October 05 moms - You mean we have TODDLERS? But where did our babies go?

[DianeCourt]

Lisa: Glad to hear everything is OK! Whew. :(

Toddler Room: We have a parents meeting sometimes this month to discuss Lily's transition out of the infant room. I know a little bit about what to expect, but I'm nervous about it, too. Seems like a big change!

[cartersmommy]

TODDLER ROOM: we have been in the toddler room for almost 2 months now, since carter has been walking, and he's thrived. we LOVE it. it's so much more educational than the baby room. they have story time, they do all kinds of art projects, organized play (while learning) and all kinds of fun stuff that you can't do when they are babies. I am in love. He is doing all sorts of sign language, learning body parts, saying lots of words... it's great. i think the toddler room (when they are ready) is so much fun! :)

[lysh79]

Lisa- How scary!!! I'm so glad Seth is doing better now.

I just wanted to stop by and let everyone know that Kiley is going to have a little brother! We just got back from the ultrasound and he looks healthy and he was super active. Just wanted to share the happy news!

[DianeCourt]

lysh: Congrats! What great news! :D

[dragonfly_71]

Congrats Lysh

Lisa: Glad to hear he is okay now.

Toddler room: things are getting better. The last two days Alex didn't cry when I dropped him off. He is slowly getting attached to his new teachers and yesterday when I picked him up he was chasing around one of the other little boys and they were both laughing and having fun. The one thing that still bothers me a little is that I can't go see him during my lunch anymore since that is when they take their nap. I'm so used to seeing him during the day and knowing what he is doing. Now I feel out of the loop. I see what it says on his daily sheet but I don't actually get to see what he is doing.

[1_mommy]

Congratulations Lysh!!

[hmbay]

Congrats on the boy Lysh!

[godsgift77]

YAY!!! Congrats Lysh!!

[lorialys]

Congrats on the BOY lysh!!!

[jh124]

lysh I'm so excited that Kiley is going to have a little brother! That's great news. Glad to hear he's healthy and you are doing well.

[Kanga]

Congrats Lysh!! I guess you just disproved our theory of oct RO's having repeat genders.

Lisa - So sorry to hear about your trip to the ER. :( You sure have had much more than your fair share of bad luck lately! Glad Seth is doing ok now though.

Dragonfly - glad to hear Alex is getting more adjusted to daycare.

Good Luck to all of the TTC'ers out there!

We're having dd's 1 year pics taken today, at nearly 13.5 months:o She keeps getting bumps and scrapes since learning to walk, so I kept waiting until they cleared up and sure enough there would be another one the next day, so I finally just gave up. I just have to figure out what she's going to wear. Anyone else having trouble with finding clothes that fit your dc? Dd is not chunky, but not a skinny minnie either, so 12-18 usually fit in the waist, but then I have to roll up the legs a few times so she doesn't trip. Same thing with shirts. She has her dad's big head so shirts that fit in the neck area (and over her head) have to be rolled a couple times in the sleeves. Of course she could really care less, but it drives me nuts when I'm constantly asked why I buy her clothes so big:rolleyes:

Sunday we're visiting dh's aunt in the nursing home for the first time. She has Huntington's diseases, which is basically MS, alzheimers, and some other neurological disease all tied in together and she keeps getting worse and worse by the day it seems. She started turning violent, which I hear is normal for alzheimers and huntingtons, so her husband and daughter just couldn't care for her. We were hoping to wait until after Christmas, but in one of her episodes, she ended up tripping over a step and breaking two ribs, so clearly it isn't safe for her to remain at home any longer.

[EJM]

lysh: Congratulations on your little boy!!

Kanga: We have the same problem, the length is really annoying. I just end up rolling the bottom a few times.

[mcl]

lysh--congratulations on your baby boy! OKAY, WHO'S NEXT?

[cartersmommy]

congrats lysh!

[jenjen0713]

Lysh - Congratulations on your baby boy!! How exciting!

Kanga - We have the same problem too where we have to roll up pant legs.

DS seems to be doing better...at least his fever his gone. Now, he is having nasty drainage out of his ear. Yuck! For those of you who have had kids with multiple ear infections, I don't know how you do it! I have a new found respect. It is so hard to watch your little one scream in pain.

[lysh79]

Thanks for all the congrats! DH is super proud of his sperm. :rolleyes: He keeps saying, "I can make a boy."

We have the opposite problem with clothes. The 18 month stuff fits in length because Kiley is so tall but is too big around her skinny belly. Plus my girl has no butt so everything just falls off her. I have to get the Target pants with the adjustable waist and put it on the smallest setting.

[godsgift77]

The 18 month stuff fits in length because Kiley is so tall but is too big around her skinny belly. But Target doesn't make adjustable pants for boys right?!?! :confused:

[hmbay]

But Target doesn't make adjustable pants for boys right?!?! :confused:

Umm I think the Levi's ones are adjustable. MIL gave me some for Colin last year for his b-day and they are Levi's and I'm sure she got them at either Target or Walmart. Old Navy has adjustable waistbands too but they don't start until 2T. Actually the Levi's are probably 2T too now that I think about it so that probably doesn't help you.

[Michelle and Curtis]

If you're looking for pants that fit I would try The Childrens Place or Old Navy. Both seem to run a little smaller in the waist than others. I have a very hard time with pants for Skylar. He's very tall for his age and he's kinda skinny. I found that The Childrens Place has very nice jeans that have an adjustable waistband for him. But that's only in the larger sizes. 18 mos. was still an elastic wiastband.

We picked up the kid's Christmas pictures yesterday...
http://i132.photobucket.com/albums/q22/Michelle6281/Christmas2006.jpg

[Eliezrah]

Lysh, congrats!!

I just wanted to tell you that WE FOUND A SIPPY SETH WILL DRINK FROM!! We've tried every single sippy we could think of, but today I gave him a NUBY and he drank fro it all day! No bottles today whatsoever, even at nap and bedtime! We have several NUBYs but this is the one that looks like a regular sippy, it's just soft. The other one he would drink from looks too much like a bottle nipple so we didn't bother. I had tried cutting the bottle nipple, but all that did was leak his rice milk! He could care less how fast it came out. Anyway, I ordered 6 more NUBYs on Ebay for him today! Once they get here, Buh bye bottles!!!

[lorialys]

Lisa, that's great!! So is he drinking rice milk now instead of that expensive allergy free formula you guys were getting for him? How does he like it? I've been trying rice milk with Lucas since he's allergic to milk, but he seems to hate the taste.

[Eliezrah]

Oops, I never told you guys?! LOL HE's been off that stupid formula for ages now! I think he was only on it for about a month. I see a dietitian to regulate his proteins and fats. He loves the stuff! Which brand are you trying with Lucas? Is he allergic to soy? If not soy milk is much better for him (it ahs all the fats and proteins cow's milk has). We're DYING for Seth to outgrow his soy allergy so we can give him soy milk (and cheese and yoghurt, etc!) Oh, and if he's allergic to soy, read the labels on the rice milk carefully, some of them have soy in them!!!!!

[godsgift77]

YAY for NUBY!!! CJ will drink from them but not at naps.... which ones are you using? Can you post pics? CJ Snipping the nipples didnt work for us either...

[Eliezrah]

Here they are, I'll see if I can find a better pic of them w/o the cap on so you can see which spout...

http://i16.ebayimg.com/05/i/08/ae/22/99_1_b.JPG

Found one!
http://i9.ebayimg.com/03/i/05/b8/8a/7f_1.JPG

I searched on Ebay for NUBY sippy cups. There are tons of listings for them.

I also saw these but I'm not sure how soft the spout is on them. They look like they might be clsoer to a hard spout so maybe I'll try these in a month or so...
http://i22.ebayimg.com/03/i/000/7d/d4/bf17_1_b.JPG

[lorialys]

Fortunately he's not allergic to soy, I was just trying rice milk because he refuses the soy and the rice milk tastes better (to me, at least). But I should probably switch back to soy milk since it is better for him. I would love to wean him completely off the breast, and him not taking the soy/rice milk is the only thing holding us back from that.

[Eliezrah]

You are soooo lcuky he's not allergic to soy!!! You know what we had to do to get Seth to take the icky ofrmula? We put Strawberry Quik in it to flavor it and he loved it! Then we gradually put less and less in till he took it by itself. YOu definitely want to get him on soy milk instead of rice milk, otherwise you'll be counting tsps of oil and stuff toput in his food to give him the fats he needs!

[lorialys]

Yeah, I tried the strawberry quik and that was a no-go too. I guess I'll just be persistent, eventually he'll aquire a taste for it, right?

[DianeCourt]

Those soft-spouted Nubys are the bomb! Lily transitioned from the Avent bottles to those with no issue. She wouldn't take any other sippys. Now she'll drink out of the hard-spouted sippys, too.

[hmbay]

Hmm I have one of those Nubys and am having fights with alex over taking milk out of other sippies (we have gerber and playtex ones). Perhaps I should find that one and try that and then transition him over the gerber and playtex ones.

Anyone else's kid still not fully STTN? We're down to around 4-5 nights a week he'll sleep from 9:45 pm to 7am but the other 2-3 nights a week he wakes up and needs a diaper change and bottle to go back to sleep.

[EJM]

That'd be us unfortunately! We are in the middle of major teething. DD just got her 5th tooth last week which was at the surface for 2 months, now I can see a few more coming in. I found her chewing on our leather ottoman yesterday, so I know she is in pain. We travel too much with the holidays to make it worthwhile to try and work on sleeping now. January is our new plan. Oh well, she doesn't stay up and play just needs help getting back to sleep -- although she 75% of the time needs mommy to do that.

We had a busy weekend. We got our tree, decorated it, baked and frosted cookies, and mailed all of our cards. We had a horrible time getting a good photo of DD as she refuses to look at the camera. I thought this one was cute, she's fascinated with her hair bows and we have about 75 photos of her hand in front of her face. :p

http://i37.photobucket.com/albums/e70/erinjmackenzie/IMG_5049_1_1.jpg



Still no update on me, I cannot get confirmation either way. No AF and no BFP. If AF doesn't show up in the next few days, I'll probably test again on Friday. I am so confused and have tried to stop thinking about it. DH who has watched a few too many episodes of Gray's Anatomy is worried something is seriously wrong with me if we aren't pg. :rolleyes:

[mcl]

yay lisa. ds loves the nuby as well. lorialys, ds throws up with regular milk so i've given him soy milk since. we get ours from trader joes and it's enriched/fortified VANILLA flavor is the way to go because ds would not take the regular flavor. he downs the vanilla like there's no tomorrow. somethimes, dh and i have to slow him down because he loves the stuff so much. on the side of the box is a comparison between whole milk and soy milk and this particular fortified one has so much more nutrients than the regular milk. i just looked at the box and it's SOY DREAM VANILLA ENRICHED (ORGANIC). by the way, the sugar is also less than the regular milk. good luck

ejm--keep us updated. cute pics of dd.

lisa--how are you doing with the crutches.

[Surftraitor]

Hi everyone!
nubbies--DS must be the only kid who can't figure them out. He can't seem to get anything out of them. I guess he doesn't like biting down on them. That's the trick, right? We've been using Playtex ones and they seem to be working. We haven't given him a bottle in over a week. Also, our ped recommended putting vitamins in his milk/juice since we're on whole milk.

EJM--cute photo!

walking--Is my DS the only one who hasn't walked yet? He pulls up and stands on everything. Last night he stood w/o leaning or holding anything for a few seconds, but still no first steps. DS is in the 90th percentile for height, so the ped said he may walk later than others his age, but still makes me (slightly) concerned.

vocabulary--contrary to the walking progress, DS is talking a ton! He sings "Row Row your boat" (more like row row row row). New words are Papa (grandpa), baba (bottle/milk), no, cory (cookie), mommy (no more mama for him)

[Tiger]

Nuby These are the only sippies we use. DD loves them. For a while we were able to use the Gerber sippies, but she started refusing them and will only drink from the Nuby now.

EJM Cute picture! I hope you get your answer soon.

Elizrah you poor thing! I can't believe everything you have had to go through lately.

Surf Don't worry...I am sure DS will take off walking soon. Maybe he is just waiting until he is 100% confident and can just start running! :)

Bedtime routine What is everyone's bedtime routine consist of?

Right now DD likes to have her milk (in a sippy) before bed. This really relaxes her and calms her down for bedtime. The only problem with this is that I don't get to brush her teeth before bed because we immediately put her to bed after she is done drinking. I have tried to give her the milk before going into her room so that I can brush her teeth when she is done, but it never works. If we are not in her room with the lights out, she will not sit still and relax and thinks she needs to get up and play. Any suggestions for me?

[Kanga]

STTN - we're still not sttn, but luckily she's never had to have a bottle or nurse before falling back asleep. I just don't get it why she gets up, half the time all I have to do is pat her back and shush her and she's out in 2-3 minutes and the other times I pick her up and after a few laps around her bedroom she's back out. I guess she just likes to know that I'm there. It's not that she can't put herself back to sleep, because she does that sometimes too. We really need to get back to a more strict schedule/routine. I think it might be throwing her all out of whack by staying out past her bedtime more than we used to.

Sippy cups - still no luck. She doesn't get how straws work, hates the nubby's, and will only take water out of the disposable take and toss kind. And even then I don't think she actually swallows any, just puts it in her mouth then spits it back out so it can run down her shirt:rolleyes: We're not much better in the solids department, so I don't want her taking less formula than she needs right now. After I'm confident she's getting enough for solids, we may go cold turkey on the bottles.

Bedtime routine - Jammies, a bottle, then rocked to sleep. We started giving her bottle first before jammies in a different room but for whatever reason we've gotten away from that. We need to get back on that so when we can get rid of the bottle she's not used to needing it for bed.

vocabulary - she's had a bunch of new words but I can't seem to remember most of them right now. So far we have mama, dada, ditties (kitties), all done, sit down, no no no no, woof, da (dog), and meow plus probably about 2-3 more I'm drawing a blank on right now :rolleyes:

Dd has now started mimicking me (and others), which is quite hilarious. When we walk up the stairs for naps or whatever, I carry her and hold on to the rail even though she's getting pretty heavy to carry up the stairs while 6 mo preg. (if I let her do it herself, she goes up about halfway, then down a few steps, back up etc, takes FOREVER) Now she must hold on to the rail and huffs and puffs like she's out of breath. Dh finds it pretty amusing since she doesn't huff and puff with anyone else.

[jh124]

Nuby - We have both the hard and soft kind. DS drinks out of both with no real problems.

Walking - Just when we thought he was going to walk, he got sick again. Now he just whines and crawls. He was so close, right on the verge...:(

Milk - We tried giving him some milk with his formula, to start getting him used to it and to cut back on formula $$. He got terrible diaper rash.:( We cut the milk out and it went away. Weird, since he's on dairy based formula and eats yogurt and cheese no problem.:confused:

Vocabulary - Mama, Da deee, Dog, Bobble, buh bye, uh oooh (as if he were Canadian), all done (well, ah duh, but it's what he means), no.

ETA: In the summer, when everyone's kid were working on crawling, DS was really working on words. Now it seems to be the opposite, he's got his core words, so he's concentrating on climbing and moving. And turning on the tv. And biting the dogs.

[Lvella43]

I just had to give a shout out to the Nuby cups; Jack loves them too. They are always on special at Walgreens 2/$3 - nice deal!

[jenjen0713]

Sippy cups - We use the Nuby ones as well, but the ones with the straw.

STTN - Knock on wood, DS has been pretty good about this. Only time he wakes up is if he is sick or teething.

Vocabulary - Still no mama. I keep telling him all I want for Christmas is to hear him say mama. He only has a handful of words that I can decipher. I think he is concentrating on getting the walking thing down that he isn't working on the talking thing.

EJM- What a great picture of DD. Love how she is fiddling with her bow!

surftraitor - DS just started to taking a few steps a few weeks ago. Now he is maybe doing 5-6 steps at a time. I'm sure Kai will be taking those first few steps before Christmas.

Tiger - Sorry, no ideas for you. Would she take a sippy of water just before bed instead of the milk?

Kanga - Too funny about your DD imitating you!

Posted a few new pictures (visit with Santa, comparision belly shots from both pregnancies) over in LJ if anyone is interested.

[Michelle and Curtis]

Bedtime routine ~ After dinner I tell both kids to go upstairs and we get a quick bath. Both kids get PJs on and Axel will go down to bed. I just dress him, give him a kiss, brush his teeth then set him in his crib sometimes with some water if he's fussy but he takes his last cup of milk with dinner. About a half hour later the big one is sent to bed. Hugs and kisses with daddy, potty, then brushing teeth and mommy tucks him in. The whole thing only lasts about 10 minutes. I never was a fan of drawn-out bedtime routines.

There are rules to night-time too. Skylar knows them pretty well now.
~ No talking...yes they will talk to each other.
~ No getting out unless it is for the potty.
~ No lights other than the nightlight.
~ No co-sleeping.

They pertain a lot more to Skylar than Axel but if Skylar acts up then he gets the other one going. That's why I usually don't put Skylar down till later when Axel is asleep.

Vocab ~ Axel hardly ever says "mama" anymore. Only when he really wants me. Otherwise it's all about daddy.

Nuby ~ We have 1 I think that we bought in an emergency situation when Skylar was younger but I never liked them. I only used it that once. It seemed to me that he was biting instead of sipping. I wanted him to learn to sip instead so I stuck with Playtex for Skylar and Gerber for Axel. Both worked very well and I like that they are insulated to keep drinks cool.

[godsgift77]

STTN- CJ has been consistently STTN since about 4 months... only when teething or sick does he wake up - thank GOD.

Nubby - Heading to Wallgreen's this week to get one to try this weekend.

Bedtime - CJ gets his bath, then two books (maybe three) teeth brushed then bis bottle.

My question is this - if he's drinking from the nubby, whats the difference between that and the bottle? Think it will help me move him completely away from nighttime drinking?

[DianeCourt]

Hi everyone!
walking--Is my DS the only one who hasn't walked yet? He pulls up and stands on everything. Last night he stood w/o leaning or holding anything for a few seconds, but still no first steps. DS is in the 90th percentile for height, so the ped said he may walk later than others his age, but still makes me (slightly) concerned.

Lily isn't walking yet. She took two steps on Saturday, but nothing since. And we REALLY had to get her set up just right to take those. She acts like she's not interested in it at all! She's 32.5 inches (100th percentile) & has teeny tiny feet, so that's my theory on why it's taking her longer than other kids. Anytime before 18 months is normal for beginning walking, so try not to freak!

[LexyLou]

Hello ladies!

sippy-Ella is using a straw sippy cup. She actually not picky about what kind because we started her on a straw cup around 7 months. Right now though we use the playskool brand or the luv n' care brand which are the exact same things and both made by the same company that makes Nuby.

Ella is really a little piggy and we were lucky because she's always just taken her food/milk anyway she can get it..plus she wasn't ever really on a bottle so the adjustment to sippy was pretty easy.

jh124-That's very normal for a baby who's had diary forumla and cheese and yogurt to have a reaction to cow's milk. You can try lactose free milk but I have a feeling it's just going to take time for his body to get used to cow's milk. Maybe try it again in 2 weeks and keep trying every couple of days? Also, I had Ella on soy milk for a couple of months because she wasn't handling regular cow's milk. I tried mixing the two together every so often and after a couple of months she was fine on cow's milk.

sttn-Yes, Thank god! She started sleeping from about 7pm-5am and then ate and slept until 8am around 10 months. She started truely sleeping through the night around 12 months old.

Knock on wood-her naps have also started getting decent. She was a horrible napper from birth until about 10 1/2 months. Rarely took anything longer than 35 minutes. She now takes two naps a day of at least 1 hour 15 min sometimes even up to 2 hours. I have to be super quiet though when she naps or she'll wake up so no chores for me...darn. :p

bedtime-Bath/brush teeth (which she loves so it's usually a good 15-20 minutes), PJ's, books, sleepsack, bed. The whole thing usually takes between 30-40 minutes depending on how long her bath is. Some nights we don't do a bath and it's usually about 20 minutes.

She gets her last sippy of milk about 30 minutes before bath time. I leave a sippy of water in her crib.

Holidays-What is everyone doing for the holidays?

We fly out to CA next Tuesday for 16 days...YIKES! I'm really worried because I have had the most horrible cold since Saturday night. It's like every day I start to feel better and then I get another symptom. Like last night I was up all night coughing. Ella hasn't gotten it yet. I hope if she's going to get it she'll get it now and be over it by Tuesday or at least wait until we get to CA...but I'm very nervous she'll be sick on the plane.

Does anyone know what we do about milk on planes now?

[EJM]

Walking: We've had first steps, but nothing beyond that. Interestingly enough as of Saturday DD has decided she wants to walk rather than crawl, and goes to great lengths while cruising to not sit down. She only holds on to the very end of my pinky but will not walk without us helping. She also has been freely standing on her own a ton more since Saturday too. Just working up her confidence I suppose. So weird how one day she just decides to do something, but that seems to be DD's way. I would suspect she'll be walking by the end of the month.

Milk: I take it in a sippy of some sort. Depending on the airport I was required to "declare" I had milk on the way through security. They might have put it through the scanner, I cannot remember. Once they saw me holding a baby there were no further questions though. I wasn't able to at the time we flew, but you could now purchase milk once past security and take that on the plane.

Sippy: I bought a Nuby yesterday at the store, all of our Avent have started to leak really bad, but DD just seems to like to chew on it thus far. She'll use whatever I give her -- straw, sippy etc and I'm not sure why she doesn't like the Nuby. It could be her teeth coming in.

[1_mommy]

lexy bring an empty sippy cup, you can buy milk once you pass security in the airport and bring it on the plane

[Tiger]

Thank you everyone for sharing your bedtime routines. We usually give Makenzie water for dinner, but I think I am going to start giving her milk. Hopefully I can change her routine a little and just give her a sippy of water before bedtime.

Holidays This is my last week of work until I get a 2 week break! I am so excited. We are going head back to my parents house. I can't wait to have 2 weeks to just relax and hang out with my family.

One more question...How often do you give DC a bath? We have been giving Makenzie a bath every other night, but I am wondering if I shouldn't give her one every night. She loves her baths and it usually takes us about 30 minutes because she refuses to get out.

[Michelle and Curtis]

godsgift77 ~ I really think the Nubby cups really are like an elarged version of a bottle. That's why we went with Playtex or Gerber with the hard tops. They teach the child to sip to get the drink, not bite.

Tiger ~ I always gave milk at dinnertime and water for bed because I figured if he didn't finish it before he went to sleep then he might in the morning and it grossed me out to think he might drink milk that was out all night. Yicky!

Axel has even drank from a regular cup a few times and did ok.

Christmas ~ Most of the celebrating happens Christmas Eve so here's the schedule. :D

Christmas Eve
7:00pm Dinner at my grandma's house from my mom's side.
10:00pm Leave and go to my mom's house for naps and maybe a small gift exchange with my parents and siblings.
12:00am...Very early Christmas Morning...
Down the road to my grandma's from my dad's side.
2:00am Leave and head home into bed to wait for Santa
Sometime in the afternoon we will wake up and open presents from Santa

My husband recently started a new job and they wanted him to work Christmas Eve. He told them there was no way. His parents are coming in and he doesn't want to miss anything. I stand behind him totally on his decsion ...let's just hope work understands. :(

[DianeCourt]

godsgift77 ~ I really think the Nubby cups really are like an elarged version of a bottle. That's why we went with Playtex or Gerber with the hard tops. They teach the child to sip to get the drink, not bite. (

But that's also what makes them a good first step transitioning from the bottle. Many babies won't drink out of a hard spout right from the start. I know mine didn't, but now that she's been on the Nubys for a couple months, she'll also take the hard spouts.

[Kanga]

Tiger - if she won't allow you to just switch the milk to dinner time, you can try watering the bedtime milk down gradually until it's all water. I've heard of people doing this for middle of the night feedings after the child continues to wake when not hungry but won't go back down without a bottle and then eventually they find it not even worth it and are ok without anything.

[1_mommy]

i need some help from photoshop savy girls. i know there are some in here :)

we finally got photoshop last month on the new computer we got, problem is, i have no clue how to use it.
i mainly want to do the black and white with touch of color picture. how are you girls doing this?
i posted in the hobbies section, but the person who replied doesn't have the same program i do, so it was different instructions :(

[scubasam]

sippy - We use the Nuby and the Avent and then Carter uses random ones at daycare and Grandma's. Honestly, he's a piggy too and doesn't care how he gets food or drinks! I think I need to try a straw one though b/c he is SUPER messy when he drinks. It's not the cup leaking, it's the fact that he doesn't close his mouth all the way so it all just leaks all over.

bedtime - We start "winding down" around 7pm, head up for a bath around 7:15-7:30 (bath isn't every night), get jammies on and have a quick bottle or just sit in the rocker for a little and "talk". We put him in his bed right around 8pm.

baths - We do baths every couple of nights. I wipe him down every night before bed but his skin is so sensitive & dry (especially in the winter) that I'm not fond of baths every night.

STTN - Carter hasn't sttn *consistently* since 4 mos. He has a couple good weeks and then a couple bad. Even in the good wks he'll cry out a couple times during the night if he can't find his binky. I can count on one hand the # of times he's slept the *entire* night. His one big plus though is that he is consistent in going to sleep at 8pm and doesn't wake up for the day until 7:00-7:30am. And, he takes great naps.

milk - We just started organic cows milk a couple wks ago. I took it easy transitioning from formula (which he still gets once a day so I make sure he gets all his vitamins...especially since I've been sick the last couple wks) b/c I am dairy sensitive. We started out at 11mos w/ goats milk and he did really well on it so we slowly moved over to cows milk. Maybe goats milk is an option for you, jh124?....it's easier on babies digestive systems, easier transition to whole milk, etc.

holidays - My family is all in FL and my mom was just here for 3 wks so we won't be w/ them this yr. We'll spend xmas eve and xmas day w/ IL's which is always a lot of fun and Carter loves it over there.

vocab - Nothing other than "mama" which he says very clearly. He's much better at signing. He is very vocal all day though, just no clear words and I'm sure that once he starts figuring words out, he will be a total chatterbox!

[cartersmommy]

ok, here we go!

sippy: we use the nuby and the avent ones. love them both, and so does DS.
we have tried the target brand straw cups, and he doesn't mind them. i just like the ones that have the anti-leak proofing!

bedtime: my kid can sleep, and needs tons of sleep. he goes down about 7:15 and will sleep UNTIL I WAKE HIM at 7am. and that's when i have to. on weekends, he'll gladly sleep until 10am. seriously, he's like a teenager already!

baths: every few nights. he LOVES them... we have more bath toys than the tub will hold!

STTN: has since he was 3 months old. he takes a nap from 1-3 every day at daycare and sleeps through the night great. we'll sometimes have a waking around 11pm but he goes right back down... he self-soothes, too.

holidays: christmas eve is spent with my family.. we do a big dinner and just hang out. then christmas morning, we will get up and do our little family thing, then get ready and go to DH's family about an hour away, and we get there around 9am. then we come back around 3pm and have my family over to our house for dinner, so carter can go to bed at a decent hour and we can still visit with everyone. easier that way, i thought!

milk: we have been on whole milk for 4 months now, i think, and he loves it. in fact, right before we started it carter was waking up hungry every night and when we started the milk, he slept right through the night. i think he wasn't getting enough from the formula after a certain point.

vocab: bye bye, hi, da, momma, kitty, ball, no, tickle

[dragonfly_71]

sleep: we are so lucky in that department. Alex has been STTN since he was 6 weeks old and he takes great naps. We had a few episodes when he was sick or when we had company where he would wake up at night but we always got that fixed within a few weeks.

bedtime routine: not much here, jammies, a bottle, a few minutes of cuddling, in his crib, lights out and he goes to sleep.

sippy: they use the nuby cups a daycare. At home we use all different kinds including straw cups. Alex also drinks from a regular straw when we are out and about. Like at Starbucks I get a Gingerbread Latte and he gets water in one of their straw cups. He thinks that is a major treat just because it's in a regular cup. If I don't get him the water and try to give him one of his sippy cups he will try and get my latte the whole time. He will also sip water from a water bottle if you hold it for him.

[LexyLou]

ok, here we go!

bedtime: my kid can sleep, and needs tons of sleep. he goes down about 7:15 and will sleep UNTIL I WAKE HIM at 7am. and that's when i have to. on weekends, he'll gladly sleep until 10am. seriously, he's like a teenager already!



Carter has always been a rack monster! Lucky you. It's good to know that waking him up for daycare doesn't make him want to wake up early on the weekend.

In February, I'll probably be going back to work 3 days a week. Ella now sleeps until 8 am. I worry if waking her at 7 am 3 days a week will make her adjust all the time to 7. I so love my 8/8:30 am Saturday morning wake up call.

I guess I never really discussed our Holiday plans other then the fact that we are going to CA.

This Sunday we are having a Hanukkah party at our house. It's very small just us, and two other families with little girls who are all around 15 months old. The girls are doing little gift exchanges. I'm making brisket, latkas, matzo ball soup, veggies, and bread pudding for dessert.

Christmas Eve we spend with DH's family. It's very fun. 30+ people and Ella is the only girl out of all the kids. There are 7 kids running around.

Christmas Day is also my grandparents wedding anniversary (what else did Jews have to do on Christmas day in 1940? :D ). My grandfather just passed away in July so this is my grandmother's first anniversary without him. Can you believe they would have been married 66 years and so in love?! So we are just going to keep it small and celebrate with my mom, grandma, Ella, DH, and I.

That's all for us. So excited. It kind of feels like her first Hanukkah and Christmas since she was so small last year.

[Kanga]

QOTD How many hours of sleep (naps and night time) does your dc get?

Dd only gets about 11-12 total, with about 9 of that being at night and seems to do ok on that, but it doesn't seem like very much to me.

I remember a couple people in the thread hired sleep nurses, but now I can't remember who. I'm curious to know if it helped your dc at all

holidays - Either thursday or friday evening after dh gets off of work we're doing our own christmas with just me dh and dd. Sometime during the day on Saturday, dd and I are going to IL's an hour away, dh will come after he gets off work. We'll eat a quick dinner, Daytona will open her presents, then off to bed for her and then we'll finish the gift exchange. Xmas eve morning dh leaves for work around 5, and dd and I head to my parents about 20 min from the IL's. After work on xmas eve, dh will join us for dinner, dd will open her presents, then off to bed and the rest of us will finish the gift exchange. Xmas morning Santa clause comes (even though my sister, dh and I are all at least in our 20's, my parents still insist on santa clause coming). We lounge around eating candy from our stockings for breakfast, then around 9am we head to my grandmas 3 hours away. We'll probably leave around dd's afternoon nap iat ~3 f she is still on 2 naps, otherwise we'll stay til 4 or 5. Phew, I'm tired just writing all of that. I don't know what we're doing next year, but we will NOT be doing that. It's just too much carting around for dd, and will especially be with 2 young kids. It makes it difficult that dh is in retail, so it's the busiest time of the year. We'll be moved by then, but no idea where. I'm sure t-giving for one side and xmas for the other and then trade every year won't go over well, but I refuse to keep doing it this way.

baths - whenever I feel like it, or think she needs it. Usually ends up being every other or every 3rd day unless we have pictures or somewhere special to be.

[EJM]

Sleep: Avery goes to sleep at 7pm and gets up between 7-8am. Her morning time depends on how many times she's up at night.:rolleyes: She also still takes 2 naps which are 1-1.5 hours each.

Baths: DD's skin is so dry only 2-3 times a week, but she loves them! DH is in charge of bath time, and let's DD go wild. Does she ever, she can splash water all over the entire bathroom and thinks it is hysterical. :D

Holidays: We alternate between families and major holidays, this year is with my family. We have a 8-10 hour drive to get there depending on how things go with DD and our dog at each pit stop. I'm one of 6 kids and there are 23 people in my immediate family. My brother lives 2 streets away from my parents and one of my sisters stays with her ILs, but the rest of us cram into my folks house. Its hectic, but so much fun! There are 10 grandchildren and my parents love it!

We go to church on Christmas Eve, usually in the mid to late afternoon. Then we have dinner, nothing too fancy and it varies each year. Each of the grandkids opens one gift and then heads to bed. Everything else is opened one gift at a time on Christmas Day. It usually takes us almost all day to get through everything. :eek: My mom plans a big dinner and works on it throughout the day. I'm so excited!

I think my ILs are protesting not seeing us at Christmas (even though we spend the alternate years with them), as we've been getting their gifts randomly in the mail. :confused:

DH and I are hosting a little Christmas brunch at our place this Sunday for some close friends. It's a small group of 10 and a casual menu. I'm looking forward to seeing everyone and hanging out.

[mcl]

sleep/bedtime routine--he goes down between 6:45-7:15 until about 7:15-8:00 am. after his dinner, we play with him in his room. baths are pretty much every other day. we read to him and then put him down in his crib. on my days off, we leave him in his crib when he wakes up in the morning and he'll play for about 30-45 minutes. we hear him from our room and he'll let us know when he needs to get out by screaming.

sippy--he uses the nuby straw and loves it.

holidays--we'll be going to northern california to be with my family.

i noticed that other groups are exchanging christmas cards. will any of you guys be interested in doing that? just a thought...

[Gabe's Mom]

Sippy - We use playtex. Have tried Avent but he'll have nothing to do with it. Just plays with it in his mouth.

Bedtime - We usually start about 7 PM. Bath (every few nights), bottle, book and then bed. He used to easily go down without a fuss but this last week, he has started to protest and has to CIO for about 5 minutes. He's also waking about 1 -1.5 hours into the night. I have a feeling he is teething as I went in there tonight and he had his fingers in his mouth. Ened up giving him more of a bottle (ok 6 oz!) and he went right back to sleep. His appetite has been down and since he is a lgiht-weight (3rd percentile for wt), I sneak in calories anytime I can.

Baths - We don't have a schedule. He is so tired after a day of daycare that I admit we prob do 2 or 3 baths per week only. Always gets his face washed twice a day though.

Sleep - Usually 7:30 PM - 6:30 am! I'd love for my guy to sleep until 10:00am!!! wow! Usually naps 1 hour at daycare. If at home, tends to take 2 1 hour naps still.

[jenjen0713]

Baths - We do every third day as DS has dry skin as well. DH and I take turns giving baths. If DH is giving it to him, he is in the bathtub. If it is my turn, I give it to him in the kitchen sink. So much easier for me since I don't have to bend over which was getting increasingly more difficult as I got/get bigger.

Bedtime ritual - Usually brush his teeth and wash face, neck and hands good. Put on pjs, read a couple books and then a group hug and kiss from DH and I.

sleep - He normally goes down around 7:30 and wakes up around 6. He still takes two naps a day ranging anywhere from 1-2 hours each.

holiday plans - Go to mass on Christmas Eve (we have to get there almost 90 minutes before it starts or we will have to stand because so many people attend the Christmas masses). I'm not looking forward to trying and keeping him entertained for 2 1/2 hours. Then we head over to the ILs for dinner and then gifts. We plan to go visit my parents on Christmas day and have dinner with them and gifts.

[DianeCourt]

Baths: Usually every other day. It's not a part of her bedtime routine, so sometimes she takes them in the morning. Also, since she has tubes, I'm extra nervous about getting water in her ears, so we only bathe her when she needs it.

Bedtime & sleep: We get her PJ's on, give her a pacifier, brush teeth, and read books. We put her down awake and she falls asleep on her own for 12 hours. She never awakes during the night, so we've been lucky there! She still naps around 10 am & 3 pm everyday for at least an hour each nap.

Christmas: This year Christmas Eve is at my mom's house, and we spend Christmas morning at home. We'll go to the IL's for Christmas dinner. We have to rotate all of the celebrations with our parents, so this year my dad gets the shaft - we're having them over on the 23rd.

[cartersmommy]

Carter has always been a rack monster! Lucky you. It's good to know that waking him up for daycare doesn't make him want to wake up early on the weekend.

I know! I feel very lucky... and on the weekends, it's like he plays catch-up from having to wake up earlier than he's ready to get up! LOL. kids are funny :)

Where will you work when you go back, lex? keep us updated.

[LexyLou]

Thanks 1_mommy. We'll just buy it once we get through security. I know people said they used to not be able to get milk but I'm sure now the stores are carrying it and charging and arm and leg for it as well. Oh well.

Talking-Ella is a major babbler. She only says a couple of words but tries to copy everything we do. Like, I've been sick and coughing so she walks around the house and fake coughs:rolleyes: . Her words are hi, bye, mama, dada, dee-dee (Mikka-our dog who she's in love with), duck.

Total Sleep-Ella goes down for the night between 7:30 and 8:30 depending on if she had a late nap or not. She'll sleep until about 7:30-8:30 am. So between 12-13 hours of sleep at night.

In the past month she's become a good (not great) napper and still takes two naps a day. They are usually each about 1 hr and 15 min but right now she's been asleep for her morning nap for over 2 hours so depending on when she wakes up we might not even have an afternoon nap and just an earlier bedtime (7:30)..so usually about 2 1/2-3 1/2 hours during the day for a total of 14 1/2 to 16 hours a day. :)

cartersmommy-I'm actually going back to the first accounting firm I worked for straight out of college and the one my DH still works at. I'm not going to be in audit though but working with the online accounting tool the firm uses. Pretty cool-good pay, part time, etc...but I'm still getting really nervous. I don't know how Ella will handle 1 nap a day, but she'll be 16 months when she starts so I don't think it's too too early to start the transition + she can take 2 naps a day the days she's home with me if need be. Plus, it makes me feel good to know that we'll be able to start saving again so that when #2 comes we'll have a nice nest egg like we had for DD. Sorry for the ramble...can you tell I'm nervous?

[hmbay]

sleep--Alex gets around 10 at night with a 1-3 hour nap still during the day. Much better than he used to sleep.

holidays--we'll spend the 23rd with my family, the 24th with DH's family (2.5 hours away from each other--Dh's family is about .5 hours from us, my family about 2 from us), the 25th we're on our own. I'm going to attempt to make my first turkey. ;)

Baths--probably every 2-3 days. They'd love one every night but with winter and dry air their skin gets too dry so I've cut down to every 2-3 days.

[1_mommy]

baths-every 3 days, like everyone else, the kids skin gets to dry if i do it to often. if we have things planned, or the kids played hard that day, i will give baths more often

bedtime-kai has to have his little routine, brush teeth, read goodnight moon, and a little cuddle time, then it is in his crib with his baby (teddy bear) and i turn on his aquarium. he goes down at 8 and sleeps til around 6:30-7am

sippy-nuby is his favorite, but he will drink from any cup, especially if it is his sisters, hers is always better :p

holidays-plans still arn't finalized. my dad and his wife like to do things last minute. but as for now our plans are church christmas eve, and then christmas will be real laid back. it will either be here at our house, or at my dads house



kai is starting to put 2 words together. he says "bye bye da da" and "whose this" (we go down the hallway where all the pictures are and ask him "whose this", so when he wants to know something, he asks the same)

[LexyLou]

Wow, am I the only one that does almost a daily bath? We don't use soap every night but Ella is very active in gets really in to her food. I feel like she needs at least a rinse off every night.

I wash her hair every 3 nights and use cetaphil on her skin every other night.

Today she won't get a bath because she took a shower with me this morning. :)

[cartersmommy]

Carter would love a bath everynight, but I don't have the energy to do it every night. he LOVES the water and bath time, so we usually do it every 3 days or so. i have started reading to him in the bath, like O does, and he LOVES that... its great.. no fingers to shut the book on me! HA!

[jh124]

Bath We do a bath almost every night. Sometimes we keep him up too late on weekends, but otherwise a bath is part of his nightly routine. He doesn't get soaped up each and every time, but he gets rinsed off and wiped down. I rub bedtime lotion on him when he's done, then we be p'jammin.

[Michelle and Curtis]

Bath ~ Both kids get a bath every night. I throw them both in the tub and get it down as quick as possible. :D

[Eliezrah]

*PAIN MEDS ALERT!!* Worse than usual typos!! LOL

Lorene, I hope the vanilla stuff works!

Diane, how long did it take for her to go to the hard spouts from the Nubys?

EJM, too cute!!

MCL, Seth drinks the rice milk version of that.. RIce Dream.. and he uses the vanilla flavored one as well. They seem to make great stuff! I'm getting around ok, thanks for asking. It's getting harder, though, since I'm in very little pain. It makes me want to get up and walk across the room already... tomorrow will be 5 weeks and I ahve 1 1/2 left to go.. *SIGH*

surf, they say not to get worried about walking until they reach 18 months. If yoru ped isn't concerned, I'm sure everything's fine.

Tiger, thanks. It has been a rough few months, but I'm getting by! have you tried giving her water before bed instead of milk so it won't matter that she's drinking after her teeth are brushed?

Kanga, too funny about her huffing and puffing up the stairs! LOL

JH, it's possible it's a dairy intolerance and not an allergy if the formula is fine. Have you talked to his doc about it?

Michelle, is Skylar potty trained now? I forget.

Godsgift, some NUBYs have a spout sticking up in the middle like a bottle. The ones I got are shaped more like a regualr sippy, but are just softer. I like them as a transition since he's now getting the shape of a regular hard sippy.

1Mommy, I don't have photoshop, but I do the B&W w/ color thing on my Corel Paint Shop. Does your program have layers? IF so I can try to walk you through it.

Kanga, what's a sleep nurse and how do I find one?

STTN: As I'm writing this, he's been up there crying for about 1/2 hour. We're lucky if we get 1 ngiht a week where he goes form about 8:30-6/6:30. He usually ends up in our bed and will sleep better there. Once I'm back on my feet (literally) we're going towork on some serious sleep training. He is teething which makes it wors,e but he's had problems STTN forever!

Vocab: At 12 months Seth ahd 30 words and I'm pretty sure it's at least doubled by now. I lost count and every day he seems to have a new one. I guess having a big sister to keep up with has helped his development. We were at a party today at Jackie's new school and the other moms were shocked when they foudn out he's only 14 1/2 months old!!

Holidays: Ours starts tomorrow!!! Today I took the kids to a Chanukah Celebration at the new school Jackie will be starting next month. We had so much fun!! Tomorrow we'll light the menorah that Jackie made at home a few weeks ago and I'll do some crafts with her as well. Then it'll be present time!

Bath: Usually every other night unless really dirty. They get a bath together and have so much fun splashing! We're having a surprise 60th bday/ hanukkah party for my mom here on Sunday as well.

Cards: I'll do a holiday card exchange if anyoen else wants to.

Sleep: Seth will usually sleep between 8:30 pm and 7ish am (with his waking up and going into our bed) and I can get about 1.5 - 2 hours from him during his nap pas long as he's either on me or I put him back to sleep when he wakes up every 1/2 hour. He was sorta forced to go to 1 nap per day since he refused to nap when Jackie was up.

HAPPY HANUKKAH to anyone celebrating it!

[godsgift77]

cards I'm up for one! I think it might be late though... Hanukkah is this weekend...

Bath Every night. CJ has eczema so we don't use anything but aveno and lukewarm water. His hair isn't washed everynight either. He LOVES bath time and his books too! (Glad it worked for ya Amanda! ;) )

sleep CJ goes down at 7:30 and wakes up at 8. He takes a 1-2 hour nap... except on weekends. Its like he knows we want to sleep so he gets up at 7 *argh*

Christmas We will be going to church on Christmas eve then waking up on Christmas morning to open gifts and eat a bunch of stuff that will pack on the pounds :D

Is everyone finished shopping and what did you decide on for your dc? I can't really decide for CJ. On one hand i want to get him something but on the other, his birthday was just over a month ago and he got a TON of stuff. He does need 2T clothes now but other than that, he doesn't really need anything.

[1_mommy]

omg godsgift 2t!

[DianeCourt]

Lisa: I hadn't tried any hard spouted cups until daycare mentioned last week that she drank out of them while she's there. So I tried one this week and they're right - she'll drink out of them, but definitely doesn't like them as much! In the mornings sometimes she'll drink out of the soft spouted Nuby like it's a bottle. (Like her mom, she's NOT a morning person!)

Since it begins at sundown tonight, Happy Hanukkah to all of the Jewish mommies & their families!

Lily is wearing 18 - 24 month stuff right now. Clothes that are 18 months are sometimes too small, so I need more 24 month for her. Her length is why she needs that size - she has a super long torso!

[hmbay]

gifts for DC--since we have an older boy it was very hard getting anything for Alex really. I got him the Sesame Street Giggle toolbelt and the LeapFrog learning radio or whatever it is. I also got them a TMX Elmo to share thanks to jh124 although my mom called me last night and said she picked one up off the shelf in Target so I guess they might not have to share--or perhaps we'll just leave one at grandma's house or keep one for when they break the first one. ;)

[EJM]

Gifts: From Santa, Avery is getting a doll, a doll stroller, a kiddie size Hotsling, a TMX Elmo (my last minute splurge), and a few more small inexpensive toys I picked up during the year on the Target $1 rack. For stocking stuffers, she'll be getting "fun" things like a Dora toothbrush and toothpaste. ;)

Guess I have the group peanut :D , Avery's barely into the 12-18 month and is still wearing the 6-12 month shoes.

We are going to see Santa today, we'll see how it goes. DH's work has a holiday party for the children each year at his office. They really pull out all the stops with tons of food, games, activities, a magician, balloon artist, and Santa. I cannot wait to see what DD thinks. :)

Happy Hanukkah!!

[jh124]

Happy Hanukkah

I can't believe how quickly this holiday season has arrived! I guess it's because even though I had a baby last year, I was on maternity leave and able to let the holidays slowly creep up. This year, I feel asleep and woke up on December 15th.

FIL wants to know what gift to get Henry for around $75. On Dec 15th he asks this. No friggin' clue. A slide maybe?

[hmbay]

jh124--Oooo I think Henry would love a slide!

[EJM]

What about a ball pit (DD loves to sit in the one at the playgroup we go to) or a large activity cube?

[DianeCourt]

Guess I have the group peanut :D , Avery's barely into the 12-18 month and is still wearing the 6-12 month shoes.

Lily has weird proportions. Even though she's a giant (they joke at daycare that she's the size of a preschooler!), her feet are TINY. She's still wearing 6 - 12 month Robeez and size 4 - 5 in "real" shoes.

[Kanga]

card exchange - nah, I've got too much else going on right now.

clothes - Daytona has tiny feet, size 3 still, and in 12-18mo clothes, although some of her 6-9 mo sweat pants still fit because she has such short legs.

jh - Maybe something for outdoors for summer (or now if you're lucky enough for it still to be nice outside) a slide, sand and water table, etc. Or those ball pit things look awesome if you have the room for one. We considered one for dd for christmas but just don't have the space for it.

Lisa - Of course for the life of me I can't remember who it was now, but somebody on here hired a 'sleep nurse' when her dc was around 8-12 weeks old I think. Not sure exactly what she did, but she came to their house and gave them lots of tips on how to start off with good sleep habits and a loose nap and bedtime schedule for the dc's age. There was another person in this thread that hired a sleep expert too, but their dc was older. Is that you I'm thinking of?

[Eliezrah]

Kanga, I had a behviouralist help me wean him at night within the 2 weeks I needed to wean him. Maybe I should give her a call back. SHe helped me for free over the phone last time so I have no clue how much she charges.

OMG some of your babies are so big!! 2T/ 24 month stuff? WOW! I thought it was a big thing that Seth's in 18 month stuff for his chest, torso and belly. The length of 18 m is too long but 12 month stuff is too short! As for feet, he jsut went up to a 3 1/2! Buying real walking shoes for him was NOT easy in his size!

[LexyLou]

Lily has weird proportions. Even though she's a giant (they joke at daycare that she's the size of a preschooler!), her feet are TINY. She's still wearing 6 - 12 month Robeez and size 4 - 5 in "real" shoes.

Ella's the same way. She's in the 80-90%ile for height but she's in a size 4 for real shoes. I just bought a bunch of 5's thinking she could just wear them a little big and they are all like clown shoes on her so I had ot buy a couple more pairs of Primigi's in size 4.

As for clothing. She's mostly in 12-18 months. Some brands of 12-18 months (Gymboree) are still borderline too big, but some brands (Old Navy) she needs 18-24 months in.

Ella is in the 50%ile for weight but she has a gut on her. Sometimes after she eats she looks like a pregnant woman. She loves to rub her belly too...It's quite a sight...and makes some shirts fit rather tight around her tub of love.

It's sundown!

Happy Hanukkah!

[cartersmommy]

HAPPY HANNUKAH!

[amtaylor]

Guess I have the group peanut :D , Avery's barely into the 12-18 month and is still wearing the 6-12 month shoes.

I'm glad Mackenzie's not the only small one! She's still wearing size 6 month onesies. She can wear most 12 month stuff, but a lot of it's still big... especially the waist and arm length. We have to roll up the sleeves on her jacket!

She does have big feet though... she's in size 4 and/or 5 shoes depending on the size. She just moved up in the last couple weeks

[godsgift77]

CJ is tall and thin and i FINALLY foun pants that fit him well!!! Sprockets from Mervyn's. They are wonderful! Thin through the waist but long enough. He is in 2T in most clothes because he's tall and he has HUGE hands and feet. His shoe size is 6 :eek: his 5.5's just got too small... He's gonna be a big boy :)

Happy Hanukkah!

[1_mommy]

kai is in 12 months pants, and 18 month tops. shoe size is a 4 or 5 depends on the shoe

godsgift-sounds like cj is gonna be a football player :) we have some friends who have had some pretty big kids. not big fat, but just big like you described, very tall, and they look atleast a year older than they really are.

[Michelle and Curtis]

This is going to be a super quick post cause my husband's parents are coming in early Tuesday morning and I have grocery shopping and cleaning to do! Yikes!

Clothes...
Axel is wearing 18 months in bottoms and 24 months in tops. His shoes are a 5W since he has fat feet. He's still in the 95th percentile for height but only 50th for weight. Weird...tall and skinnier just like my older one. Skylar is 3 and he wears 5T on tops and 4T-5T on bottoms but he has to wear a belt if they are jeans or something cause even the adjustable waists aren't small enough for him. I wish I had these boy's waists!

[Gabe's Mom]

Gabe is a peanut too - he only recently graduated from 3-6 month onsie's and now wears 6-12 month ones. Other clothess are mostly 9-12 months. Does anyone else have a problem with the neck/head holes being too small???? My mom just bought a Carters top for Gabe but we can't get it over his head! This is the second or third shirt we've had this issue with. Now I'm getting a bit worried that his head is too big for some reason.

As for gifts, we are getting Gabe a Little People's Farm House, a puzzle and a book. My mom is getting him a tricycle.

[godsgift77]

Does anyone else have a problem with the neck/head holes being too small???? We have this issue too... I find myself testing out the neck hole on shirts before i buy them! LOL!

Gifts - i just picked up CJs wagon and I just got an email from Toys R Us saying that they are going to get a shipment tomorrow of TMX elmo - at least 50 per store... i'll be there bright and early tomorrow before work to see if I can snag one!

[Gabe's Mom]

Godsgift - I'm glad I'm not the only one with the neck hole issue! Having a skinny, small guy with a big head makes clothes buying challenging! Seems like the Old Navy tops fit fine but Carters might be running too small.

[godsgift77]

I can't buy Carter's at all! Target tops fit well... So do the snap neck ones from Mervyn's - three buttons to unsap so his noggin fits without force! :)

[DianeCourt]

TMX Elmo: There are thousands for sale on Ebay, and they're going just about for regular price at this point. If you buy today or tomorrow & get Priority Mail shipping (2-3 days), you could still have it by Christmas. :D

This is how I found Lily's....it's a TMX Elmo tracking s (http://tmxelmotracker.com/)ite that will let you know where they're in stock online. If you look a couple times a day, they'll pop up at Target.com or Toysrus.com, or another site. Good luck!

[hmbay]

TMX elmo--probably too late for this for most people but TRU was promising 50 per store this morning per the email I got. Also a rumor going around that Walmart.com releases 4000 per day at noon Eastern time.

[jenjen0713]

clothing size - shirts is 18 months, but 12 months for pants. He is short little guy and 12 months fit perfect. shoes - I think he is either a 3 or 4, can't really remember.

TMX - I was at Target the other day and they had a whole shelf of them. I almost bought one, but I couldn't justify spending $40 on it after all I've spent so far for him.

[jh124]

CJ is tall and thin and i FINALLY foun pants that fit him well!!! Sprockets from Mervyn's. They are wonderful! Thin through the waist but long enough.

Thanks for the heads up! We will have to check out Mervyn's when we are in CA next month.:)

[godsgift77]

Thanks for the head's up on the tracker. I didnt think i would be able to get up this morning to beat the crowd so i bought it on ebay for $40 shipped! Thats cheaper than it would have been if i had driven to the store and waited in line (gas and time). Thank goodness i did becaus i got that same email that hmbay got and when i drove by Toys-R-Us at 7 this morning, the line was already down the side of the building! :eek:

jh124 They are Sprockets and the jeans are the cutest! :)

[Kelly's Girl]

I am having a PERIOD. I NEVER have a period. I had to go to an RE to get pg w/DS b/c I am anovulatory (I don't ovulate; thus, no period.) But I did get a curious flow back in October, and now it's happening again. Holy menstruation, batman!

I don't really know what to make of it, so I called the RE. He said he could scan me to see if I ovulated on my own, which would be cool but a disappointment if I actually did O and then didn't know it, and missed the big event and didn't get pg...which clearly I'm not. It would just be nice to get pg on my own, you know?

G is doing so awesome. He's on the verge of walking and I buckled to the pressure of his daycare teachers and got him hard soled shoes b/c they all swear that he'll walk faster in them. I thought it was the other way around, that if they had the soft soled shoes, they could grip the floor. :confused:

I am so ready for Christmas! I love the holidays and am looking forward to some good food, and family time. Have y'all started any new traditions w/your DC? I wanted to do St. Nicholas day this year but I got confused on the date and missed it. :rolleyes: Doh.

As for clothes, he's mostly in 12 months. His pants legs are usually a bit long, so I roll them up, but it's not like his parents are super tall, so I'm not surprised!

[godsgift77]

G is doing so awesome. He's on the verge of walking and I buckled to the pressure of his daycare teachers and got him hard soled shoes b/c they all swear that he'll walk faster in them. I thought it was the other way around, that if they had the soft soled shoes, they could grip the floor. :confused: CJ was barefoot until he was fully walking. He walked at 10 months. I was told to keep him barefoot or in soft soled shoes until he walked...

Christmas Traditions We're gonna read the Christmas Story and maybe open a gift. Not sure...

[Michelle and Curtis]

Both of my kids were barefoot till they started walking too. The shoes are too restricting.

[amtaylor]

Mackenzie wore flexible soled shoes before and after she started walking and did great. She started walking in November and is now an old pro. I think it's all up to the child and doesn't really matter if they are or aren't wearing shoes.

I'd rather protect her feet than risk her stepping on something and getting hurt!

[Kanga]

christmas traditions - we aren't really doing much this year since she doesn't understand, but will do more next year. Next year I think we will tell family that we are spending xmas eve and xmas morning at our house. It's important to us that we have a xmas with just us and I want our kids to wake up on xmas morning in their own house, and it seems it's always getting pushed to the way side. I'm sure it won't go over well, but oh well. My parents said the same thing to my grandma so they really have no room to talk.

Anyone else not agree on Santa? I haven't said much this year since dd doesn't get it anyways, but I don't want to do the santa clause thing. I'd prefer to tell her that he is like elmo, big bird, etc and not real but dh really wants to let her believe. I don't like the lying thing. Both our parents did the santa thing with us, so I'm sure they just expect us to with dd's.

shoes - dd started walking a few weeks before her 1st birthday. She is just now getting to the point of walking ok in real shoes, but still much easier for her in robeez or barefoot.

[jh124]

Shoes - DS has a large collection of soft soled shoes. We were advised against hard soles by our ped, so I don't give a shit what daycare recommeds. He should be barefoot or in socks, but I'm not going to send a barefoot baby to school and he can and will take off his socks if he doesn't have shoes over them. Kelly'sGirl, if you feel pressured by daycare, maybe just send him to school in those shoes and let him go barefoot or wear soft soled shoes at home. You are much nicer than I am. I would have given them an earful, then brought in articles and studies. Yeah, people love me.:rolleyes:

Santa - We'll let him believe for as long as he can, then tell him about the spirit of Christmas, the Easter Bunny, and slaughterhouses. (that's how I told my brother when he was five, "The cows didn't go to another pasture, they went to slaughter, and there's no Santa or the Easter Bunny." My mom could have killed me.:o )

Christmas Traditions - We are still battling this one out. We have sorta agreed to follow my family's tradition of opening gifts Christmas Eve, gifts from Santa are there on Christmas morning, and then a Christmas dinner. DH wants us to travel to see our families as DS gets older, but I'm not taking the holiday show on the road. Santa won't be able to find us there. My mom and her DH are driving up this year.

[hmbay]

Santa won't be able to find us there.

In all fairness when I was younger we tried to travel from Mpls to Denver for Xmas and ended up stranded in Mpls due to a snowstorm in Denver and Santa "found" me just fine in the room at the Howard Johnsons. ;)

[DianeCourt]

Christmas traditions: I hope DD believes in Santa for a looooooong time. Christmas was such a magical time for me as a child, and a lot of that had to do with Santa. Some of my best childhood memories are from Christmas. I hope DD grows up with the same great memories of this time of year.

DH & his sister read "Twas the Night Before Christmas" every Christmas Eve before bed. We started doing that with Lily last year & we'll continue that tradition. We also set out cookies & milk for Santa, which are of course eaten sometime during the night. :D Santa also leaves a thank-you note for the snack. ;)

[Eliezrah]

Hey everyone! I hope anyone else who's Jewish is enjoying Hanukkah, we are! Jackie is loving lighting the candles each night and the 2 of them love tearing off the wrapping paper on their gifts! LOL

As for shoes, they say no shoes or Robeez type shoes until they are fully walking and need the protection. Seth was walkiing fully by 10 months so he's been in "real shoes" since about 10 3/4 months. The kids love to go outside and play and he can now climb up on the palygrond equipment, etc so he needs the real deal.

Holidays: This is the first eyar we did 8 nights of gifts with the kids instead of just the first night. We're doing more with Jackie than Seth but he did get to eat latkes (made allergy free just for him) and he loved them!!

[EJM]

Christmas Traditions: Actually tonight is Christmas Eve here, we are having our little Christmas tomorrow -- presents/breakfast/special dinner etc. He'll have extra room in his sleigh for the rest of you. ;) We are headed out to my parents this weekend and none of my siblings drag their Santa gifts along.

Our tradition is to give DD Christmas/winter PJs to wear tonight (the rest of her gifts come from Santa) to bed. She opened those and is wearing them now. We will incorporate cookies/milk next year, I just never got on the ball about getting a special cookie plate :o . She'll still get to do it at my folks house though this year with all of her cousins.

One of my sisters is rather adament about starting her own traditions with her family and doing them on the 25th at her house, so this might be the last year we are not at our own house on Christmas Day.

I definitely want DD to believe in Santa, afterall who will I tell her is watching when I want her to behave during the month of December? :p ;) Seriously though, DH and I both had great memories of Santa and plan to continue that for DD.

AF finnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnaly arrived for me, and interestingly enough my milk supply issue resolved itself about 2 hours after she arrived. :confused: I guess I'll just chalk it up to a completely wacky cycle. I would have been excited to be pregnant, but am relieved to not have the possibility of moving in my 3rd trimester or with a newborn since we plan to move in the fall of next year to a larger house.

[godsgift77]

Santa - i am not sure and since ds is not old enough to know any better, I'm not that worried. I didnt believe (because my older brothers told me that Santa was fake) and we never did the easter bunny / tooth fairy / etc. I think its ok if ya wanna and ok if ya don't...

EJM - so sorry that AF reared her ugly head for both of us.... ah well... there's always next cycle :D

[Michelle and Curtis]

We're totally doing the Santa thing here. And we do the Easter bunny thing too. It's just so nice to see their eyes light up when they see that Santa ate all the cookies we left out and he fed his deer the carrots. I wouldn't trade that fopr anything.

[Eliezrah]

EJM, sorry about AF.

I hope all of you who celebrate it have a very Merry Christmas!!

[1_mommy]

Happy 2nd christmas to our now toddlers! I hope they have a great day!!


diancourt-i hope you have an especially great day ;)

[mcl]

Merry Christmas everyone and may 2007 be a year filled with many blessings for everyone.

[Eliezrah]

What are you guys doing online today? Aren't you supposed to be with yoru families opening gifts and stuff??? :-)

[godsgift77]

Merry Christmas to all!! CJ made out like a bandit - and didnt need anything since his birthday was just over 2 months ago *sigh*

He got:
Step 2 push behind car, FP little people preschool, TMX Elmo. Bounce and Turn Zebra, Thomas Push N Go, Crazy Legs learning bug, pull behind caterpillar, Radio Flyer wagon, FP Animal Train, tons of clothes, Books, money, shoes and PJs. WHERE am I going to put it all?? Right now, my living room looks like a preshcool! What a blessing! :D

I also thought I'd drop off some pics...

My little man on Christmas Eve
http://i98.photobucket.com/albums/l270/godsgift77/CJChristmas06.jpg

This year and last year...
http://i98.photobucket.com/albums/l270/godsgift77/Christmas0506.jpg

[Eliezrah]

Aww too cute! What a difference a year makes, huh?? I posted all our kids' hanukakh gifts in the holiday gift review thread. They got so many things I can't even remember anymore! LOL

I do have some Seth updates though.... Copied from MySpace:

So Seth's vocab list is growing and growing! OMG hes' up to 92 words (that we know of) and he still has 3 more days until we stop keeping track (when he turns 15 months old and I print it out for his baby book like I did for Jackie). WOW!!

I have some great Seth updates to report... Some of you know we've been having major sleep problems with him since he was born. Between his excema (we didn't know at the time it was allergy related), my being able to breastfeed him when I couldn't with Jackie, and him sleeping in our room, we got him into the habit of waking up and eating. Once we broke him of that habit around 11 months (right when I had to wean him becasue of his allergies) he got in the habit of coming into our bed with us in the middle of the night.

So last night was night #3 of serious sleep training for him. We need ot kick him of the habit of being terrifified of his crib, of needing to be held until he goes to sleep, and of needing to be rocked back to sleep or cuddled in our bed back to sleep.

The first night, I put him in the crib when he was tired and statyed with him and held him and cuddled him over the crib rail. It took about an hour for him to stop trying to get out and to just stand there quietly. Scott then suggested we just put him to sleep on us so he wouldn't be up half the night. That night when he woke up to come to our bed, I did the same thing and actually got him sleeping in about 45 mins! The 2nd night it only took 30 mins for him to fall asleep and he stayed asleep until 6:45 am! Last night Scott got him asleep in the crib in 20 mins! He woke up quite a few times (which makes for one VERY tired Lisa today) but he put himself back to sleep each and every time and slept till almost 7:30!! WOO-HOO!!!! Now we have to work on him being ok with us putting him in the crib and walking out of the room, but it is getting MUCH better!!

This morning I gave him some applesauce for the first time. He eats perfectly with a fork so I figured why not try a spoon... he ate the entire thing (keepnig the bowl on the tray and NOT throwing it off to the floor! LOL) and barely had any on him!!

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v410/eliezrah/DSC02191.jpg

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v410/eliezrah/DSC02192.jpg

[Eliezrah]

And here's his vocab list so far:

1. mama
2. baba (bottle)
3. dada
4. Dora
5. backpack
6. map
7. Steelers (not joking here! It sounds like "stil" but he says it when he points to their symbol!)
8. car
9. ball
10. bye bye
11. this
12. that
13. quack
14. clock
15. cat
16. there
17. weeeee
18. chalk
19. block
20. Bubba (one of our cats)
21. sock
22. dance
23. Grandpa
24. cow
25. moo
26. doo-doo
27. cheese (when he sees a camera)
29. downstairs
30. instruments
31. snack
32. cracker
33. Jackie
34. Pop Pop
35. up
36. upstairs
37. gate
38. baaa
39. bird
40. baby
41. all done (ok so that's 2 words! another 2 word sentence!)
42. boo boo juice (2 words again!!!)
43. duck
44. meow
45. sheep
46. diaper
47. open
48. pee-pee
49. paper
50. toilet
51. potty
52. zebra
53. down
54. choo choo
55. turkey
56. chicken
57. milk
58. jacket
59. bubbles
60. puzzle
61. door
62. candle
63. burp
64. dance
65. sink
66. crayon
67. belly
68. boo boo
69. juice
70. chair
71. football
72. clap
73. teeth
74. brush
75. door
76. stinky
77. star
78. blanket
79. eye
80. mouth
81. dinner
82. more
83. girl
84. stuck
85. color
86. naked
87. bath
88. crutches
89. thank you (yet another 2 worder!!)
90. bear
91. cheers
92. spoon

[Eliezrah]

We added carrot, catch & bed to his list of words upping it to 95 words!!!

Sleep update: OMG OMG OMG OMG OMG!!! So tonight was my night ot tuck him in. We got into my room and sat on the glider. He refused any milk at all (he was still drinking milk to fall asleep up until just a few days ago) and kept saying "bed, bed". He does say that when I forget his sleepsack so I decided to put it on him in the crib. He fuss-cried for less than a minute while I wa putting it on him nd he stayed laying down afterwards. I put him in at 8:08 and at 8:15 I realized he was quiet (I was sitting on my bed watching tv). I looked over and he was out cold already!!!!! I wasn't right next to the crib at all and I wasn't paying attetnion to him!!!! 7 minutes!!!!

Tomorrow we're going to try no milk at all and just his sippy of water. We're als going to start putting the sleepsack on him in the crib and see if that helps as well!!!!

OMG OMG OMG!

[shushyk]

I havent been here in so long. I hope everyone is doing great and had a wonderful holiday. HAPPY NEW YEAR!!!

Donnie has grown so fast I cherish every new word, new look, new game he can play, it has just been the most fantastic time with him.

I am starting to TTC#2 and trying not to get to excited, since we had so many problems the first time around. I am going to read up since I missed so much. Here are some recent pics of donnie

http://shim1.shutterfly.com/procgserv/47b6cc35b3127cce98549d9a4f0400000019119AcNGThkzaa


this is the "if you take one more pic of me I am going to snap" look
http://shim1.shutterfly.com/procgserv/47b6cc35b3127cce98549d9bce3500000017119AcNGThkzaa

[godsgift77]

Lisa- That is SO great!! Hopefully he'll stick to this new routine! WOW his vocab is so amazing! You must read to him ;)

shushyk - I can't see the pics :(

[mcl]

shushyk--i can't see the pics either but it's good to hear from you. donnie looks so big now. good luck with ttc #2

lisa--wow! that seth sure can talk up a storm. i hope your new sleeping routine sticks

[jenjen0713]

Hope everyone had a great Christmas! DS did pretty well and is happily enjoying all the new toys he received. The current favorite is the Little People Barn...thank goodness it isn't too annoying with the animal sounds like some of his toys! :p He also got a tricycle but he isn't quite big enough to reach the pedals so we just push him around on it and he is in heaven!

Love the cute pictures of the kiddos! I can't believe how big CJ and Seth are getting!

DS is full blown walking now. He finally built up enough confidence and off he went. Now, I need to go buy him a few more pairs of shoes as he only has one hard soled pair that fits.

Had a doctor's appt a few days ago and it is so hard to believe that in less than 7 weeks, there will be a newborn in our house again. I'm really looking forward to meeting him, but I can't say that I am looking forward to the sleep deprevation. :o

[Eliezrah]

UGH what a morning... Jackie was trying to climb into Seth's crib and fell.. we ended up in the ER and she has 3 stitches in her head now.. she's fine but I'm wiped out!

SETH SLEPT STRAIGHT THROUGH TILL 7:10 AM!!!! 11 HOURS! He's never slept that long before! Now we need to get him outta our room and into Jackie's since every noise he makes still wakes me up! LOL

~~~~

Shushyk, OMG he's soo cute! Good luck TTC #2!

Godsgift, thanks. Yeah we read all the time. He loves to sit and look through books and he enjoys watching/ listening when we read to Jackie for nap and bedtime as well.

mcl, thanks! I hope it sticks too! LOL

Jen, congrats on the walking! Hope yo'ure feeling well!

[godsgift77]

Lisa - so sorry about Jackie! How scary!

WOW!!! 11 hours!?!?! How cool is that?? I am jelly! CJ took a 3 hour nap today and i thought i would throw a party! :D

[hmbay]

I agree--11 hours? Alex is back to getting up 1-2 times a night as throwback from that stomach bug we had. Last night he was up from 2:30 to 4:30 talking away in his crib refusing to go to sleep. I finally shut the monitor off, put ear plugs in and just ignored him. No idea what time he finally went back to sleep. I also realized as I was lying awake last night I need to really work on some things with him--he's still refusing a sippie, won't drink cold milk, he's still addicted to his pacis, he still won't STTN..... I know he's teething (3rd molar just popped through) and that is part of his issues but I need to pick something and force it through. We're setting up his big boy bed this weekend. He loves Colin's bed so the only real problem I'm anticipating is him running around his room instead of sleeping but perhaps he'll sleep better this way. I can hope right? ;)

[shushyk]

hmbay omg the big boy bed already. :eek: that thought scares me. I like the cage eehem I MEAN the crib;) the not sttn realy works ya over. donnie had a horrible cold/teething thing for a few weeks too and was up a lot. thank goodness that is over


godsgift77- 3 hrs that does require a party!!! donnie still struggles at 1&1/2 hrs. but i think he might be giving up one nap so he might start sleeping longer well see.

Eliezrah OMG - glad she is ok. maybe you can get a nap in. thanks for your hanuka wishes. we had a great time too. I know a while back I mentioned donnie had terrible eczima, it FINALLY has started to clear up. it not is just little patches. it seems like you guys have it all down now. is it something he might grow out of? That is SO many words. Donnie says a lot of stuff but many things sound the same :D

jenjen0713 - OMG 7 weeks!!!! the time has just FLOWN by.


My major thing is to try to clean out the computer & guest room. turn the guest room into donnies big boy room and put the guest room in the computer room. i don't see that happening anytime soon since I can't seem to find anyone to do the work.

We are happily enjoying gymboree classes once a week. he loves the teacher and getting out. anyone else a SAHM feel BORED - I feel like I am great at the mom part, but can't seem to figure out the cleaning and organizing part? right now there is clean laundry all over the house, not to mention a bed that needs changing, floors need vacuuming, and a house that needs dusting. OH and don't forget the bathrooms that need cleaning too - ok basically EVERYTHING needs work!

Give me your secrets - anyone have a good working routine for household chores?

[hmbay]

shushyk--I moved Colin into a twin bed by the time he was 18 months because i needed the crib for Alex. Alex loves Colin's bed--he climbs in it all the time and sits there and plays/looks at books etc so I figured since I already have the bed why not see if he'd sleep better in it. My back is killing me from putting him back in his crib half-asleep a couple times a night since if I put the side down it wakes him up when I put it back up. A lot of people don't move them out of the crib until 2 or 3.

[Kanga]

jenjen - Wow, you are getting so close! I have 10 weeks left, but honestly this time I'm hoping to go over. The more time I have to prepare myself the better. So not looking forward to the sleep deprivation part AT ALL either. Daytona has my sleep habits (terrible) but dh's personality (outgoing). I'm hoping this one is mellow like me and good sleeper like dh.

Lisa - I hope Jackie is feeling better! I would be wiped out too, but glad to hear Seth's sleep habits are doing better.

Big girl bed - so not ready for it yet. Daytona flops like a fish, I don't even know if those safety rails would keep her in so she's staying in her crib for as long as possible. We're buying her a convertible one and dd#2 will get her old one since it doesn't convert. MIL has already told me she found a full size bed for Daytona at a garage sale and keeps trying to convince me to take it. It doesn't matter how many times or ways I tell her 'no thanks', she just doesn't seem to get it. (she didn't bother to ask me if I wanted/needed one before she bought it) We already have a full size bed, but apparently it isn't feminine enough (black metal) for her according to MIL. She keeps telling me that Daytona is old enough for a big girl bed now or we could use the pnp for the baby for a few months until Daytona is ready. Grrrr. Oops, I guess that sorta turned into a vent.

Daytona did really well (surprisingly) with all the traveling we did over christmas. She got a radio flyer ride on car, rolling suit case (I think MIL was trying to hint at something), a drum set with marracas, and tambourine inside(:rolleyes: ), a few outfits, books, and some other random toys. The drum set really irritates me. SIL and MIL joked about buying one just to annoy us. We had already bought her one that wasn't too loud so I asked her if she was serious about so I could return the one we bought and get her something else. She said no, that she didn't really buy it. Sure enough they bought one (or got one later) and took it out of the packaging as soon as it was unwrapped. We had already given her our drum so now we have two. Wonderful. MIL made a joke about purposely not giving a receipt so we couldn't return it. Dh said it was staying at her house, but MIL said no, we had to take it. I told her it's either going to my parents house or goodwill after the baby is born. That thing is OBNOXIOUS and I'm sooo not dealing with it AND a sleeping newborn. MIL still insists that the baby will learn to sleep through it and doesn't want to see her gift wasted. Maybe. But she sure won't just sleep through it from the beginning, she'll have to learn to, and I'm not dealing with that. Sorry, shouldn't have boughten it for her after I told you anything we didn't approve of/obnoxious was going back. Oops, I guess that sorta turned into a vent.

[Eliezrah]

Time to dig out the toddler bed.... Yes, I mean for Seth.... He'll be 15 months old tomorrow but it's probably time for the toddler bed... He climbed out of his crib today (and fell right on his head, poor guy!!!) We JUST got him to not hate his crib and to sleep through the night, and now we gotta get him used to the toddler bed and in Jackie's room too.... That's not gonna be fun since they have the same nap and bed time. OY!!!! He did get another 11 hours last night so that's good! I have no clue how it's going to work with both of them in the room running around together... there's no way he's going to sleep.. I'm so NOT looking forward to this! Scott did iremind me, though, that Seth is devleopmentally where Jackie was when we put her in the toddler bed at 18-19 months...

His vocab list is also now up to 101 words and we have till tomorrow to keep track.. then I print it out for his baby book!

Jackie is totally fine now, you can't even tell she got hurt yesterday! Thanks for yoru concern.

~~~~

Godsgift, wow a 3 hour nap? What I woudl give for that much time! What did you end up doing?

Heather, good luck with the transition. Is he getting a twin or toddler bed to start? Let me know how it goes, I'm nervous!

Shushyk, the main thing is to never expect to get it all done at once. I do the house in parts. I dust/ lint brush whatever room we're in (our kitchen, diningroom and living room are on the main level so those are the rooms that are easiest to clean for me). Try doing 1 room a day if you can and see how that goes.

Kanga, yikes about the extra drumset! OMG!!! I don't blame you for not wanting it!!!

[hmbay]

Lisa--he's getting a twin bed. MIL and FIL gave us this set of cheapie bunk beds a few years ago that are pretty low to the ground yet fit a regular sized twin bunk bed mattress with no box spring (why they are lower). I really hate them as bunk beds but it's perfect to use both of the individual beds for the boys. So he gets that with the bed rail I'm taking off of Colin's bed. I think Colin will be fine without the rail but if not I'll go buy Alex his own.

[godsgift77]

Kanga - i think CJ got that same drum thing for his birthday. Is it by Parents?? If so, it is SO irritating! I say hide the thing. She'll never know!


Godsgift, wow a 3 hour nap? What I woudl give for that much time! What did you end up doing? Incessantly check on him :o I kept thinking something was wrong because he was asleep so long. By the time i got used to the idea that he was just WIPED out, he woke up! LOL!

I hope you all have a wonderful New Year!!! We will be going to church at 10:30. Hope the boy sleeps through it... *sigh*

[Michelle and Curtis]

All is well here and thank goodness the holidays are about over. The boys got way too many toys! The biggest item...my mom got them a TV to go with the V Smile that Santa brought. It's a 20" flat...nothing fancy but it's still surprising that they got one. Skylar does very well with the video games and Axel loves to watch. It seems like it's really helping to teach Skylar letters.

I'm taking decorations down tonite. We don't do anything for New Years so this should keep me busy till the ball drops on TV.

Night all!

[Eliezrah]

Heather, Colin should be fine w/o it. WE never put a guard rail on Jackie's bed and she's only fallen out once I think. Good luck with Alex's transition!

Godsgift, so did he sleep through it?

Michelle, I hear ya about too many toys!

[Eliezrah]

OMG guess who's now drinking from the Avent Sippy tops? We gave it to him 2 days ago just to see and he took it! Mr. No Sippies But The Nubys is now drinking from a semi- hard spout! Yippee! Another week or so and we'll try the regular hard spout!

He's also officially STTN!!!

[Kanga]

Godsgift - I think it's by First Act, that's what it says on the drum. The box was ripped open so fast I barely even knew what it was before the IL's were tearing into it. I paid them back though. The next morning dd was up at 5:30am and that was the first toy she played with and woke the whole house up:p Oh, and it's crazy, but MIL will definitly notice if it's gone. She got dd a Parents cell phone that I keep in the diaper bag. We were over at MIL's for christmas and dd was screaming at me to give her my cell phone. MIL made a comment about how I never let her play with the phone she got her. :confused: She loves the thing, but it stays in the diaper bag so it still seems like a new toy and gets us through most errands, plus nothing is as cool as my cell phone so it wouldn't even work to keep her content. The drum will stay in the closet and only appear when MIL/SIL are here. SIL I don't mind at all, but maybe it will keep MIL from staying all day.

Shushyk - I try to do the kitchen (dishes, counters, and sweep floor) once a day and the living room 2-3 times a day (where dd's toys all are). The bedrooms and bathroom are on the top floor where there isn't a way to put a gate at the top of the stairs though, so those don't get done near as often as they should. Actually, it's probably been a good three weeks since I've vacuumed up there:o When it gets really out of control, we hire a cleaning service to come in and get us caught up. We did it just before Daytona was born and will probably do it again just before #2 is born.

jenjen and lysh - Do you have any names picked out yet? We're undecided between Cameron and Carmen. Dh wants Carmen so he can call her Car for short:rolleyes: I like them both pretty equally so I think we'll wait to see what she looks like. No middle names yet.

Toys - We sorted through them after christmas, packed up all the ones she's outgrown and sent the ones she's bored of to grandma's. Then today, I went to target and got this shelving system and the baskets (all on sale!) to go with them. It's too heavy for me to lift, but hopefully dh will get it put together tonight.

http://images.amazon.com/images/P/B0002I269S.16._SCLZZZZZZZ_SS260_V50358517_.jpg

http://images.amazon.com/images/P/B0009GC7ME.16._SCLZZZZZZZ_SS260_.jpg

It's in the living room for now, but hopefully we'll have a playroom one day it can be in.

Dd also took a 3 hour nap the first day we started on a one nap schedule. It was heaven, but I wish I would have known it was going to be 3 hours. I was only expecting 1 1/2 - 2 hours, so after that I kept thinking "She's going to be up any minute, I better not start anything I can't finish."

I think dd was trying to prepare me for when #2 comes (9 weeks!). She was up FOUR times last night (every 2-3 hours). She's getting her molars in so I assume that's why, even though teething hasn't ever done that to her before. Man, I am so not used to that. The good news though is that since switching to one nap, she has slept in til 6:30!!! It's only been two days, so I'm hesitant to call it her new schedule just yet, but I'm crossing my fingers!

ETA - What size diapers is everyone's dc in? After 3 mornings in a row of leaking diapers, we moved up to size 6. She's only ~21lbs but the weight on it says 35 and up. Is everyone else the same way, or does my kid just have chunky thighs or something?

[Eliezrah]

I can't believe so many of you are on round 2 already! Wow, we're gonna have phase 2 of babies soo soon! Yippeee!!

[EJM]

Happy New Year!!

We had a good Christmas, Avery made out like a bandit! :p My sister brought a gigantic tub of toys that her kids have outgrown so DD got even more than gifts. I think her favorite thus far has been the babydoll, but it seems to change daily. We have no place to store anything now. We've officially grown out of our condo and DH got promoted so we've decided to sell our place and move during 2007. We had given some thought to relocating to another city, but I think we are going to stay put just make the move to burbs. It'll be a huge adjustment not walking everywhere. I'm ready for a yard and a basement.

Shushyk: We actually have a cleaning lady who comes once a month. She does all the major cleaning and I just do maintenance. I do clean the floors every other day. I'm constantly doing laundry and dishes. I try to have all the laundry folded before DH gets home from work, and then do the dishwasher once he is home. It is too loud while DD sleeps. We were never good about cleaning the dust/dirt before DD was born and I love having someone who does it for me. As for getting things done, I have certain things I do on certain days and it helps keep me organized -- I've always been that way. If I didn't, I tend to put things off.

Baby #2: Wow, you ladies are getting so close!! I don't know about you, but your pregnancies seemed to have flown by. ;)

Diapers: We are still in size 3s.

Oh, I almost forgot -- DD is walking. We got to my parents house and she took off! She's been walking for 7 days now and doesn't even wobble. True to form, DD doesn't do anything until she knows she'll be almost perfect at it. She also dances up a storm which completely cracks me up. :)

[jenjen0713]

kanga - Both names you have picked out are great. We still don't have a name picked out...it just seems so much harder this time around.

EJM - Congratulations on the walker! :)

diapers - We are on size 4 and I would guess DS is probably 23 pounds. He has been in them for quite a while now.

I saw in another thread that we have another RO!!! :D I'll let her reveal herself, but I wanted to wish her CONGRATULATIONS!!

[shushyk]

ETA - What size diapers is everyone's dc in? After 3 mornings in a row of leaking diapers, we moved up to size 6. She's only ~21lbs but the weight on it says 35 and up. Is everyone else the same way, or does my kid just have chunky thighs or something?

we are in size 4 during the day - we had the same problem so what we do (recommended by another mom) is we were the size 5 overnights folded under at the belly button area. then I put ANOTHER diaper on top (just regular one) and it does the trick. if we dont use 2 no matter what size he is in, he goes through every morning.

thanks for all the tips on the cleaning. I had a bit of post partum anxiety, and the cleaning lady I had used to always touch donnie, and it would drive me NUTS and gross me out (she was just using chemicals and stuff to clean). so I had them stop coming, I think I am going to start that up again. we also have the good will coming to pick stuff up on the 4th, and that will help I am going to go through some more of my clothes and dh got rid of lots of stuff.

I am trying not to obsess about TTC#2 but I am already counting the days till I can test :rolleyes:

[godsgift77]

New Year's eve - CJ was up until 2 am! :eek: He slept til 9:30 and then took a 3 hour nap so i guess he's caught up...

Diapers - we're on size 5. He's been in them a while and no leaky diapers...

CJ has a new word - Boo Boo. He says it right before he "goes". We are so excited because its a first step in potty training!! :)

[EJM]

CJ has a new word - Boo Boo. He says it right before he "goes". We are so excited because its a first step in potty training!! :)

:D


My sister taught DD the sign for "poop" over the holidays, which DD now uses when she is going #2. :p

[godsgift77]

EJM - that is so cool! I wish i would have worked with CJ more on signing... he doesn't sign anything....

[Michelle and Curtis]

Diapers...totally depends on the brand of diaper. In pampers he's wearing about a 5 but other brands is a 6. He's about 25lbs. now.

*** If anyone is having trouble with leaky diapers during the night you might want to try Pull-ups. Yea, they're for potty training but I guess it's because they are designed for older children they hold a lot and the smallest size really isn't very big at all. Just a tip! :-) ***

[scubasam]

Originally posted by jenjen0173
I saw in another thread that we have another RO!!! I'll let her reveal herself, but I wanted to wish her CONGRATULATIONS!!

Are you talking about me, Jen? ;) If not, there must be another one that I don't know about!! :p You sneaky girl! Thanks for the congrats!

Yes, add me to the RO list! We found out on Christmas (faint, faint bfp w/ a pg test that I wasn't sure worked right) and then followed up w/ a very clear bfp the day after. I'm not ready to full on call myself a RO yet pending an u/s at the end of this wk to make sure it's not ectopic (as I had one before Carter) but betas are rising nicely so far! We're really excited but still a bit cautious until after the u/s goes well. Wish us luck!!

Overall I'm feeling MUCH different than w/ Carter. Last time I had bad m/s at 14dpo and none so far. Also no sore boobs. The exhaustion is incredible though. I'm sure it's more pronounced since I'm chasing a toddler but GEEZ, it is so much worse than it was w/ Carter. Course, I probably didn't notice as much w/ Carter either since I was so focused on throwing up! lol.

I wrote this big post on Christmas Eve and cc ate it and I was too busy to repost so I'll try to catch up.

clothes - Carter's still in mostly 6-12 mo pants but in 12-18 mo shirts, depending on the brand. He's *just* starting to wear some 12-18 pants but I still have to roll up the bottoms. He's in size 4 or 5 shoes.

traditions - None here yet but I really intend on having them. I didn't have any w/ my family but DH's family does and I really like the thought of traditions. If #2 is a girl, I will definitely start taking her to the Nutcracker every year - this is the one thing my mom did do w/ me for a few yrs and I still to this day love to go and have taken my nieces.

Santa - We'll absolutely teach our kids about Santa and let them believe for as long as possible. My feeling is that Santa is part of that magic & imagination that is so awesome about kids and as teens/adults, we don't get to experience that magic enough so why not let kids have it in their lives for as long as possible?

Christmas - We had a wonderful holiday. Just hung out w/ DH's family, went to church, ate lots of food, exchanged some great gifts and best of all, we were able to witness Carter opening presents and experiencing the day. I can't wait until next year and he'll 'get it' that much more.

diapers - Size 4's....he's been in 4's for what seems like forever.

I can't believe there will be babies here so soon! Jenjen & Kanga - I'm so excited for you guys. I hope that you're both feeling well and that these next few weeks are good for you!

Hope everyone had a great NYE! We hung out at home - we had plans w/ friends but had to cancel cuz poor Carter was throwing up all Saturday night and hence the 3 of us didn't get any sleep (did I mention that I'm exhausted?!) so we kept to the couch most of the day. DH had to wake me up at midnight to ring in the new year and could barely make it through that 30 seconds of the countdown! Carter's throwing up shifted to diarrea all yesterday and today.....the poor kid has gone through so many jammies, sheets, diapers and baths. I feel so bad for him. Twice today he took himself to his room and pointed at his bed. He's never down that. :(

Well, off to get a little nap before he wakes up.

[Kelly's Girl]

Please cross your fingers for DH and me tomorrow morning. We're having an IUI! I've been on injectibles for the past 12 days b/c my RE said that I'd indeed had a period on my own, just like a big girl! :) Soooo, it came up kind of fast but I figured we ought to go with it since there's no guarantee I'd have a cycle again on my own, and here we are...getting ready to try for #2. I can't believe it! I am not sure if I should be excited or get my head examined (since TTC is so clinical and planned for us, it's never an "oops" so I have noone to "blame" but myself, KWIM?)

Anyway, just needed a few good thoughts!

And happy new year to DS, who popped up and walked across the living room today just as big as you please.

He's in size 3 diapers still, no blowouts. Not much of a talker, but definitely gets his point across. I, too, wish I'd been more consistent in signing with him, the poop story is too funny!

[hmbay]

hmm I'm sure I missed a few questions but here goes:

diapers--size 4 during the day, 5's at night

clothes--18-24 months

RO's--fingers crossed for Kelly's Girl. I already said congrats to Scubasam. I can't believe how close the rest of you are. We are starting to TTC3 this month but I think this month won't involve charting or obsessing. I think I'm nuts to have another when two drive me nuts somedays but I "feel" we're supposed to have 3 so on to more sleep deprivation.... :rolleyes:

beds--Colin did great without the rail. Alex gets to try his "big boy bed" tonight. He already has been crawling in and out of it and giggling. Since it is indentical to Colin's bed (and we're using Colin's spare sheets since the ones I