so he is at risk for getting behind on his gross motor skills. I've been doing tummy time and having him sit up when I get him home but 1 hour/night is not enough.

[smurf]

Lindy--That is awesome that the sleep training is going so well and it worked so quickly. It's making me think that it might be time to try it with Kate. Let me ask you this--when he cried, was it just fussing, or was it full-blown screaming? I'm afraid that kate doesn't have the temperment for CIO and she would just end up screaming for hours on end. Your success gives me hope though.

MKVH-Kate bumped her head during our Halloween picture shoot too. We had her leaned up against a pumkin and she fell over and hit her forehead on the stem. Left a nice little bump.

Hair falling out--OMG, yes. It's totally disgusting. I have to clean the drain out two or three times during my shower. It's a good thing I have such thick hair or I might not have any left! I barely lost a strand of hair during my pregnancy, so I guess I'm just making up for it now.

[lindybug]

Let me ask you this--when he cried, was it just fussing, or was it full-blown screaming? I'm afraid that kate doesn't have the temperment for CIO and she would just end up screaming for hours on end. Your success gives me hope though.
It was full-blown screaming. Poor little guy. :( I know what you mean about temperment... I really didn't think it would work for us either, since DS's cry was usually either "on" or "off"... no middle of the road wimpering. Good luck if you decide to do it! I am so glad I did.

soulmate ~ Ugh, that is an awful CIO story. I was kinda afraid of that, but I needed to try at least. He seemed to have been ready for it. We haven't done it yet for naps, I think we'll wait a couple more weeks. (Weissbluth says naps involve a different part of the brain than night sleep.)

mmisabel ~ Yes, I am back to work. Blech. I only go in 3 days a week though, and WAH 2 days a week. It is HARD getting everything together, dropping DS off for daycare, pumping, etc. I really hate it, but without my salary, money would be very tight. I'm going to try and stick with it through the end of the year, then take it from there. At least then I get my yearly bonus. ;)

Re: nursing strike... I am so sorry! I am afraid of that too. DS gets 3 bottles/day when he's at daycare too. Recently he's been popping on and off when I nurse him... I wonder if that is his version of a strike. It drives me crazy... I hope it doesn't get worse. Good luck!

[Wrighty26]

Quick post to respond to this... One of my girlfriends said her hair did this right before AF made her first PP appearance. So be doubly sure to "protect"!!!

Oh! Good to know :) Although, I think I have learned my lesson on the protection :D

[hokiegirlie]

Adorable babies!!!

lindybug--congrats on the sleeping. It's such a relief when they start sleeping more through the night. It's great that you and your husband have a little time in the evenings.

hair I havent had this problem yet, but lord help me if I do because my hair is pretty thin to begin with.

time change Matthew is still all messed up. I'm keeping him up at night until 7-7:30 but he is so tired and I feel guilty, but I want him to get back on track. He woke up at 545 this morning and I cant remember the last time he woke up so early.

He gets two bottles, three times a week while I work. On those days, he nurses forever when I have him. I feel bad that he gets the bottles, when he obviously would rather nurse. There's so many things I feel torn about with working/not working!

[lindybug]

There's so many things I feel torn about with working/not working!
Yes, me too.

[mkvh]

Yes, me too.

ME TOOO! I think I'm a better mom because I value my time with her more. But it often is stressful, and that makes me less patient. It's a toss up, and I only work 2 1/2 days a week!

[Lizard]

Hair - YES