April 2006 Moms - Our babies are on the move!

[April'06Moms]

Welcome April 2006 Moms & Babies
A thread for those with babies due in or born in April 2006.

Threadmistresses: Jane&Andy, JenniferEC

Member Info:
CC Name:
DS/DD Name:
Real Name/Age:
DH's Real Name/Age:
Married:
EDD:
Birthdate:
Time of Birth:
Weight:
Length:
Other Children, furbabies, etc.:

Please post your stats and any updates in red. :)

link to our old thread (http://www.constantchatter.com/forum/showthread.php?t=19595)

[April'06Moms]

amygrrl
DD Name: malin elizabeth
Real Name/Age: amy 36
DH's Real Name/Age: dan 34
Married: 02/15/03
EDD: 4/19/06
Birthdate: 4/3/06
Time of Birth: 11:53 pm
Weight: 5 pounds 10 oz
Length: 19 in
Other Children, furbabies, etc.: Avery Elizabeth - born still 6/3/05

bctoledo
DS name: Benjamin Robert
Real name: Carrie, 25
DH name: Brian, 26
Married: May 24, 2003
EDD: April 22, 2006
Birthdate: April 21, 2006
Time of birth: 1:51 am
Weight: 8 lbs, 9 oz
Length: 22 inches

briamcd
DD Name: Mackenzie
Real Name/Age: Brianna 24
DH's Real Name/Age: Paul 28
Married: 8/04/2001
EDD: 4/20/2006
Birthdate: 4/04/2006
Time of Birth: 8:45pm
Weight: 7lbs 5oz
Length: 19.3 in
Other Children, furbabies, etc.: Cat- Sebastian, Chocolate Labs - Mudd & Mocha.

cagey
DS name: Benjamin Joseph
Me: Katherine, 33
DH: Judd, 34
Married: 10/12/02
EDD: 4/15/06
Birthdate: 4/20/06
Time of birth: 8:16 am
Weight: 7 lbs 4.8 oz
Length: 20 inches
Other children: Sammy the Dog!

ceallaigh
DD: Kyra Rose
EDD: April 8, 2006
ADD: April 7th, 2006
Birth weight: 7pds, 11 oz
Length: 20.5 inches
Hair color: was red, now she's bald!
Other babies: Conor 2

charissa
DS name: Logan Jacob
Me: Charissa 28
DH: 30
Married: 6/28/03
EDD: 4/10/06
Birthdate: 4/11/06
Time of birth: 7:31 am
Weight: 7 lbs 8 oz
Length: 19 inches
Other children: none... yet hee2

ginandchris
DS/DD Name: Deborah Sara
Real Name/Age: Regina/33
DH's Real Name/Age: Chris/33
Married: 5/22/2004
EDD: 4/19/2006
Birthdate: 4/12/2006
Time of Birth: 8:07 am
Weight: 6 lbs 15 oz
Length: 19
Other Children, furbabies, etc: none

Guinness
DS Name: Elliot Judson
Real Name/Age: Caroline/31
DH's Real Name/Age: Tom/31
Married: 4/25/03
EDD: 4/30/06
Birthdate: 4/18/06
Time of Birth: 5:54pm
Weight: 7lbs 7oz.
Length: 19 1/4in.
Furbabies: Guinness (black lab), and Kata (white lab)

hapahaole
DD Name: Kaylie Tate
Real Name/Age: Heather, 30
DH's Real Name/Age: Matt, 31
Married: June 28, 2003
EDD: I forgot already! Ummm April 2nd I think
Birthdate: March 14, 2006
Time of Birth: 4:45am
Other Children: John William (aka Jack), 2

Jane&Andy
DS: Joseph Andrew (Joey)
Name: Jane, 29
DH: Andy, 33
Married: May 24, 2003
EDD: April 2, 2006
Birthdate: March 16, 2006
Time of birth: 1:10am
Weight: 6lb 4.4oz
Length: 18.5in
Furbabies: Dog - Butter, Cats - Sebastian, Lucy & Figaro

jeeplover
DS/DD Name: Kyle
Real Name/Age: Holly, 30
DH's Real Name/Age: Jason, 31
Married: 6/19/04
EDD: 04/30/06
Birthdate: 04/05/06
Time of Birth:11:23 am
Weight: 7 lbs 7.5 oz
Length: 20 3/4
Other Children, furbabies, etc.: two cats, Hook and Tinkerbell

JenniferEC
DD Name: Marin Elizabeth
Real Name/Age: Jennifer 33
DH's Real Name/Age: John 36
Married: August 31, 2002
EDD: April 24, 2006
Birthdate: April 5, 2006
Time of Birth: 4:33am
Weight: 5lbs 13.9oz
Length: 18.5"
Other Children, furbabies, etc.: Caden 3-14-04

jrsygirl
DS/DD Name: Cole Robert & Paige Kelly
Real Name/Age: Holly 32
DH's Real Name/Age: Brian 33
Married: Sept. 2005
Birthdate: April 5, 2006
Time of Birth:5:11pm/5:22 pm
Weight: 5.6/5.7
Length: 16/17
Other Children, furbabies, etc.: Chocolate Lab: Brody

KB57
DD Name: Abigail Grace (Abby)
Real Name/Age: Kerri / 27
DH's Real Name/Age: Billy / 27
Married: 5/7/05
EDD: 4/6/06
Birthdate: 4/13/06
Time of Birth: 1:11am
Weight: 9lbs 10oz.
Length: 21 1/2in.

Kopper
DS Name: Jacob Alexander
Real Name/Age: Katie / 27
DH's Real Name/Age: John / 29
Married: 09/21/2002
EDD: 04/04/2006
Birthdate: 03/31/2006
Time of Birth: 5:51am
Weight: 9lbs 1.9oz.
Length: 20 1/8in.
Other Children, furbabies, etc.: Dog - Sally, Cats - Maxine, Bailey, Pipi

LittleStar
DS/DD Name: Harrison Campbell
Real Name/Age: 32
DH's Real Name/Age: 32
Married: 3/10/2001
EDD: 4/22/2006
Birthdate: 4/15/2006
Time of Birth: 3:26 p.m.
Weight: 7 lbs 9 oz
Length: 19 3/4
Other Children, furbabies, etc: 1 dog (german shepard) - 4 years old

Mel7dog
DS Name: Benjamin Gerard
Real Name/Age: Melissa, 24
DH's Real Name/Age: C, 23
Married: 1.15.05
EDD: 4.21.06
Birthdate: 4.26.06
Time of Birth: 11:42pm
Weight: 8lbs 8oz
Length: 21.25 inches
Other Children, furbabies, etc.: Dogs: Max & Carrie

Misty911
DS Name: Joshua
Real Name/Age: Misty 29
DH's Real Name/Age: Patrick 30
Married:07/06/03
EDD: 04/09/06
Birthdate: 03/31/06
Time of Birth: 11:17 a.m.
Weight: 8lb 6oz
Length: 19"
Other Children, SD Patricia, 10 DS Caleb, 2 DD Emily, 1

MMHinCA
DD Name: Ainsleigh
Real Name/Age: 28
DH's Real Name/Age: 30
Married: July 26, 2003
EDD: April 28, 2006
Birthdate: May 5, 2006
Time of Birth: 7:38am
Weight: 6lbs 11oz
Length: 20 inches
Other Children, furbabies, etc.: A 2 year old yellow lab, Bella

relly
DS/DD Name: Brycen Peter & Devon Elisabeth
Married: November 8, 2003
EDD: April 26, 2006
Birthdate: March 21, 2006
Time of Birth: 5:02 and 5:00 pm
Weight: 3 lb. 14 oz. and 4 lb. 7 oz.
Length: 15.5 in. and 16.5 in.

Sal03
DD name: Kate Lauren
Me: Rebecca, 31
DH: 36
Married: 6/15/03
EDD: 4/7/06
Birthdate: 3/23/06
Time of birth: 12:43pm
Weight: 7 lbs 15 oz
Length: 19 inches
Other children: Dylan Benjamin, 6/29/04

SaphirimalMei
DS Name: Finley
Real Name/Age: Marisa
DH's Real Name/Age: Phillip
Married: 9/27/2003
EDD: 4/22/06
Birthdate: 4/28/06
Time of Birth: 6:10pm
Weight: 8lbs 6oz
Length: 21.25 in
Other Children, furbabies, etc.: DSD Gaelyn 14, DSD Elizabeth 9, DD Jillian 1 3/4, Saint Cornelius the dog 6


Sevilla
DS: David Michael
Me: 23
DH: 25
Married: 6/14/03
EDD: 4/2/06
Birthdate: 3/28/06
Weight: 6lb 14oz
Height: 20in.

Shania0474
DS Name: Gabriel
Real Name/Age: 31
DH's Real Name/Age: 35
Married: 2002
EDD: 4/4/06
Birthdate: 3/20/06
Weight: 8lbs 0oz
Length: 21 in.
Other children: David, 18.5 months

Sully130
DS/DD Name: Thomas
Real Name/Age: 30
DH's Real Name/Age: 32
Married: June 2002
EDD: April 29, 2006
Birthdate: April 20, 2006 (induced after five months of bedrest!)
Time of Birth: 5:32 p.m.
Weight: 8 lbs., 4 oz.
Length: 21 1/4"
Other Children, furbabies, etc.: Our angel daughter, Hannah, born still at 23 weeks on 4/22/2005, and we have a precious chocolate lab who is about four

Uskiku
DS name: Anders
Me: 34
DH: 31
Married: 1/10/04
EDD: 4/24/06
Birthdate: 5/01/06
Time of birth: 3:38 AM
Weight: 7 lbs 11 1/2 oz
Length: 21 1/2 inches
Other children: nope

[April'06Moms]

March 14
Kaylie Tate (hapahaole)

March 16
Joseph Andrew (Jane&Andy)

March 20
Gabriel (shania0474)

March 21
Brycen Peter (relly)
Devon Elisabeth (relly)

March 23
Kate Lauren (Sal03)

March 31
Joshua (Misty911)
Jacob Alexander (Kopper)

April 2
David Michael (Sevilla)

April 3
Malin Elizabeth (amygrrl)

April 4
Mackenzie (Briamcd)

April 5
Cole Robert (jrsygirl)
Paige Kelly (jrsygirl)
Marin Elizabeth (JenniferEC)
Kyle Gregory (jeeplover)

April 7
Kyra Rose (ceallaigh)

April 11
Logan Jacob (charissa)

April 12
Deborah Sara (ginandchris)

April 13
Abigail Grace (KB57)

April 15
Harrison Campbell (LittleStar)

April 18
Elliot Judson (Guinness)

April 20
Thomas (sully130)
Benjamin Joseph (Cagey)

April 21
Benjamin Robert (bctoledo)

April 24
Anders (uskiku)

April 26
Benjamin Gerard (mel7dog)

April 28
Finley (SaphirimalMei)

May 5
Ainsleigh (MMHinCA)

[April'06Moms]

Our babies are growing like weeds! :) This is a comparison of our babies stats from well baby visits.

Joey (Jane&Andy)
Weight
Birth: 6lb 4.4oz
1 month: 7lb 10oz
2 months: 9lb 10z
4 months: 12lb 14oz
6 months: 14lb 12oz
7 months: 16lb
9 months: 17lb 7oz
Height
Birth: 18.5in
1 month: 19.5in
2 months: 21 7/8in
4 months: 24.5in
6 months: 26in
9 months: 27.5in
Head
1 month: 36.5cm
2 months: 38.75cm
4 months: 41cm
6 months: 43cm
9 months: 44.25cm

Anders (uskiku)
Weight
Birth: 7lb 11.5oz
3 days: 7 lbs 11 oz
8 days: 8 lbs 8 1/2 oz
4 months: 18lb 9oz
Height
Birth: 21.5in
4 months: 25in

David Michael (sevilla)
Weight
Birth: 6lb 13oz
6 wks: 10lb
6 months: 16lb 1oz
9 months: 19lb 6oz
Height
Birth: 20in
6 months: 27in
9 months: 28.75in

Finn (SaphirimalMei)
Weight
Birth: 8lb 6oz
2wks: 9lbs 6oz
4 months: 16lb 10oz
6 months: 19lb 4oz
Height
Birth:21.25in
2wks: 22.25in
4 months: 27in
6 months: 28.5in

Ainsleigh (MMHinCA)
Weight
Birth: 6lb 11oz
1wk: 6lb 13oz
1 month: 9lb 6oz
Height
Birth: 20in
1 month: 22in

Jacob Alexander (Kopper)
Weight
Birth: 9lb 1.9oz
5 weeks: 10.8lbs
2 months: 13lb
4 months: 17.2lbs
6 months: 19.4lbs
9 months: 22.5lbs
Height
Birth: 20 1/8in
5 weeks: 22.5in
2 months: 23.5in
4 months: 26 1/4 in
6 months: 27.5in
9 months: 30in

Benjamin (Mel7dog)
Weight
Birth: 8lb 8oz
1 month: 11lb 14oz
11wks: 15lb 4oz
4 months: 17 lbs 2oz
6 months: 18lb 13oz
9 months: 20lb 4oz
Height
Birth: 21.25 inches
1 month: 22.25in
11wks: 24in
4 months: 25.5in
6 months: 28in
9 months: 28.5in

Marin Elizabeth (JenniferEC)
Weight
Birth: 5lb 13.9oz
1 month: 6lb 15oz
4 months: 12lb 7oz
6 months: 14lb 8oz
9 months: 17lb
Height
Birth: 18.5in
1 month: 19.5in
4 months: 23 1/4"
6 months: 25in
9 months: 27in

Kyle Gregory (jeeplover)
Weight
Birth: 7lb 7.5oz
7 lbs 12 oz
8wks: 10lb 12oz
12wks: 11lb 10oz
4 months: 14lb 4 oz
6 months: 16lb 10oz
Height
Birth: 20 3/4in
20 3/4 in
2 months: 23in
4 months: 25in
6 months: 26 1/4in

Mackenzie (briamcd)
Weight
Birth: 7lbs 5oz
1 wk: 6lb 9oz
2 wks: 6lbs 9oz
3 wks: 6lbs 12oz
1 mo: 7lbs 4.5oz
6 wks: 8lb 8oz
2 months: 9lb 7oz
4 months: 12.2 lb
6 months: 15lb 1oz
Height
Birth: 19.3in
1 mo: 20 in
2 months: 23in
4 months: 24.5 in.
6 months: 27in

Kate Lauren (sal03)
Weight
Birth: 7lbs 15oz
10wks: 13.5lbs
4 months: 14lb 13oz
6 months: 15.14lbs
9 months: 19.2lbs
Height
Birth: 19in
10wks: 24in
4 months: 24in
6 months: 24in
9 months: 27.75in

Logan Jacob (charissa)
Weight
Birth: 7lb 8oz
4 months: 12.4 lbs
6 months: 16lb 8oz
9 months: 18lb
Height
Birth: 19in
4 months: 25in
6 months: 27in

Joshua (Misty911)
Weight
Birth: 8lb 6oz
Height
Birth: 19in

Kaylie Tate (hapahaole)
Weight
Birth: 7lbs 4oz
1 month: 9lbs 12oz
2 month: 12lbs 12oz
6 months: 18.5lbs
Length
Birth: 19"
1 month: 21 1/2"
2 month: 22 1/2"
6 months: 28in

Benjamin Joseph (cagey)
Weight
Birth: 7lb 4.8oz
Length
Birth: 20in

Brycen Peter (relly)
Weight
Birth: 3 lb. 14 oz
5 weeks: 6 lb. 4 oz
6 months: 16lb 6oz
9 months: 20lb 3oz
Length
Birth: 15.5 in
5 weeks: 19.5 in
6 months: 26in
9 months: 28.5in
Head
6 months: 43cm

Devon Elisabeth (relly)
Weight
Birth:4lb 7oz
5wks: 6lb 8oz
6 months: 16lb 3oz
9 months: 19lb 9oz
Length
Birth: 16.5in
5wks: 19.25in
6 months: 26.5in
9 months: 28in
Head
6 months: 44cm

Cole Robert (jrsygirl)
Weight
Birth: 5lb 6oz
9 months: 21lb
Length
Birth: 16in
9 months: 27.5in

Paige Kelly (jrsygirl)
Weight
Birth: 5lb 7oz
9 months: 17lb
Length
Birth: 17in
9 months: 27in

Thomas (sully130)
Weight
Birth: 8lb 4 oz
2wks: 9lb 8oz
1 month: 10lb
8wks: 13lb 2oz
4 months: 17 lbs, 8 oz
6 months: 20lb 2oz
Length
Birth: 21.25in
2wks: 21 3/4in
1 month: 23in
8wks: 23.5in
4 months: 26 inches
6 months: 27 3/4in

Kyra Rose (ceallaigh)
Weight
Birth: 7lb 11oz
1 month: 9lb 13 oz
Length
Birth: 20.5in
1 month: 22in

Deborah Sara (ginandchris)
Weight
Birth: 6lb 15oz
4 months: 25 3/4 inches
Length
Birth: 19in
4 months: 12 lbs 7 oz

Harrison Campbell (LittleStar)
Weight
Birth: 7lb 9oz
4 months: 14lb 14oz
6 months: 16lb 3oz
9 months: 19lb 12oz
Length
Birth: 19.75in
4 months: 25in
6 months: 26.5in
9 months: 27.75in
Head
4 months: 17 3/8

Elliot Judson (Guinness)
Weight
Birth: 7lb 7oz
2wks: 8lb 2oz
2 months: 12lb 13oz
4 months: 15lb
Length
Birth: 19.25in
2wks: 21in
2 months: 23.5in
4 months: 25in

Gabriel (Shania0474)
Weight
Birth: 8lb
4 wks: 12lb 5oz
2 mos 2 days: 15lb 8 oz
2 mos 12 days: 16lb 7oz
4 months: 19lbs 14oz
6 months: 22.5lbs
9 months: 26lb 6oz
Length
Birth: 21in
2 mos 12 days: 25.5in
4 months: 28 in
6 months: 29.5in
9 months: 31.5in

Abigail Grace (KB57)
Weight
Birth: 9lb 10oz
10wks: 13lb 1oz
4 months: 16 lbs
8 months: 21.4lbs
9 months: 21lb 9oz
Length
Birth: 21 1/2in
10wks: 25in
4 months: 26 inches
8 months: 30in
9 months: 31in
Head Circumference
10wks: 41cm

Malin Elizabeth (amygrrl)
Weight
Birth: 5lb 10oz
1wk: 5lb 13oz
12wks: 12lb
2 months: 9lb 10oz
Length
Birth: 19in
12wks: 23.5in

Benjamin Robert (bctoledo)
Weight
Birth: 8lb 9oz
1 month: 12lb 2oz
4 months: 18lb 12oz
6 months: 20lb 8oz
9 months: 22lb 5oz
Length
Birth: 22in
1 month:23.5in
4 months: 26.5in
6 months: 28.25in
9 months: 29.75in

[April'06Moms]

Elliot (Guiness)
http://ct.pbase.com/g5/60/577260/3/68553241.anRl8NrK.jpg

Joey (Jane&Andy)
http://www.imagestation.com/picture/sraid223/pa6fbcfc4b137fd4844b79bfb7623f5af/eaf683af.jpg

Harrison (LittleStar)
http://static.flickr.com/112/286143636_57310dd873_m.jpg

Ben (bctoledo)
http://static.flickr.com/116/286368679_9d80d8cce0_m.jpg

Ben (mel7dog)
http://i88.photobucket.com/albums/k188/BensMom426/January/0023.jpg

[April'06Moms]

Jacob (Kopper)
http://i110.photobucket.com/albums/n118/Katie-John/DSC04288.jpg

[April'06Moms]

saved for even more pictures

[April'06Moms]

saved for a few more pictures

[April'06Moms]

saved for more pictures!

[April'06Moms]

one last one for pictures

[April'06Moms]

Car Seat Thread (http://www.constantchatter.com/showthread.php?t=573)
Sleep Thread (http://www.constantchatter.com/showthread.php?t=133&highlight=sleep)
Sling Thread (http://www.constantchatter.com/showthread.php?t=573)
BFing Thread (http://www.constantchatter.com/showthread.php?t=573)
FFing Thread (http://www.constantchatter.com/showthread.php?t=573)
C-section thread (http://www.constantchatter.com/showthread.php?t=573)
Baby Signing (http://www.constantchatter.com/showthread.php?t=573)

[April'06Moms]

Open for posting! :D

[Guinness]

Well didn't quite mean to be first - thanks for the new thread!! Here are stats and pics for the new thread. I am following along, but don't post a ton. Working takes too much time :o

6 month Stats:
Weight: 16lbs 10.ozs 50%
Height: 27 1/2 75%
I forget head but 25%

Here are a couple of the latest pics:) You can use any of them for the 1st page
http://ct.pbase.com/g5/60/577260/3/68553305.8AA3YkLB.jpg http://ct.pbase.com/g5/60/577260/3/68553241.anRl8NrK.jpg
http://ct.pbase.com/g6/60/577260/3/68976614.DMxtW3Cy.jpghttp://ct.pbase.com/g6/60/577260/3/68976650.nwxpfLQh.jpg

[Jane&Andy]

here's a new one of Joey
http://www.imagestation.com/picture/sraid217/pbde064a59d17eb53b94c30bd9254f09e/ec53c1a1.jpg

Guinness - I can't see your pictures. :(

[Jane&Andy]

Guinness - I can see the pictures now, he's adorable! :)

[shania0474]

hi ladies! Yay for new thread!!! Thanks, threadmistress. :)

halloween we're not doing much (actually nothing really: tired lazy mom plus DH who doesn't like the whole witchcraft thing means it probably won't be celebrated until the kids are old enough to say, "why am I the only one without a costume, mommy?")

naps G has also gone to 2 naps: some days he'll take three one-hour naps but most days he'll take two 2-hour naps so he actually gets more sleep during the day with two naps than with three

sal David's talking so much now, thanks for asking! His vocabulary exploded overnight and he's actually putting phrases together and eating much better. EI is definitely working!!! :) When his PT saw G crawling at six months, he exclaimed, "wow, he's early! most babies start crawling at 8 months" I was like, "yeah well, David started crawling at 7 months and everyone said he was early and look how late he was with speech" so I have decided to just enjoy them without worrying too much about milestones.

QOTD Does everyone have AF back in full force? She's been around for months now and my milk totally disappears when she comes. I am finally giving up and introducing G to formula...

[jeeplover]

Thanks for the new thread!

QOTD-Yup AF came back as soon as I finished BFing at 4 months. Totally sucks!

[jeeplover]

Jane-Love the new picture of Joey!

[Jane&Andy]

thanks jeeplover. :)

QOTD - no sign of AF yet.

[LittleStar]

QOTD - Funny you should ask about that. I got AF back around 4 months pp, had 2 regular periods, but now I'm about a week late. I'm still nursing so I'm sure it's just that my hormones are still wacky.

Halloween - Can't remember if I've already said, but H is going to be a kangaroo. My goal is to dress him up and then hang out outside passing out candy til he has to go to bed.

Daylight savings - H was up at 4:30 a.m. (thinking it was 5:30), and got really fussy around 6:15 p.m. (thinking it was 7:15 and why wasn't mama putting me to bed?!) so he went to sleep around 6:45. Hopefully, it'll work itself out since 4:30 a.m. is way.too.early!

[Sal03]

Shania I was like, "yeah well, David started crawling at 7 months and everyone said he was early and look how late he was with speech" same with Dylan. but of course now I keep waiting for Katie to babble consonant sounds and she is not. I am going to be watching her speech so carefully. I can't help it! But Dylan has done SO well in EI. saying so many phrases and too many words to count. it is the best program ever!

QOTD no sign of AF. YAY! I think it returned around this time after Dylan even with exclusively nursing so I am figuring any day now.

Naps thanks everyone for your feedback. She took later afternoon naps the past two days so it worked out without the 3rd nap. Today she did NOT so she was a disaster by 5:30 :(

Hapa I wrote to you in LJ. I am trying to figure it out over there.

Lucky for us (sorry littlestar for your too early wake up call) with the time change both kids did not get up until 6:30am. But my poor little girl is a mess. She has a really runny nose and is getting her first two teeth. I see lots of white spots and the gums are a little red. BUT instead of the middle two bottom ones, it is the two on either side of those! So unless she gets the middle ones SOON, my baby is going to have fangs! :( I feel so bad she has a runny nose. Dylan did not get his first cold until a year when I started weaning. She just is getting all of his preschool germs. Oh well, nothing I can do.

[jeeplover]

Daylight Savings-Poor Kyle fell asleep at 6 pm last night thinking it was 7 pm but woke up around 8:30 but luckily we just changed him into his pajamas and he fell back asleep althoug this morning Kyle woke up at 5:30 thinking it was 6:30 augh-I hope this won't last too long! I totally sympathize with you littlestar!

[Jane&Andy]

Daylight savings - I kept Joey up 30min late on Saturday in hopes of easing the time change (and not waking up too early!). We were at my BIL's so I had to get him up at 11pm so we could head home. Normally he handles the late night transfers really well and sleeps in the car and goes back to sleep at home without a problem (he always wakes up a little, he's just not a sound sleeper). This time he stayed up for the entire hour drive home and then it took about 30min to get him back down at home. He was happy the whole time, just awake. He slept in a little Sunday and I put him to bed a little early. This morning he woke up early but went back to sleep on his own pretty quickly. So I think we're easing through the time change ok.

Joey is feeling much better now - much less congested. He's still got a few more days of antibiotics left and then we go back to the ped next week to recheck his ears.

I've been lazy about giving him the sippy cup - got tired of giving it to him to just have him play with it. He loves eating the puffs now (gets spastic when he see's the container) but hasn't mastered feeding himself smaller foods (will feed himself a wagon wheel).

still no teeth or any sign of teeth.

[jeeplover]

Teeth-Forgot to mention that Kyle got his fourth tooth this weekend! Now that explains him being grumpy and clingy on Friday.

[charissa]

daylight savings - I was worried about this at first, but on Friday we went to the Disneyland Halloween event, so we were out late anyway, and amazingly he stayed up till 10:30pm without getting cranky, I couldn't believe it. So he's right back on schedule b/c he was all messed up that day. He didn't even know what hit him :)

[JenniferEC]

Jane - Thanks for starting the new thread. I know I've been a terrible threadmisstress. I will try and help out more with this one. :) I'm glad Joey is feeling better, and I hope Butters is, too.

AF - Yep, she's here and I could do without. TMI - I haven't been able to wear a tampon since I had Caden and it's still uncomfy. I'm thinking I might make an appt with my OB because pads don't do the trick for me and I want to make sure that everything is ok.

daylight savings - Marin has done well. She's still taking two naps a day and is doing better at putting herself to sleep since starting to roll. Caden, on the other hand, was up at 6 this morning. I'm going to have to work on keeping him up later tonight.

I can't believe Marin will be 7 months on Sunday. She's getting so big and rolling all over the place. It won't be long before she's crawling. We're still waiting on hair and teeth, but I'm sure to dress her in some pink when we're out so people don't refer to her as a he. Even when she's been in pink with a pink blanket, I've had someone come up to me and ask if she's a boy or girl. :confused:

I hope everyone has a fun and safe Halloween. I will try and post pics of the kids on Wed.

[Jane&Andy]

Poor Joey - he just doesn't understand why I'm keeping him up so late. I kept him up til 5:45 again tonight. :rolleyes: (pre-time change we started bedtime at 6)

I caught him nibbling on his toes for the first time today. :)

Jennifer - don't worry about it, the thread isn't much work these days. Butter is better now - I've ordered a muzzle that he's going to have to wear when going on walks. He's the friendliest dog in the world but its the only thing I can think of to keep him from eating sticks.

Happy Halloween from Joey!
http://www.imagestation.com/picture/sraid216/p59a3255800572131506f4591dd01b875/ec841ce4.jpg

and here's a better picture for the front page
http://www.imagestation.com/picture/sraid217/p519e160699f8629d00ab66a806acc718/ec484e1e.jpg

[Sal03]

Jennifer I had heard that tampon thing from a lot of people and then it happened to me too. Sometimes I can wear one but most of the time it was pretty uncomfortable and I ended up in a pad. That is one reason I am dreading AF coming back. Hope you and the kiddies have a fun halloween! I am going to try and get a picture of both kids. I find it is easiest when they are in the double stroller.

I am having such a hard time this morning. I am such a wacko. I stood katie up at the learning table and she stayed. :( It was so sad for me to see my baby standing. It's funny how I got so excited about all this stuff with Dylan and I do for Katie too, but it makes me sad too how fast it is going with her. Dylan was SO excited to see her standing he came over to help and hug her from behind. It was so sweet. :)

[JenniferEC]

Thankfully it stopped raining just before trick or treating! (still need to fix the red eyes)
http://i108.photobucket.com/albums/n24/jeconrard/IMG_1788.jpg
http://i108.photobucket.com/albums/n24/jeconrard/IMG_1779.jpg

[Sal03]

Here are my kiddies... :) I think these are going to be big. sorry!
http://i49.photobucket.com/albums/f298/rebeccag202/Halloween2008.jpg

http://i49.photobucket.com/albums/f298/rebeccag202/Hallowe06_016.jpg

[shania0474]

what lovely pics! Dylan and Caden could pass as twin supermen! :) And Joey has such a beautiful smile!

sal I can totally relate. G is moving so fast (crawling, pulling himself up, etc) it is making me really sad and excited at the same time. And it makes me baby David more too because I feel like I missed out on all this with him because I was working such long hours and only got home in time to put him to bed. They are both loving all the mommy attention and are spoiled completely rotten!

More halloween pics please... :)

[JenniferEC]

Sal - That's funny we both had Supermans. I've been wondering how Caden even knows who Superman is since he's never seen him on tv, but he's a big Superman fan! Katie is adorable! Her costume looks comfy enough to sleep in. Hope you had a good Halloween!

[Jane&Andy]

Sal and Jennifer - adorable costumes!!!!

feeling sad - DH just uploaded some video clips of Joey starting when he was 4 months old - wow, my boy has grown up in just a few short months! He's at a great age now (very interactive and giggly) but I miss my cuddly newborn.

I kept Joey up until 6:35 last night! :eek: that's unheard of around here! But he still woke up at 5:15. I think its just a habit for him. If he woke up happy and ready to start the day at 5:15 I could deal with it - but that really is too early for him (and me).

He's been going to sleep without making a peep lately - except yesterday's morning nap - but he was fragile then b/c I had just vacuumed. And even then it was only a few peeps. I don't think I'm lucky enough for it to last long but I'll enjoy it while it does.

[relly]

Love all the Halloween pics!

Jane – thanks for the new thread. Joey looks so cute in his knit hat. I agree, I miss my little newborn babies. They grow up too fast.

Here’s my little lion and fireman:
http://www.imagestation.com/picture/sraid217/p8d3bd87f95f0e1d90ebe885243ad34cc/ec441e5a.jpg

[LittleStar]

So, I finally joined Flickr because I just had to post a picture of Harrison in his kangaroo costume...

http://static.flickr.com/112/286143636_57310dd873_m.jpg

(this can go on the front page threadmistress)

[bctoledo]

Ben was a lion for Halloween. I broke down and joined Flickr so that I could post a picture.

http://static.flickr.com/116/286368679_9d80d8cce0_m.jpg

Feel free to post this picture on the front page.

AF Mine came back a month and half ago but haven't seen it since.

[April'06Moms]

Updated to here :)

[hapahaole]

This must be just the cutest age ever. All our babies could be on the Gerber box. They're all sooooo cute and yummy!
hapa

[Sully130]

I love seeing all of the Halloween babies! Everyone is so cute!!

hapahole - I know! Sometimes I wish my DS could stay this age forever! :)

~~

I've been terrible about keeping up with this thread. I seem to devote all my online time to keeping up with my LJ. I'll try to do better.

Am about to try to go to bed early (before 10:30), but wanted to drop off a few pics while I had a moment (please don't post them elsewhere in the thread; I will remove later).

Photos removed. :)

Will try to come catch up more later!

[Jane&Andy]

hapa - I agree, this is a wonderful age. :)

Sully - he's adorable!

[Jane&Andy]

Joey is a big fan of Fall - he loves leaves
http://www.imagestation.com/picture/sraid218/pffde0534a06fa91219909166a2e67553/ec2ee0d7.jpg
http://www.imagestation.com/picture/sraid218/pc09583d85e63766719e051cc770be2dd/ec2edef6.jpg

[hapahaole]

I love the pics!!!
Quick Halloween costume drop off...

http://static.flickr.com/106/288065303_2929309a73_o.jpg

hapa

[jrsygirl]

Jane Those pics of Joey in the leaves are ADORABLE!!!!!!!!

[jrsygirl]

Happy Halloween!

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v231/hbd511/bugs.jpg


The twins are 7 months old now. C-R-A-Z-Y how fast time goes!!! I have a hope that maybe by the time they are 10 or so they might actually sleep through the night since it seems like it certainly won't happen before they are two!

Last night was insane. I cannot even tell you how many times I was up with them. There doesnt seem to be aby rhyme or reason to when they wake either. We have been trying to ST but its hard with two ...and Paige let me tell you- that girl screams like there is no tomorrow when she gets mad! and she gets MAD when she thinks we're ignoring her. She's a tough cookie.

[Jane&Andy]

I love your little bugs jrsygirl!!!! One baby is enough work for me, but boy would I have a good time picking out costumes for twins! :p

hapa - cute costumes - I love the card!

[Sal03]

Jane adorable leaf pictures!!

Jennifer it's so funny - dylan has no clue who superman is. it is the only costume though that does not have a hood or mask. he would not have tolerated either!

jrsygirl they are SO cute!!!!

Hapa I love the pictures. it's funny, I still picture Jack as Harry Potter. it was the perfect costume for him last year.

Shania how's it going with MIL? is she still there?

Everything good here. Dylan is just in LOVE with his sister which is so much fun to watch. Katie really needs the third nap still but just won't settle for it so she is pretty much a bear by 6pm. Makes this lovely screeching sound. But I am happy to say she is really laughing now so that is the BEST. :) I gave her puffs for the first time today and she loved them. She just picked it up and ate it like she had been doing it forever. It was so funny. DH changed jobs and took two weeks off in between. That was just heaven. He went back yesterday and I am REALLY feeling it. it was so much help having him home!

[Kopper]

Where have I been? I just realized there is a new thread. Cute pictures everyone! :)

Things are going ok here. DH has accepted a new job that will require him to travel every other week to Salt Lake for 3-4 months and then after that once a month. I'm not thrilled but the position and raise were way too good to pass up. This is something he has been wanting to do for a few years now. I have no idea how I will cope since Jacob still doesn't sleep great. He was up 3 times last night between 6:30 and 10pm and then slept until 2:15am. I think he may be teething again. He is full on crawling now and very fast. I have to watch him like a hawk now that he is into everything. Last Friday he pulled himself to standing and is now practicing on everything. He is up to 20lbs now and in 9 month clothing. It's finally getting cold here in Texas so I have to find him a winter coat. Old Navy didn't have any in his size this weekend.

relly - Jacob had that same fireman costume from Kohl's. :D

[shania0474]

Jane sooo adorable! you take really good photos! every time I come in here, you have a new avatar with an amazing new photo! :)

hapa gorgeous! is that a card or photo collage?

jrsygirl cute bugs!

sully your cute pumpkin reminds me of my adorable chunky monkey. what a great laugh he has!

sal MIL is gone! Thank God!!! We went out to LA 2 weekends ago and by the time we got back, she was gone! I was kissing and hugging my walls, so glad to have my house back! :) Glad to hear Katie is laughing up a storm, it is really great, isn't it?

kopper congratulations on DH's promotion! sorry it has to take him away for a while, hope the time flies.

I am loving this stage so much! G is such a delight to be with -- he's cuddly and he laughs at the slightest thing plus I can put him down to crawl when I need to do stuff (not young enough to need carrying/rocking all the time and not old enough to run around and break everything)!!! I have to keep reminding myself that this is what happened the last time that I let myself get pregnant again when D was 8 months...

[Jane&Andy]

thanks Shania. :) I love taking pictures.

Kopper - that's a bummer about the travel but yay for the promotion!

Sal - that must have been wonderful having your DH home for 2wks but I bet its a heck of an adjustment getting back into the regular groove of things.

naps - most days Joey still takes 3. He's been getting up early (5:30 today) and when he does that he needs three.

[JenniferEC]

Jane - I agree. You take really good pics and Joey has such great facial expressions. You're going to have quite the photo album for him when he's older.

hapa - Great costumes! Love the cheeks in the Tigger costume. Does the jack-o-lantern have glasses?

jrsygirl - I love that you dressed them similar but not the same. I hope the sleep gets better soon!

sal - Glad things are going well. Is Dylan pretty much gentle with Katie? I find myself constantly telling Caden to be gentle with Marin. He wants to love on her, but is squeezing her hand or pulling on her legs.

Kopper - Congrats on your DH's new job. I hope the time flies when he is gone. DH used to travel a lot when it was just me and Caden. I hated being alone all the time, sometimes for 2 weeks at a time. Thankfully he got a new job 2 months before Marin was born and there is practically no travelling.

shania - Are you telling us there might be another? :)

Caden just got over a cold and now Marin has it. Her poor little nose is so congested. She tolerates the saline drops and suction thingy pretty well but she's having trouble breathing when trying to eat. I called her ped and they suggested some Pedia Care drops, so DH is going to come home at lunch with some. It sucks when they're too young to blow their own nose.

[Jane&Andy]

It sucks when they're too young to blow their own nose

yes it does! Joey is on his third cold now and he hates the suction thingy with a passion. Its nearly impossible to do it without DH restraining him.

thanks Jennifer. If I can ever get myself set up with a decent scrapbooking area I have a lot of scrapbooking to do with Joey's pictures! And then I just have to keep it up with baby #2 so that they don't ask why there are so many more pictures of Joey. :p

speaking of pictures - here's one from last night - his first lollipop
http://www.imagestation.com/picture/sraid218/pf32aa0f2d4d66c28df82f90109f23173/ec234c72.jpg
he had a good time with it - kept banging it on the high chair. I know he doesn't need the sugar but its not like he has any teeth to rot! I only let him have it for a few minutes.

[uskiku]

Absolutely adorable photos, everyone!!! Cuteness galore!!! :D

Things are going OK here: A is doing great, he is such a big boy (at 6 months he weighs 20 lbs 7 oz and is 28 1/4 inches long) and is such a smiley, happy fellow. It's such a cute age! He is desperate to crawl (and gets MAD when he cannot - it's too funny to watch). Still not sitting up on his own, but seems to be more steady. We've started solids: sweet potatoes were not a hit, but he is doing better with bananas! He has 2 teeth now and boy are they sharp! :eek: Breastfeeding is still going strong, though he's a biter, so we've had a few battles there :( Unfortunately, my bad back has taken a turn to the worse and is now really bad. Nights are the worst. A does not take a bottle, and still needs to be rocked to sleep at night. I posted a new thread at parenting, but if anyone has any advice how to teach him to fall asleep on his own, please share it with me - we're getting quite, quite desperate...

[Jane&Andy]

uskiku - I'm sorry about the back problems. With Joey he was sleeping ok in the crib but taking all naps on me - so when I started putting him in the crib he would cry, I would go back in and pat his belly. Sometimes that was enough to get him to sleep, sometimes I had to go back a few times. We just kept working on it and now he goes down easily for his naps - but the best part was that only a few days into this he started wanting to go to sleep on his own at night instead of me rocking him to sleep and then putting him in the crib (instead of drifting off to sleep in my lap he'd get very fidgety). So it wasn't really a specific plan of attack - I'd just put him in the crib awake and then try to figure out from there what he needed (to be patted and shushed or to give him a few minutes on his own). You might want to check out the March 06 thread - I lurk in there and one of the Moms was recently describing her sleep training method - I can't remember it all but it sounded like a good method to me.

My Mom is coming today for a visit! Hope everyone has a good weekend!

[uskiku]

Jane Thanks so much for your reply! :) I just love the way you taught Joey to fall asleep on his own! Wish I'd pick your brain earlier, as A seems pretty set in his ways (i.e. nursing and rocking) now. I'll give it a try though. When did you start your "training" i.e. how old was Joey? I sooo hope it's not too late for Anders!

In other news: about an hour ago I watched my little man move forward about a feet!! He's not crawling yet, but he is *thisclose*! My goodness!!

ETA Jane - love the pic with the lollipop! We have the same Fisher Price Space Saver high chair - we finally decided to go with this one, and we just love it! :)

[Sal03]

Jane you were so smart to get that space saver chair. ours takes up our whole kitchen. I am definitely moving Katie to her booster soon.

Jennifer he is pretty gentle with her. sometimes he gets too excited and shakes the exersaucer really hard, but mostly he is good. They were just making me smile so much. They were both laughing SO hard. Dylan was making this spitting noise and Katie was hysterically laughing every time he would do it. Then Dylan would crack up. And this is a game started with me in the next room making dinner. They were just playing. I love it!

Uskiku not much time to post, but this is a perfect time. Most "experts" recommend sleep training after 6 months anyway. I forgot if you said this, but do you have a bedtime routine? we found that really helpful. Like Jane said, just be consistent and keep putting A down awake. Eventually it works! Even if you have to let him cry/fuss for 10-15 minutes at a time.

Shania your MIL posts crack me up!!

Now I know why Katie was a bear at sleep times last week. She got her first two teeth. Two at once! Her middle bottom two. :)

Quick question, how much solids are your babies getting? Katie gets about a 1/2 cup oatmeal for breakfast, a stage 2 veggie at lunch and at dinner usually a stage 2 fruit and either a stage 1 or stage 2 veggie.

[charissa]

uskiku - I was at my wits end with DS when he was 2 months old or so. So we started the "mild sleep training" then. We'd just put DS down after doing the usual bedtime routine (feed, warm bath, book) pop in his paci, say good night and walk out. It didn't fare so well at first, but after about a week of doing that, it works, they realize that oh, after all that, its time to say night night.

We used the modified Ferber technique. Going back in to soothe DS after progressively longer periods of time. We did 3 mins, go in and soothe, then 5 mins (if he was still in need of soothing). Then 10, then 15, but usually after the 5 minute soothing, he would fall asleep after that.

I recommend two books to all my friends who are new moms like us, The Baby Whisperer and Happy Sleep Habits, Happy Child. Not all of the adivce is good for everyone, as I've mentnioned before, I use a combo of both of these books and modify it to what works for us.

Now DS goes to bed at 7:45pm and wakes about around 7:00 am or later. We've had a few soothing sessions b/c of teething, which finally broke through today, yeah! But otherwise, even with disruptions to bedtime (ie disneyland and other late nights out) he still falls asleep on his own.

Good luck, it just takes patience, consistency, and time. Hope I helped a little, I know my saving grace was a friend who already went though it all, so I knew it had to work at some point :)

[shania0474]

jennifer another???? hmmn. DH wants one more and I keep telling him no way unless we're adopting. I've been either pregnant or nursing the past three years and it has taken a significant toll on my body (especially on the tummy and boobs)! BUT watching my lovely babies play with each other sometimes... I don't know... if there is another, it won't be until Gabriel is three!!!!!!! Sorry about the cold... when my mom is here, she sucks the mucus out of the kids noses with her mouth (yuck! but it works! they're so happy afterwards) she does it and spits it out so fast, it doesn't enter her mouth but still... yuck!

uskiku I agree with everyone. Consistency is key. If you have a bedtime routine that ends with him drowsy and being put to the crib awake, he'll eventually get it. There will be some tough days though... I finally had to let G CIO tonight because he was so tired but he wanted to continue playing with mommy so he'll fuss a little, laugh/babble a little, suck his thumb a little and then fuss again... finally I put him in his crib and jumped in the shower (drown out the crying and give myself and him some time). By the time I came out of the shower (10-15 minutes later) he was fast asleep.

sal I'm glad I have this space to come to vent about MIL since I can't really vent to DH too much (this has been tough on him mediating between his two precious women). One of his cousins called me yesterday and said "Just to let you know that you shouldn't take anything she does/says personal. It's not you, it's her. She annoys everyone she comes in contact with." I was very shocked because I had never said anything to her but I have a feeling MIL said something to her mom (they're very close and that's where she went to when she left our place). Couldn't resist repeating what she said to DH :p

[amygrrl]

updates....

sleep - malin is a champ. she's putting herself to sleep with minimal fussing, just requires we rock her to her song and give her the wubbanub and she goes down. she's also down to waking up once a night most of the time. occasionally, she'll wake up twice and every once in a blue moon she'll sleep through the night. she generally goes down at 6:30 - 7:00 pm and wakes up between 7:00 - 8:00 am. she's down to 2 naps a day and also goes down without a fight. we're feeling super lucky on the sleep front.

teeth - she's got 5! geeze she's got a mouth full!

developmental milestones - she's sitting up well. rolls all over to get what she wants. she's reaching for me. she's crying and screaming when she doesn't get her way (if i take something away from her or leave put her in her crib when she doesn't want to be there). she's saying 'mama' a lot. i don't think there's purpose to it, so i wouldn't call it a word... but it's really sweet to hear her say it.

solids - she's taken to everything we've given her (she's up to about 15 different things. she's doing 3 meals a day and LOVES to eat and LOVES water.

af - i stop EPing at 6 months so it's been about 1 1/2 months and still no AF. but i've had random spotting since about 4 months pp.

and the latest pic... (nope... her hair obviously never fell out!)

photo removed...

[Sal03]

just a superquick post to say amygrrl she is just absolutely PRECIOUS. I am so jealous you have a full head of hair to play with!

and I second Charissa's recommendation of Healthy Sleep Habits Healthy Child. We used Ferber with Dylan and that worked great too. But the overall tips in HSHHC I think are excellent

[Jane&Andy]

uskiku - I started with Joey at 5 months - the naps he was taking with me never lasted long enough so he was crabby a lot - I just couldn't take it anymore. The first week was the hardest - just stick to it and be consistent and he will learn to put himself to sleep. Once they master that skill its wonderful! And I'll third that book recommendation. :)

amygrrl - she's gorgeous!

[uskiku]

Thanks everyone so much!!! I cannot tell you how much appreciate your support and advice - you're the best!! :)

We do have a (very simple) bedtime routine, and I have to say that bedtime is the easiest in terms of getting him to sleep. We just do the bath-pj's-nurse-rock-bed thing.

Well, last night I took a deep breath and took the plunge... The moment he put his head in the crook of my arm and closed his eyes, I counted to 20 and put him in the crib. He moved around a little, got on all fours even, changed positions and then... FELL ASLEEP! :eek: I just about fainted in front of the crib!
Granted, the first waking was bad - it did not work at all then and it took DH and I 2 hours to finally get him back to sleep, but I'm so majorly excited that he CAN do it! oops fussy baby

[JenniferEC]

uskiku - Congrats on the crawling! I hope sleeping is getting better for you. Thankfully we didn't have to do much training with Marin. She's been putting herself to sleep for a couple of months.

Sal - Marin doesn't each much solid food yet. Most of the time, it's just one stage 1 food for dinner. I may try to get some oatmeal this week and start that for breakfast, but she still isn't very interested in taking a spoon.

shania - That is so gross. I know you said it doesn't go in her mouth, but still! Yuck! I have been cleaning out both kids' noses for a week now and after seeing what comes out, there is no way that stuff is going anywhere near my mouth. Your mom must have some special trick.

Both kids still have colds. Poor Marin wakes up with snot dried in her hair (the few strands she has). I thought Caden was better on Friday but he got sent home from school.

I was reading some other threads this morning and saw that one of the moms on this thread is pregnant again. I won't say who, but she doesn't post very often. DH mentions #3 at least once a week, but there is no way it's going to happen anytime soon, if at all.

[Jane&Andy]

A pg April '06 Mommy!!!? Wow, you have me curious - haven;t figured out who yet. But Congratulations whoever you are!

We plan to TTC#2 in August - aiming for just over 2yrs apart at the earliest. I;m very excited about the prospect (doesn;t help that I have a very pg SIL - makes me nostalgic for Joey's newborn days) but still so not ready to do it now.

My Mom just left this morning. We had a nice visit. We'll see her next week for Thanksgiving but it was nice to see her now without the rest of the family (my 2 sisters, their husbands and 4 kids will all be there for Thanksgiving).

Joey is trying to get up on all fours now. He's had a cold but seems to be getting better now. I think "Hi" might be his first word - he uses it purposefully but not very often. The other day he said it very clearly when I carried him downstairs in the morning and he saw Daddy.

ETA: I figured it out - Congratulations! :)

[Kopper]

Hi Everyone! I know the sleep advice was for uskiku but it has helped me to so thank you! :) We need a lot of work in that department. Co-sleeping is becomnig harder and harder since I just can't get comfortable with DS next to me. I wake up multiple times a night on top of the many times DS wakes me up.

Oh thanks everyone for the congrats on DH's job. They actually let him go early so he is off this week (paid) and next (unpaid). We are taking this time to "spring" clean our house and working on the sleeping situation. It's nice to have help during the day. I am not looking forward to the traveling though.

Solids - I only give him solids once per day. When does everyone starting giving them twice a day?
So far he has had:
carrots, peas, green beans, sweet potatoes, yellow squash and zuchini (together), summer squash, prunes, apples, pears, bananas, avacado, rice cereal and oatmeal

Milestones - No talking yet. He doesn't make many sounds anymore (babbling). I think the last two months he has been focusing on the physical milestones. In 6-7 weeks he learned to sit up, crawl, pull himself to sitting and pull himself up. He really wants to move all the time. We put him at one end of our hallway and he is down it in no time. We babyproofed some this weekend and will do more in the next week. He is into everything! Anything in reach is fair game.

#2 - I used to want 3 and had it all planned out before Jacob. They were going to be 18 months to 2 years apart. That all changed when he was born! :D Now I think we won't be TTC until Jan 08 or so. Some times I think he is going to be an only child. I just don't know how I will cope with two if the second is like DS. Wonder who the mystery preggo is... :) Congrats!

[LittleStar]

Hi everyone!

A quick update:
Milestones - H waves "hi" - but instead of waving at you, he turns his hand around so it looks like he's waving at himself - so freakin' cute!! He's also "army" crawling.
Solids - We've just moved to the next room at daycare, and it seems like they feed the kids all the time! In addition to bottles, they have breakfast, lunch, and snack! We just don't have time to feed H any solids when he gets home from school, because it's so close to bedtime. So, I think I'm going to have the school feed him oatmeal w/ a fruit for breakfast, a veggie for lunch, and then skip the snack (at least for now). That's solids twice a day.

So far, H has had rice cereal, oatmeal, bananas, carrots, sweet potato, peas, and winter squash.

#2 - We'll start ttc in June/July '07. I want the kiddoes about 2 years apart.

Congrats to the new pg mom!

[uskiku]

Jennifer Thanks!:) I'm not ready to call it crawling quite yet; sort of proto-crawling... He can move forward a bit, but he definitely needs to learn how to do it more efficiently and ahem... gracefully :p

Kopper Congrats on DH's new job!! I'm so glad all this great advice helped you! I've started a few threads over at parenting, check them out, there's some great info there. Our sleep training came to a halt: we realized that we're traveling next week (going to IL's for Thanksgiving), so it would have been a very bad timing. But then my parents will invade a few weeks after we come back from the IL's, and then I'll start working in January, so I don't know when we'll have a quite period with no stress...
Keep us posted on your sleep training! Are you going to move Jacob to crib?

Mystery pregnant mama Congratulations!!! :)

TTC # 2 Ehh... who knows... DH and I are both on the job market. Anders is not a great sleeper. But I really, really would like 2 kids... And at the ripe age of 34 there's not that much time left...

[Sal03]

Jennifer I am SO CURIOUS NOW!!! LOL I am trying to figure out who it is but I can't!

[Kopper]

I tried to figure it out too but I couldn't. Congrats to the pg momma though!

[Kopper]

Kopper Congrats on DH's new job!! I'm so glad all this great advice helped you! I've started a few threads over at parenting, check them out, there's some great info there. Our sleep training came to a halt: we realized that we're traveling next week (going to IL's for Thanksgiving), so it would have been a very bad timing. But then my parents will invade a few weeks after we come back from the IL's, and then I'll start working in January, so I don't know when we'll have a quite period with no stress...
Keep us posted on your sleep training! Are you going to move Jacob to crib?

Thanks. :) I am a bit embarassed to admit this :o but we are still swaddling DS (just his arms). The first several months he would wake himself up hitting himself. Now it has become a habit and he will not stay asleep if he is not swaddled. He also takes twice as long to go down. Our go to sleep routine is a bit of a nigthmare. For awhile he did really good and even slept 9-9.5 hours in his crib several times. Right now he goes down about 7:30 ish in his crib and then DH brings him to our bed when he wakes up 10:30 - 1:00am ish. He often wakes up 1-2 times in between though. It takes me about 40 min to get him down but most of that he is nursing. DH takes him when he wakes up before 11pm. I've told him that he should start trying to pat him back to sleep instead of getting him out of the crib. He still takes all of his naps on me. This morning I didn't swaddle him for his morning nap and he slept 35min. This afternoon I swaddled him and he slept 2.5hrs. Tonight we are going to try not swaddling him since DH doesn't have to work. I don't know how I am going to cope when DH is traveling. He takes all of his naps in my lap and it is really grating on me. When DH is working I don't get anytime to myself.

Good luck with your sleep training! Something has to work right? :)

[jrsygirl]

kopper dont feel bad we just stopped swaddling the twins last weekend. I figured I needed to break the habit now before I couldn't find something big enough to swaddle them with. Its been a rough week but I'm glad I made the decision to go cold turkey.

[Jane&Andy]

the pg mama - its in her signature. I'd given up my search and than ran across a post of hers in parenting.

for those dealing with sleep issues - good luck. :) We had it rough for awhile with Joey and he used to only nap on me. Once you get through the sleep training it is so nice to have that time on your own and not have to fight to get them to sleep. Don't give up - just be consistent and keep it up, they will figure it out. Today was the first time in a long while that Joey cried when I put him down for a nap - he's still a little out of sorts and overtired from my Mom and I keeping him out so much.

But I must say I do miss my cuddly baby - he won't sleep on me at all anymore. He's very much Mr Independent now. Which is nice, but I miss the cuddles.

Joey loves to sit up now. He spends so much time sitting up he hasn't really made any more progress towards crawling. Oh well. I don't think I'm ready for a mobile baby yet anyway!

teeth - Joey still has none. Is he the only baby left with none?

Kopper - my ped actually recommended solids 3 times a day from the beginning. I started out giving them once a day at the very beginning but quickly upped it to 2 and sometimes 3 times a day. Now he routinely eats solids 3 times a day.

[jrsygirl]

Jane- Paige has no teeth yet either..she got the hair -cole got the teeth!

[Jane&Andy]

Poor Joey doesn't have hair either. But his pudgy cheeks are too die for! :p

[Sully130]

Man I can't keep up in here. It takes all I've got to keep up with LJ. Must do better!

Jane - T doesn't have teeth yet either. I think maybe I might see some just below the gums on the bottom, but I'm not sure. I don't feel anything yet. But he has been unusually fussy the past two days so we'll see.

And Joey might not have teeth or hair, but he's absolutely adorable! You always have the best pictures of him!

Kopper - Congrats on your DH's job!

#2 - Ideally I'd like for them to be two years apart (so we'd start next summer), but honestly I can't imagine being pregnant right now or any time soon. My pregnancies have been unbelieveably complicated, so I just can't even think of going down that road again.

In fact, tomorrow is the one year anniversary of when my water broke with T's pregnancy (at 16 weeks!). I don't know who the mystery pregnant mom is, but congrats!

Solids question: I think I need to feed T more solids. How many ounces of solids do you give them at a sitting? I've been making my own, but I think the cubes are only 0.5 ounces, so that's all he's been getting at a meal. Then I looked at store baby food today and saw the containers have two ounces!

[uskiku]

Thanks. :) I am a bit embarassed to admit this :o but we are still swaddling DS (just his arms). The first several months he would wake himself up hitting himself. Now it has become a habit and he will not stay asleep if he is not swaddled. He also takes twice as long to go down. Our go to sleep routine is a bit of a nigthmare. For awhile he did really good and even slept 9-9.5 hours in his crib several times. Right now he goes down about 7:30 ish in his crib and then DH brings him to our bed when he wakes up 10:30 - 1:00am ish. He often wakes up 1-2 times in between though. It takes me about 40 min to get him down but most of that he is nursing. DH takes him when he wakes up before 11pm. I've told him that he should start trying to pat him back to sleep instead of getting him out of the crib. He still takes all of his naps on me. This morning I didn't swaddle him for his morning nap and he slept 35min. This afternoon I swaddled him and he slept 2.5hrs. Tonight we are going to try not swaddling him since DH doesn't have to work. I don't know how I am going to cope when DH is traveling. He takes all of his naps in my lap and it is really grating on me. When DH is working I don't get anytime to myself.

Good luck with your sleep training! Something has to work right? :)

Don't be embarrassed - we can form a support group for mamas of crappy sleepers! :)
I don't have much advice re: swaddling: we ditched the swaddle sometime around 10-12 weeks, but we did it gradually (it just worked out somehow that way). First, I left out one arm, and then, after a while, seeing how much he fought the swaddle, I just had a rather loose swaddle around his legs before I abandoned it completely. Lots of people have recommended sleepsacks. Though, come to think of it, they probably won't work for you, as the ones I've seen don't have arms.
I also nurse to sleep. What helped me greatly was the Gentle Removal Plan (from the "No-Cry Sleep Solution"). I simply - very gently - tried to de-latch him as soon as I noticed that he'd closed his eyes (then I knew that he was done, and what followed was just empty sucking). If he protested, I put him back and tried again after a minute. It really worked! Though it took me about 4-5 weeks to get to that point, so it's not a quick solution by any means...
Good luck tonight!!!

[Jane&Andy]

thanks Sully. :)

I give Joey two cubes of food at every sitting with a side of oatmeal. My two homemade cubes are maybe equivalent to one stage 2 jar. Although when I had him out last weekend for a few meals when my Mom was visiting he actually cried when he finished one stage 2 jar. So the next day I took one stage 1 and one stage 2 with me and he ate both plus oatmeal.

Now I've gotta figure out what the heck to feed him next weekend when we're at my Mom's. I'm not going to try to transport the homemade food that far - its enough to deal with just loading up our clothes, the dog and the baby and setting up the cats for the weekend alone. I figure I'll just give my Mom a list of basic baby foods to buy and if he runs out then I'll go buy more.

[Sevilla]

Sully: D isn't really eating many solids. He tries a few spoonfuls a week but isn't into it so I don't push it. Since he has allergies it's typical for him to not be interested in them until he's older (like a year+) and i figure it just makes life easier and less messy until he's ready! Just follow T's cues - if he wants more, then give it. If he's happy with what he's getting then no need to increase :).

[jrsygirl]

Solids Cole and Paige LOVE their solids..We re actually having trouble getting Paige to drink formula, The ped reco'd giving it to her in a sippy cut which worked but we still have to hold it. Guess she thinks she's a big girl now ..no bottles for her!

#2been there ;) I can't say we won't have #3 but I have this fear of ending up with another set of twins ... For now I'm set to enjoy what I've got and since we have a boy and girl if we dont have another everyone will be happy. I

[shania0474]

okay, I'm dying to know who this pg mama is! Congratulations!

solids G eats EVERYTHING!!! We hardly use jars anymore except sometimes in the morning when we mix in jarred fruit with his oatmeal. He's actually eating a lot better than his older brother -- spaghetti, rice, ground turkey, peas, potatoes, beans, name it and he eats it (and by the way he prefers when I DON'T mash or puree)!!! :confused: He won't drink formula either so I mix it with cereal. And he prefers to drink water from a real cup than from a sippy (the boy just wants to BE his brother)! :) I'm still breastfeeding him first thing in the morning and last thing at night. He sttn so no more middle of the night feedings (call me crazy but I miss that sometimes!) so he wakes up and ATTACKS my boobs... weaning him will not be easy!

milestones G says "hi" and "dada" but I think he just copies his brother and doesn't really know what he's saying. He still only has his two bottom teeth. He's crawling like crazy, he's also cruising (will pull himself to a standing position and take a few steps while gripping chairs, tables, etc and then get so excited about this that he topples over and lands on his butt)!!! The first time I saw him stand in his crib was a total shocker and I called DH at work that he definitely had to lower the crib to the lowest position. I took a picture of him standing in his crib and grinning mischievously as proof for DH (he finally lowered the crib last week). If I end up figuring out LJ (the Nov 04 mamas have been selling LJ to me because of the "incident of the book") I will post pictures there (sorry too paranoid about perverts--and now book authors--to post photos here).

#2 for us it would be #3. DH really wants another child but I think I'm done... however, maybe I'll have a change of heart if someone comes up with a way that guarantees me a girl "naturally" ;)

sleep training my heart goes out to those still struggling with sleep. I've been there with DS#1. In fact I still have to lie down with him in his big boy bed to get him to sleep (DH hates this because he thinks I'm spoiling him but its so much easier and faster than to leave him to cry because he will scream for one hour non-stop which means no sleep for G). He just never learned to put himself to sleep at night but once asleep, he sleeps through the night, thank God. So I don't mind cuddling with him (in fact I love it :p since he's such a big boy now he hardly wants to hug mommy anymore) and he's usually out within ten minutes.

[LittleStar]

What's the "incident of the book?" :confused:

[Jane&Andy]

someone wrote a book (Generation Me) and referrenced CC - she pulled out quotes from the board. Although one reference was actually from WC, she made some rather insensitive comments about a WC/CC member who's baby died. I haven't checked out the chit chat forum in awhile so I don't know if the thread is still active - but the thread about it is titled something along the lines of "do you ever start a bunch of really random threads in a forum all at once?" (the original topic of the thread was not the book)

[JenniferEC]

teeth - Still waiting on these along with some hair. Caden had his teeth at 6 1/2 months, so I was expecting them by now, but it doesn't even look like they're on the way.

milestones - Marin is just starting to sit by herself. She hasn't started crawling or pulling up yet. I guess I should be grateful she's not mobile and getting into things. She's way behind Caden in when she's reaching milestones, but she's still so tiny.

Jane - Good luck with your trip. That's a lot of stuff to pack and take care of.

Shania - Funny, I'd go for #3 if it would guarantee me a 2 hour uninterruped nap every afternoon and no laundry for 6 months. I feel like I'm doing laundry all.the.time. I've never figured out LJ. With the way things are going, I may stop posting photos here.

[bctoledo]

I'm struggling to keep up! Ben has an ear infection and a cold. He's required constant holding the past few days. He is feeling much better today, but I think we're going to keep him home from daycare tomorrow since that is the only day he'd go until after Thanksgiving weekend. I would hate to give the other kids what he has.

#2 I can't wait for the next one. :D We'll probably start trying around April.

Milestones Ben has been behind in the milestones. He is just a laid back baby. If he can't reach a toy, he doesn't need to play with it. He can sit when put in that position, but can't sit up. He has tried to get up in the crawling position, but just ends up going backwards. I'm not ready for him to mobile yet.

[mel7dog]

Wow I am so behind in this thread and it needed a bump anyhow!

At our 6 month WBV Ben was 18lbs 13oz and 28 inches long. So his height and weight flip-flopped percentiles!

His two bottom teeth popped through last week (at just over 6 month) and are about halfway in now. His upper teeth look like they could pop through any day now. I am bummed out, I miss that gummy smile!

Ben is starting to get around everywhere. No crawling on hands and knees yet, but he pulls himself all over the floor and is starting to get into things.

Solids are going well, though we don't focus on it a ton. 1 sometimes 2x a day of 1-2 cubes of food. So far he's had rice cereal, oatmeal, bananas, squash, a little apples, and recently sweet potatoes. Bfing is still going well and for that I am very thankful. Our goal is 1 year, but I'd love to make it to 2 years.

What toys is everyone getting there DC for the holidays?
We'd like to get Ben one nice toy that he will be able to use for a while, but I haven't started looking yet.

eta:
ok I am an idiot, I just realized there was a new thread :p

AF - Nope for me yet and that's fine by me!

#2 - We'll probably start thinking about this when DS is 2, so they'd be about 3 years apart. The throught of being pg again now freaks me out. I want to get my body back in some sort of shape first!

Here's Ben as a monkey
http://www.babysites.com/site6/benjaminlongley/myphotos/4photo2.jpg

http://www.babysites.com/site6/benjaminlongley/myphotos/4photo4.jpg
and a picture of Ben and Mom
http://www.babysites.com/site6/benjaminlongley/myphotos/4photo6.jpg

[Jane&Andy]

toys (these are not all from me!)
Peak a blocks
Leap Frog Leap Pad (http://www.amazon.com/LeapFrog-10090-Leapfrog-LittleTouch-LeapPad/dp/B000096R0P/sr=1-24/qid=1163785713/ref=sr_1_24/002-3457258-2464835?ie=UTF8&s=toys-and-games) and one game
FP Amazing Animal Choo Choo (http://www.amazon.com/Fisher-Price-Amazing-Animals-Choo-Choo/dp/B000EULXA2/sr=1-3/qid=1163785713/ref=sr_1_3/002-3457258-2464835?ie=UTF8&s=toys-and-games)
Discovery Dome (http://www.amazon.com/Playskool-Lets-Play-Together-Discovery/dp/B000EULXNE/sr=1-28/qid=1163785786/ref=sr_1_28/002-3457258-2464835?ie=UTF8&s=toys-and-games)
A Leap Frog drum (http://www.toysrus.com/product/index.jsp?productId=2310732)
a Little People tugboat set (http://www.toysrus.com/product/index.jsp?productId=2265112&cp=2255956.2262937.2269724&pg=2&fbn=Character+Theme%7CLittle+People&f=PAD%2FBrand+Name+Secondary%2FFisher-Price&f=PAD%2FCharacter+Theme%2FLittle+People&fbc=1&categoryId=2269724&parentPage=search)
Little Tikes Handle hauler (http://www.toysrus.com/product/index.jsp?productId=2308763&cp=2273442.2274248&viewAll=topSellers&pmc=1&parentPage=viewall) (like the link but his is a circus car)


I want to get him this but I'm done xmas shopping so it'll probably be a bday present
FP Piano (http://www.amazon.com/Fisher-Price-Interactive-Grand-Piano/dp/B000EULXAM/sr=1-27/qid=1163785786/ref=sr_1_27/002-3457258-2464835?ie=UTF8&s=toys-and-games)

I love the Weebles and FP Little People sets but I figure he'll be getting a lot of that stuff from other people for xmas or his birthday (seems like my in-laws lean towards buying toys).

Kohl's is having a big sale tonight/tomorrow morning. Their toy section is small but everything is 20-40% off and during the sale they're knocking off another 20%. So I might go check it out tonight. My 8th neice/nephew is due next month so even though I'm done with xmas the buying NEVER ends.

Joey still has no teeth but he's been fussy this week and running a low fever off and on - I'd sure like to blame it on teething but I see ZERO signs of any teeth coming anytime soon.

He tries to get up on all fours sometimes but now that he sits well he doesn't really like to play on his belly.

[Jane&Andy]

great pictures Mel. :) From the looks of it you're in better shape than I've been in since puberty! :p I'm just trying to knock off as much weight as I can before TTC#2 at the end of summer.

[jrsygirl]

mel what did you do to get back in shape? You look great!

He is super cute..Love his little matching sweater and hat!

[Sal03]

Jane I love that train too. That is on Katie's list. Definitely wait on little people. Dylan LOVES his now but really had no interest in them before 18 months except for the school bus. Right now his favorite is the animal farm.

Mel you look great! I absolutely love that little monkey costume and his matching hat and sweater.

Jennifer this CRACKED ME UP
Funny, I'd go for #3 if it would guarantee me a 2 hour uninterruped nap every afternoon and no laundry for 6 months. I feel like I'm doing laundry all.the.time. I am sitting here folding laundry AGAIN so I won't have to do it this weekend but who am I kidding? I'll have to by sunday I am sure. Everything Katie has on turns orange or green after a meal and with Dylan in school he comes home a complete mess.

Teeth Katie's first two are through! they are so cute! I am nervous for the top ones because I remember the first time I got bitten by accident while nursing it KILLED. those little suckers are sharp :eek:

Shania I can't believe all the stuff he is eating! Dylan does not even eat that much!

Katie sits so well now and tries to maneuver herself forward and back while on her tummy. she is nowhere near getting up on all fours but that is fine with me. Dylan crawled so early I want her to be my cuddly baby longer.

[Jane&Andy]

Last week when my Mom was visiting we had pictures done of Joey at one of those old timey places, they turned out super cute. Very silly, but fun.
http://www.imagestation.com/picture/sraid219/pf942e504da1d3594426c8829c785eb85/ec02bef0.jpg
http://www.imagestation.com/picture/sraid219/p4b0790948c03eb8ab99ef549fe6e82e8/ec02bef2.jpg
http://www.imagestation.com/picture/sraid219/pc8f48581da65a0cb6217b4596213861a/ec02bef4.jpg
http://www.imagestation.com/picture/sraid219/p63f7c7eca537ab415cfd5320f29aea58/ec02bef3.jpg

[shania0474]

Jane I'm sitting here going "aawwww" those are gorgeous photos! He looks like such a big boy already :)

Mel You look fantastic! The last photo of you and Ben is my favorite. You have to share your secret...

Sal I know! David does NOT eat that much either. I really think DH made a deal with God to send me an easy second baby so I'll consider #3. David was not a good sleeper and G has been sttn (off and on) since 8 weeks! David is a VERY picky eater (today, I realized too late that the ground turkey he eats EVERYDAY with his pasta was finished and I tried to mix his favorite pasta sauce with corned beef as a substitute -- he took one whiff of the food, threw it on the floor and was inconsolable for 30 minutes) and G eats anything (he cried for the corned beef pasta mix his brother rejected and when I finally gave in and gave it to him, he smiled and licked his lips!!!)

holiday gifts I don't think we'll do toys this year... David got so many toys for his birthday on Saturday and since G only likes to play with whatever his brother is playing with.... he's all set too. I am thinking of a pb kids chair though since G pops out of his bumbo seat all the time and a toddler dining table and chair for David

So I'm trying to get serious about going back to work (yeah yeah you've heard that before ;) ) but I can't seem to tear myself away from the kids especially since they're growing so fast. DH saw G pull himself up and cruise along the side of the tub today as I was preparing his bath and he (DH) almost passed out ("he's walking??!!!") Obviously when I tell him this stuff, he just doesn't believe me until he sees it for himself.

ETA: Just came back to add the gifts David received over the past two years that are now both his and G's all-time favorites (sorry no links, not as organized as Jane!): FP Learning Home (we all love it!), LeapFrog Learning Table (one of the first things G used to pull himself up and play with for what seemed like hours just like David when he was this age) Playskool Wheels on the Bus... oops gotta go, bbl

[Txfish]

Came in to try and get caught up with you all again, and I see that someone's outed me LOL

It's me, I'm the nutjob who's gone and gotten pregnant again! I'm at about week 14. This is me for the first 12 of those: :eek: (as you can see from my sig, right?) We had been on the fence about #3, had just decided that 2 were all we needed, and were in the process of scheduling the big V (while I was nursing and on the pill), when... We're referring to it as cosmic humor ;) and just maybe we'll get our boy this time. The kids will be 13.5 months apart, and if you don't think THAT'S enough to scare the poo out of me, then consider that right when I'm due, Caroline will be getting out of school for the summer! Anyone need a summer nanny job????? PLEASE??? :p

************************************************** ***
SO -- looks like everyone's babies are so beautiful, and doing pretty well (except for the sleeping maybe!) And we've got some really good eaters!!

Whitney has continued to be a really easy baby -- she still goes really well for daytime naps, 2x a day for about 1.5 hours each. Goes to bed at 7pm and is usually up between 6:30-7am, although lately she has been waking up more at night -- usually only once, and a lot of the time she self-soothes but normally if we need to go in it's a simple paci retrieval, blanket re-tuck and pat. (I know, we're horrible -- she stomach sleeps with a blanket on her.)

She is crawling and getting herself to sitting, and until about this past week was doing army crawl more than all-fours crawling but now seems to enjoy being up on her knees instead of dragging her tummy around :) She learned to pull herself to standing within the same week she started army crawling (gosh, about a month ago I guess) and is now constantly pulling up on furniture and trying to cruise. She doesn't go between two pieces of furniture, thank goodness.

She's also *very* chatty, and although we're not ready to call it a first word, she often says something like HI, and when she wakes up from sleep she usually "calls for" one of us -- in the mornings it's something like Dad, and every nap it sounds an awful lot like Mom. Which I think is great, because DH will be on the way out of the house, and she'll say "DAAAAH!" and he'll go get her up and change her. Sleepy bliss for mommy.

Drinking about 30 oz of formula a day -- she quit nursing completely when I got pg. Only eating 1x a day, dinner -- when I was adding more meals she was tanking her milk supply horribly. So I'm trying to get her back up to 2x a day slowly without going below 24 oz.

QOTD: How much is your kiddo drinking a day, with how much food? I'll admit to being lazy about pushing the meals, but I'm also worried about dropping the milk intake too much because that's still where most of her nutrition is. I saw some of you mentioning 3 pretty big meals a day -- how much milk are they still taking?

OK sorry for the novel, wanted to get caught up :o Will try to be so much better about checking in though! --Rebecca

[Jane&Andy]

Congratulations Txfish. :) :D And its good to hear from you.

drinking - Joey still gets a combo of breastmilk and formula so I'm not sure of the exact amount. He generally gets about 5oz of formula before bed (seems to be his preference, I don't do it to help his sleep and I don't think it helped anyway). Some days he takes another 4oz of formula and other days he sticks to BM all day. He still nurses frequently - before and after every nap and sometimes in between but he doesn't spend long doing it. When I took him in for his flu shot I talked to the Ped about solids - once he got used to them he LOVED them and would eat a lot - my ped said not to worry about the quantity and just follow his cues.

[Kopper]

Txfish - Congratulations! Hope you have a H&H rest of your pregnancy! :)

drinking - Jacob gets around 12oz of formula I'm not sure how much BM he gets b/c we are nursing. I give him one 4oz bottle in the evening and the other 8oz is with an at breast supplementer. Right now he is only getting solids once per day but once he is 8 months I'm going to up that to twice a day.

holiday gifts - We have a few things for him already. There are so many things I want to get him but I know MIL has already bought a lot for him and she won't tell us what. I know it's supposed to be a suprise but I want to try and avoid a lot of dupes. Some of the things I bought for him I already gave them to him b/c I couldn't help myself.

I'd like to get these
Amazing Animals™ Sing & Go Choo-Choo (http://www.fisher-price.com/fp.aspx?st=2341&e=detail&pcat=amazinganimals&pid=37219)
Roll-a-Rounds™ Drop & Roar™ Dinosaur (http://www.fisher-price.com/fp.aspx?st=2341&e=detail&pcat=buroll&pid=33158)

AF - Not yet. I've read that I probably won't get it back until I stop taking Domperidone since it increases prolactin levels.

----
Oh guess what!! We are swaddle free 5 days now. The first two were not fun at all. The third night was great. He slept from 7:30pm - 3am! Last night he was down from 7-1am so that was good too.

[Sevilla]

Kopper - congrats on being free from the swaddle!

Txfish - congrats on the surprise of baby #3! When I was teaching there was a family at my school with 4 kids who were about 5 years apart *total*. The age spacing was 11 months apart, 18 months apart, and 2 years apart.

Jane - such cute pics of Joey! He'll have quite the baby book when he's older with all the great shots you get :).

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
QOTD: DS nurses every 3-4 hours so I estimate he's getting 35-40 oz of bm per day. He just started being interested in solids this week so now i'm offering some once every other day or so. i don't have any plans to hugely increase his solids to several meals per day until he's past a year old or until he seems eager for it. As it is now the solids are more like a snack for him.

AF: nope, she's not back yet over here. I don't really expect her until after DS is over a year since he still nurses during the night and that's been shown to have a huge impact on prolactin levels.

[shania0474]

Congrats, TxFish!!! :D :D H&H pregnancy to you. My babies are 16 months apart and there are days I want to tear my hair out but when they play together (especially when they kiss and hug), it is the most beautiful thing in the world!!! :)

QOTD liquids Not sure how much exactly. I breastfeed every morning and evening (and before naps when I'm home). He doesn't like to drink formula so we mix it into his oatmeal cereal (One 8oz can a day). He also drinks about 2oz of water with each solid meal three times a day.

kopper congrats on becoming swaddle free!

[uskiku]

BIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIG CONGRATS to Txfish on # 3!!! :D

Kopper Congrats on being swaddle-free!! How's it going otherwise? We're still trying to teach him how to fall asleep on his own: I try to rock him less and less every day and put him in the crib asap, so that he'd do the last bit of the process himself. We've had a few successful moments with this "technique", though he is still quite far from being able to do it all the time. Onward and upward, right...?:rolleyes:

AF Nope, not back yet! :p And that's very interesting what you said, Sevilla about night-time nursing and its effect on AF!

Liquids No freakin' clue, sorry! Though we are super-proud and happy to report that A has finally started taking the bottle - a major phew!! I'm going to be away for 2 days at the end of December, so I had been so extremely nervous about this, but looks like my little milk piggy won't be starving! :)

Thanksgiving We're off tomorrow - going to IL's, so wish us luck (nope, we're not flying Delta, but who knows... :rolleyes: )! Happy Thanksgiving, everyone!!!

[mel7dog]

Jane - Those pictures of Joey are too cute! Thanks for the toy info btw!

jrsygirl, shania LOL, I have no secret for getting back in shape, just lots of BFing and trying to keep busy so I don't eat all the time :p

Sevilla - I hadn't heard that about nursing at night. Sounds good to me! Even though DS wakes me to eat, at least I'm rewarded with no AF :)

Txfish - Congrats!

Liquids - DS nurses every 3-4 hours day and night, but I have no idea how much he's getting. For solids he takes 1-2 cubes usually 1-2 times a day. I only offer him the food after nursing, not to replace a BM meal.

[Jane&Andy]

not that you haven't seen enough pictures of Joey already but this one just shows his personality to a T so I had to share it...
http://www.imagestation.com/picture/sraid219/p6502707cf6ff6e881a2ca6c06112d5f5/ebfba458.jpg

Happy Thanksgiving!

We're heading down to NC tomorrow for the weekend. My 2 sisters and they're 4 kids (ages 4, 3, 2 and 1) will all be there - should be total chaos! :p :D

[Txfish]

Thanks for all the congrats -- hope everyone has a fantastic Thanksgiving & be safe if you're traveling!

[mel7dog]

Jane - We're in NC too! In Charlotte at BIL/SIL house :)

[Kopper]

Boy it is quiet in here. Hope everyone had a Happy Thanksgiving and are enjoying the weekend! DH flies to Salt Lake City tomorrow to start his new job. I am happy for him but really scared to be by myself all week. The evenings are going to be tough. Next week we are going to go to SLC with him. It should be interesting flying with DS for the first time. Any tips?

[Jane&Andy]

I hope everyone had a great Thanksgiving. :)

Mel - we were in the suburbs of Raleigh (Cary/Apex). I used to live there and went to NCSU for college - I want to move back so bad - its a great state. :)

Kopper - I've only flown twice with Joey so I'm not an expert - try to pack light and just stick to a few small toys to entertain him. I got really lucky on the first flight b/c I sat next to a very friendly lady who talked to him and helped entertain him. And he slept for a little while too.

Joey isn't crawling yet but he really wants to. When he sits he bounces so much that he often propels himself forward and lands flat on his face - poor baby isn't too pleased when that happens. He was great for the drive down and back, even when we got stuck in horrible traffic on Wednesday.

[LittleStar]

Whew! What a week. H was sick last weekend so we took him to the dr. on Monday and found out he has croup. Got started on medicine, but after almost a week, he's still about the *same*. I'm calling the dr. tomorrow to see what else to do.

H has been fussy all week and :eek: he went from Wednesday til today without pooping! We were really worried last night b/c he seemed to be really trying and in some pain, so I gave him some water in a bottle. He's gone a couple of times today, but not the blowouts I was expecting. Anyone know of any remedies for constipation? I made DH get on CC last night to see if there were any threads on the subject, and some suggest karo syrup or diluted apple juice, but I was wary of trying anything. BTW, he's a mix of breast and formula fed, plus some solids.

We had a nice Thanksgiving at the in-laws. H entertained everyone w/ his new tricks - waving bye and hi, and going from all fours to legs straight (almost like a tepee), and doing his "beefcake" pose (laying on stomach, pushing up with his arms, and turning to the side and putting one hand on his bottom - if that makes any sense). Still not crawling but oh so very close!

[JenniferEC]

Kopper - I hope this week goes by quick for you. Hang in there!

LittleStar - When Marin was constipated, we bought a small bottle of the Gerber apple + prune juice. We gave her half and she pooped within a few hours. She has only been constipated that one time, but it sure was great to not see her struggle anymore!

Marin is sort-of crawling. She can get up on all fours and then rock. Yesterday she did move one of her knees forward, but she still isn't moving. I've enjoyed not having to worry about where both of my kids are, so I guess that means we have to get some gates back out.

I have a Gymboree coupon for an extra 20% off your purchase if anyone wants it. It also has a code for online if you want to buy that way. Just let me know.

[Sal03]

HAPPY THANKSGIVING EVERYONE!

Kopper Good luck to DH and good luck to YOU! Just nurse or bottle on take off and landing, it really helps to have a separate seat for baby and if he is eating them - Gerber puffs were great when we flew with dylan when he was 9 months.

Jane LOL but poor Joey falling on his face. these babies are too funny

LittleStar if you have already started solids, the pureed prunes either on their own or mixed in with some oatmeal should do the trick.

Jennifer I know what you mean. It is so nice knowing Katie will stay where she is. I can't imagine the day when I have to run after both of them.

We had a nice thanksgiving with DH's relatives. There were 40 people there so it was insane. Katie was pretty overwhelmed but she was fine if I was holding her. Dylan had a horrible cough yesterday and it kept getting worse. We went to the ped this morning and turns out he has croup! was not expecting that. He is NEVER sick. :( Poor little guy sounds so pathetic. makes me so sad. I hope Katie does not get sick too.
Here is my lil princess on thanksgiving in her first mary jane's. boy is it fun having a girl! :D
http://i49.photobucket.com/albums/f298/rebeccag202/Thanksgiving2006_06.jpg

[Txfish]

We are so horrible -- we didn't take a single pic on Thanksgiving LOL Of course, by the time my mom and brother got done fighting about how to cook everything and we actually sat down to eat, it was 6:30, my older dd was in pajamas, and Whitney had a faceful of banana puffs just to keep her quiet long enough before bed. Nothing like planning ahead, right. :rolleyes:

Had a big exciting weekend though -- Whitney was working on cutting all four top teeth (yep, lots of crying), learned to clap and wave hi/bye. She also thinks my full name is "Mommommommom". And, we finally ditched the 10 year old p.o.s. (complete with a permanent unidentified squeal), and bought a Honda Odyssey. God help me, I'm a minivan mom. But you know, Caroline loves it -- a DVD! I'm partial to the wireless headsets that allow me to listen to music instead of Fairytopia from the backseat LOL

Hope all of the sick little ones are getting better -- poor babies! I can handle fevers, but I *hate* it when they have that horrible cough. There's just nothing to do for it.

Sal, Kate looks so cute in that pic!!

[Sal03]

txfish thanks. I hope you are feeling great! your little ones are going to be best friends :)

[JenniferEC]

Txfish - I forgot to say Congrats on #3 and I'm the one that saw it in your sig. Also, congrats on the new car. DH got one this weekend and I'm so jealous of the new car smell!

Sal - What a cute pic. Where did you get that dress? I love the shoes. She is looking so grown up. Marin has a pair of mary jane's from gymboree but she has only worn them once.

It's so nice out we went for a long walk. I can't believe it's almost December and in the 60s.

[Jane&Andy]

here's Joey on Thanksgiving Day (with Daddy passed out behind him)
http://www.imagestation.com/picture/sraid219/p631e47d996be436980372a08ba4d49d3/ebe3d898.jpg
caught playing with his cousin's new doll
http://www.imagestation.com/picture/sraid219/pb34c2fa355a814a71088b668f7771dea/ebe3d2a9.jpg
and with his cousins
http://www.imagestation.com/picture/sraid219/pbf78997a5473e77a5995a57f5c73c810/ebe3cf90.jpg

My neices and nephews were sick so of course Joey and I are both getting sick now. My throat feels yucky and he has a nasty cough - but no fever.

Sal - great picture! she's adorable. :)

Txfish - congrats on the new car - I'm hoping that'll be my next car. We went with a CRV for now but its already a tight fight on long car rides with the dog and one baby. Although if my DH could just get a job in NC we wouldn;t need to make so many long drives!

Nothing much going on here. I'm hoping to get started taking some holiday card photos of Joey soon. I have a couple different things in mind that I want to try but I need him to be in a good mood for it!

Joey still has no teeth. Soon he will be the record winner among my neices and nephews (the 4 in the picture with him - those are all the neices and nephews from my side) for going the longest without teeth. Although my sister has them all beat - she was 1 when she got her first tooth.

He's saying "mamamamama" more and more and my Mom thinks he's using it purposefully. Although hi was his first word. My sisters didn't really believe me (b/c of his age) until he said hi to them. He doesn't say it often but when he does its crystal clear.

[charissa]

I really need to catch up on some thread reading, haha. School has kept me pretty busy. Its almost over, yeah!

everyone's babies are sooo beautiful, can't believe how fast they're all growing up.

Just wanted to drop off some of the latest pics we had taken... ignore my hideous hair, I'm still waiting for it to grow back, since I donated my thick waist length hair to Locks of Love (again) before it all fell out :(, I should be happy b/c its a good cause and my hair grows so fast, but that doesn't mean I don't miss it, sigh...

http://x3a.xanga.com/c5bd15e17533391992035/m64000927.jpg
http://x18.xanga.com/9bad00f31963291992056/m64000943.jpg
http://x12.xanga.com/491d31e11673591992059/m64000945.jpg
http://x87.xanga.com/614a8aea1973091992050/m64000938.jpg
http://xac.xanga.com/9fba80e01953091992041/m64000931.jpg

He was not having fun in that collander, haha, nor that skunk costume hahaha.

[jrsygirl]

Charissa those pics are Beautiful!!!

Jane where did you have your avatar pic taken!??? I LOVE IT!! So Cute!!

************************************************** ******

Our first thanksgiving was pretty crazy. I cooked for the first time ever and if you can believe it I totally forgot to take pics of the twins. We also had their baptism this weeknd and had the party at our house so I'm still recovering.

Whats happening in our world:

Teeth: 1 (Cole)
Hair: Paige yes / Cole no
Crawling: Cole yes/ Paige started going backwards but no forward action yet
Talking: Paige says "Hi" and if you say "bye bye" to her she lifts her hand and sort of waves. Very cute. Cole said mama once but has yet to repeat it. He's the strong silent type.

Christmas: they are getting the Leap Frog learn and groove table, bath towels, My mom is getting them the Leap Frog Tad
Stockings stuffers so far : Puffs, Bath Mitts (to match the towels) links, sippy cups, ornaments (still trying to find the perfcet one). what are you all doing?

I'm still trying to find matching christmas pj's too.


mommy update:
I'm doing "ok". I'm still working FT but from home 2x a week. Not sure how long I'm going to be able to keep it up. I had a major melt down last week and just have been feeling crappy about myself. I need to do something about my weight )not eating cake and ice cream every day would probably help!) but my "twinskin" is another story...none of my clothes fit me and I just have a horrible self image right now. I need a major attitude adjusment.

[Sal03]

jrsygirl I am actually doing right now what a friend calls "project get cute" or something like that. I was feeling like total crap about myself. I have lost the baby weight but I just looked like hell all the time. So two weeks ago I went and got a great haircut. Mine was in a pony tail EVERY day and I cut it to my shoulders and put in layers. Then I made a resolution to not wear sweats to bed anymore and bought cute pjs. Also used some gift cards and got three new sweaters and a new pair of boots. Oh and I have been making sure to do my nails every week or go for a mani. So I have been doing a mini makeover and it is slowly making me feel so much better!

Jennifer My FILs wife got Katie that dress at a little specialty kids shop in NYC. She LOVES buying her clothes and always gets such beautiful things. She just got her a gorgeous hand knit sweater that I am so excited to put her in. Girls clothes are so much fun. Those mary jane's I actually got at walmart for $5! They were 6-9 month so i knew she would only wear them once, maybe twice so I got really cheap ones!

Charissa you always get the best pictures! and I think your hair looks great. :) this regrowth is hard on everyone, believe me!

Jane the cousins picture is so cute. But I can't get over the one of him with the doll. He looks like such a little guy, less baby face

eta an update to the holida gift list. Katie is getting board books, the FP animals choo choo
and these two things. I am sure there will be more! we already have baby tad and the leapfrog learning table and she loves both

Laugh and Learn Learning puppy
http://trus.imageg.net/graphics/product_images/pTRU1-2789246reg.jpg

Parents Busy Zoo
http://images.amazon.com/images/P/B000H396VY.16._SCLZZZZZZZ_SS260_V40055991_.jpg

[jrsygirl]

Sal Those are great ideas!! It looks like from your avatar got the zooper too? Do you like it? I'm really liking mine a lot! The only thinkg that bugs me is the divided basket underneath..I have to work to get the diaper bag under there.

[JenniferEC]

Jane - Those pics are cute. I love the matching pjs.

Charissa - That collandar picture is hilarious. He looks scared like you're about to cook him!

jrsygirl - Sounds like you are super busy! I hope after the holidays you can slow down a bit and things will get better!

Sal - I love girls clothes. I never thought I would get into girl clothes but I love shopping for Marin. I think she has a wardrobe through the spring so I have to stop buying. But we are going to Florida at the end of Janurary so now I get to buy some warm weather things. I bought her a baby hair clip the other day and it didn't look right on her bald head so I will just have to wait.

matching pjs - I'm looking for these but can't find any I like. The Gap is disappointing this year.

Marin is getting some Fisher Price blocks, a toy from Babystyle that I can't find online and this:
http://content.costco.com/Images/Content/Product/100743.jpg
We found it at Costco and figure both kids would like it, although it will be for her. I'm not sure what else, but our house is overrun with toys as it is.

[jrsygirl]

Jennifer I saw that too and considered it but I figured it would be better for them in a year and since we're getting tready to do a major remodel on our house I dont have a lot of room to store it...but its super cute!

As for pj's they have some at : LandsEnd, Gymboree, BestDressedChild, The Childrens Place, LLBean that I've seen so far...but you're right..the gap had nothing!

[uskiku]

We're finally back from the IL's!! A did so well, he really was wonderful. DH and I were just amazed how well he coped with traveling and being stared at and poked at by dozens of people on a daily basis. But now he is tired and cranky, poor thing!

Kopper We've flown with A multiple times, including 2 flights overseas. I'd say, if possible, travel during the day and avoid late night flights - so much easier. If you plan to breastfeed then wear a buttoned shirt (I forgot this time around, and boy was I mad at myself! :p ). A has never had any problems at take-off or landing, though I do try to "time" our feeding sessions accordingly. Oh, and I flew solo with A when he was 2 1/2 months old: I was touched and amazed by how kind people were and how perfect strangers would offer to carry my diaper bag, help with the stroller etc. Speaking of strollers, I highly recommend getting an umbrella stroller - lighter and more convenient than the big bulky everyday ones!

Jrsygirl I second Sal's advice re: haircut! Chopped off the few remaining curls a week ago, and I feel so much better about myself (I had a shoulder-length haircut before and now I'm very happy with my short hair - A was getting to be such a pain with all that pulling and grabbing anyway!)! I'm back at my pre-preggo weight, but my flat tummy has said good-bye and moved on :( Maybe one day...

Sal I love that Busy Zoo er... cube?! Where did you get it from?

X-mas presents: we'll probably get A one present, but we haven't quite decided what yet. I love the Busy Zoo that Sal posted. The Leapfrog learning table is another top contender.

Charissa and Jane fabulous pictures!!! :D

[Sal03]

Let me tell you guys...croup SUCKS. may none of your little ones ever get it. Dylan is breaking my heart he feels so lousy and looks so pathetic. He also NEVER gets sick, always fights things off so I am not used to this.

jrsygirl LOVE the zooper. so happy I went with it over the maclaren. I really like the one handle bar so I can steer onehanded if I need to. but you are right, the basket is annoying. But I got the skip hop so that easily attaches to the handle bars which makes life easier.

uskiku glad the trip was a success! they have the busy zoo at target. the learning table is also great. I don't know which one I would pick if I had to choose. luckily we already had that from dylan.

Jennifer that bus is ADORABLE. I have never seen that!

[uskiku]

Sal Thanks! Poor Dylan... :(

[charissa]

thanks everyone on the compliments on the pics, we were really pleased this go around with the familly pics, since we wanted something to send out for Christmas.

6 month WBV (almost forgot to post these - well I did haha)

Weight 16.5 lbs
Length 27 inches

We have an appointment tomorrow for his flu shot. :(

rolling while changing anyone?? all of a sudden DS decides he'd rather crawl without a diaper on... so he just bolts as soon as I get him out of his dirty diaper, UGH... luckily he only does this on the floor, but its SO frustrating.

sal awww, hope DS gets better soon!! I'm dreading the first time DS gets sick.

uskiku yeah! for a good trip. I'm anxious about DS' first flight too, luckily anything we want to go to is pretty much within driving distance.

Jennifer that school bus is so cute! A friend of ours bought a sailboat sandbox thing from Costco, we're thinking of doing the same.

jrsygirl I hear ya on the self image... its tough to make time to take care of ourselves when we're sooo busy. Hang in there, I know we can get through it :)

jane LOVE the pic where Joey has the doll, haha. that is too cute

[Jane&Andy]

diaper changes - Joey doesn't crawl yet but he rolls over the second I put him on the changing table every.single.time.

charissa - gorgeous pictures. I think your hair looks fabulous. :) I've tried to grow mine super long but it always stops halfway down my back.

jrysgirl - I took my avatar picture myself - I threw a white sheet over the floor and couch and gave him a string of lights to play with. I did some other poses too. We're going to try again this weekend when DH is home to help to see if we can't get anything better.

self image - I look like crap. I'm a little below my pre-pg weight (thanks to WW - nursing hasn't done a thing for me weight-wise) but I still have more to my belly than I used to. And I'm pretty flabby there - that extra skin just isn't going to go away so I'm doomed. A haircut is a good idea, I really need one. I should work that in before xmas.

[Sevilla]

Rolling during diaper changes: oh yes! We've been dealing with this for awhile now. We change DS in his crib (he sleeps with us, so the crib is his changing station) and i've found that keeps him more contained so he rolls less than if i change him on the floor - and the ocean wonders aquarium is a miracle machine for keeping him focused and (somewhat)still. i also give him a 'changing toy' to hold and that helps. But sometimes I have to call DH over to hold his torso down while I change him no matter what. I've gotten good at putting his cloth diapers on while he's on hands-and-knees, lol ;).

[Guinness]

jane - Your avator has got to be the cutest picture ever. I might steal your idea for 8 month shots. I also hear you on the weightloss stuff. I am 10 below pre-preggo but have more to go and nursing is doing nothing for me. I nurse through the night and everything. AF just arrived too - so nursing was a bust on two fronts. Oh well. I guess just another confirmation that bodies work so differently!!

We try to roll during diaper changes, but so far I can contain it. We aren't crawling yet though and rolling really just started . . . so maybe it is still to come.

[amygrrl]

i'm horrible about keeping up here... but i promise i'm reading along!

our updates....

teeth - malin just got her 7th. that's right. the kid has 7 freakin teeth and isn't even 8 months old yet.
sleep - she's sleeping through the night about half the time now. the other nights, she wakes up once between 2-5am and has a bottle. she generally goes down between 6-7pm and wakes up b/t 6:30-7:30am. i usually let her play for 20 minutes or so in the morning in the crib and get a few more minutes of sleep. she's doing the 2 naps a day and generally, she goes to sleep very easily now.
crawling - she wants to crawl. she gets up on her hands and knees and rocks back and forth.
rolling - she rolls all over the place and rolled off the bed while under her daddy's care. he had to learn that he can't leave her unattended the hard way.
pulling up - she's getting close to pulling up to standing (she'll pull up onto her knees, then gets kind of stumped and looses her balance) and she's trying to figure out how to go from laying down to sitting up but usually just ends upstuck on her side propped up on her elbow. i totally have to get a picture of this b/c she looks like jabba da hut.
talking - she says 'mama' and 'oh, mama' all the time, but it's still hard to say if she means me or if she means 'i want attention' b/c she usually only says it when she wants to be picked up.
food - loves her solids. she's doing stage 2 and 3 type foods and just started the occasional puff. she loves eating fruit in the mesh feeder and also HEARTS bottled water.

[mel7dog]

Love everyone's pictures! What a great idea for some holiday shots Jane!

rolling over - DS rolls everywhere, it takes me forever to change him and get him dressed. Since we have been away for 2 weeks now and he's been sleeping on the bed, I have to pile pillow around him and listen for him to stir.

self image - Mine's been ok as of about 2 months ago when I stated getting ready every day and bought a few new "hip" clothes. My belly skin is not cool, but at least it looks decent in clothes :p

[Jane&Andy]

xmas pictures - there's a whole thread in parenting about holiday pictures - I just want to pass on some advice I got in there - if you do the holiday light picture buy cool touch lights. I found a strand at Target (Phillips LED brand) - they don't get hot and they're more durable so they're a lot safer for Joey to play with.

[JenniferEC]

I had SIL take some holiday pics this past weekend. She did b&w for something different.

[Sal03]

Jennifer ohhhhhh he is so good that he would sit and hug her like that! I love her expression in both

I have a TON of online coupon codes and some coupons. if anyone wants me to email, send me a PM :)

[JenniferEC]

Sal - Thanks. Caden was on top of her but she didn't mind. I just wish I could have got a smile.

coupons - I have the 20% off entire purchase at Gymboree and a 20% and 15% at Children's Place. All have online codes and there is no min purchase, if anybody wants them.

[Jane&Andy]

great pictures Jennifer!

DH and I took some more xmas pictures today and I made our card...
http://www.imagestation.com/picture/sraid220/p92581699e8d060905505862d6dbd7e60/ebcc076a.jpg

and here's a non-xmas one from today
http://www.imagestation.com/picture/sraid220/pebd420d975411fa39b3a51a0c2b7c075/ebcc08fd.jpg

the poor boy actually is growing some hair now - he has quite a bit more now than he used to. But he used to have none so its not like it takes a lot for him to have "more."

he's still fighting a cold. We had to skip playgroup this week. :( That's my only social outlet most weeks.

[hapahaole]

I've been lurking here and there, but just been so busy. And I have 2 sick kids...no fun. Was supposed to go to the UCLA vs USC game today, but I volunteered to stay home and take care of the sick kids (doh...should have gone...we won!)

Anyway, Jane&Andy...your xmas card brought me out of lurkdom...Joey with the lights is just so freaking cute!!!! Clever wording on the card too! What a doll.

Here's our card I've been working on.
http://static.flickr.com/122/312582295_823d518a47_o.jpg

Got a 5+ hour drive with 2 sick kids tomorrow. Wish us luck!

take care and happy holidays,
hapa

[Kimmiebride]

Awwww... what cute babies everyone has! It's nice to check in and see how they have grown! I just wanted to stop by and say hi, and that I still think of you all!! We're expecting another miracle in March!! So far so good this time!
Wishing you and your families a very happy holiday season!!
hugs,
Kimmie

[charissa]

Jane - how freaking cute is that??? :)

hapa - that card is so great! What an adorable family! Good luck with the drive.

kimmie - CONGRATS!!! you brave soul. The recovery from birth is still very vivid in my mind, so I don't think I'm quite ready yet, but CONGRATS again to you and your family, that's awesome!

[Sal03]

kimmie I've been lurking along on the other threads and was so thrilled to hear of your pregnancy. I hope Thanksgiving was not too rough on you and DH. The time of year you are expecting is just too perfect, Robert is definitely watching over you! I'll keep lurking along and will be so happy to read your good news in the spring. :)

Hapa so sorry your kiddies are sick. I was cooped up with dylan all week so I know how you feel. good luck on the drive, love the card! every time you post pics you push me more to get that camera!

Jane absolutely LOVE the card!!

This has been a hard week. It has been so hard to see dylan so not himself. He still has a nasty cough and everything is "Mommyyyyyyyy hug". He is so sensitive and actually asks to go in for naps and to bed. I called the ped again and they said it is just a nasty virus that has to run its course. I have been nursing Katie like crazy in the hopes that she won't get it and so far so good.

[Jane&Andy]

Kimmie - CONGRATULATIONS!!!! Its so good to hear from you. :D

Hapa - love the card! I love the beach pictures. :) Good luck on the long drive!

Sal - I hope Dylan feels better soon and that Katie stays healthy.

[JenniferEC]

Jane - Are those teeth in that pic of Joey with the Diet Dr Pepper? He's such a poser!

hapa - Your card looks great. I love the pic of Jack telling Kaylie a secret! Good luck with the drive.

Sal - I hope Dylan gets better soon. 2 sick kids is no fun!

Kimmie - Congratulations! It's nice to hear such great news from someone who deserves it!

DH is going out of town tomorrow morning and won't be back until after midnight on Wed. I'm dreading it! By the time he gets back I'm going to need a 24 hour nap!

[Jane&Andy]

nope, I think its just spit glistening on his gums. :p still no teeth for Joey!

[jrsygirl]

Kimmie I was lurking in one of the other threads and saw your good news so I am so glad you came by to tell us all. I am so happy for you!!

I bought a few more things for the kids stockings today: target had christmas weebles so I bought them each a set of those; Paige got two more giddy giddy clips (I have a serious problem..she has like 20 now..) and they each got two new bibs from colby lane. Useful stuff i guess...since I know from experience they like to play with empty baskets and tupperware..and paige's favorite toy? Remote control! Between her and Brody we should buy stock in uniiversal remotes!

QOTD: What are your babies schedules like these days? I ask because Paige and Cole are ready to transition to two naps a day their morning nap we now call the "crap nap" ..but we did a 2x a day nap all weekend and their feeding schedules got all messed up and I feel like we were out of control.

[Sal03]

QOTD Katie is on two naps a day. She wakes around 7, nurses. has about 2/3 cup oatmeal at 8:15. If we are home for the morning nap (we are always home for pm nap) she naps from about 9:15-10:45. She nurses when she wakes up. Lunch at about 12:15 which is one stage 2 veg and one stage 2 fruit. Then she nurses again around 2 and naps then for 1.5-2 hours. Wakes and nurses. Dinner which is the same amount as lunch around 5:30 then nurse then bed at 7. If we are not home for the morning nap, she probably only naps about an hour on the go and needs an earlier afternoon nap then late afternoon she is cranky. Needless to say, I prefer when she gets her morning nap at home but on the days Dylan has preschool it is impossible. Poor second kid has to do everything on the go...but that is a whole other post!

[charissa]

QOTD - schedules - right now DS has gone back to normal, we went through what I think was a growth spurt last week, getting up once to either fuss (loudly) or have a bottle. But usually its:

6:30-7 wake up, a little fruit for breakfast and a bottle
about 9:30 or 10 nap for an hour or two
12:00 lunch and a bottle
about 2 or 3 another nap (usually shorter about an hour)
4:00 1/2 a bottle
5:00 dinner and the rest of the bottle from earlier
7:30 start bedtime
before 8:00 out
and repeat :)

[Jane&Andy]

Joey woke up at 9:30 last night and was inconsolable. He's never before in his life been inconsolable. I have no idea what was wrong. He wasn't hungry. We gave him a dose of tylenol in case he was teething. He was kinda cold. So we put him in the bed with us and the warm blankets. He calmed down after a little while and fell asleep. He woke up during the night and ate and then let me move him back to the crib. He was up early this morning and is a tad bit crabby from the rough night but still acting pretty normal.

So I don't have a clue what happened. Is there a nine month growth spurt? (although he's not eating more than usual) Maybe a tooth will pop up soon (finally!)? :confused:

QOTD: schedule (the times are just estimates - it varies every day)
6:30 wake up and nurse
7:15 breakfast
8:00 nurse and nap
10 wake up and nurse
11:00 lunch
12:00 nurse and nap
1:00 wake up and nurse
2:00 snack
3:00 nurse and nap
4:00 wake up and nurse
5:00 dinner
6/6:30 bedtime

I guess that's a pretty accurate breakdown of our ideal day. If I keep him out for awhile after the first nap he can skip the second one and hold up pretty well but I don't generally do that when its just the two of us (saved for playgroup days or visiting with family, etc).

rsygirl - I haven;t seen xmas weebles! I bought Joey xmas Little People off the Fisher Price website for his stocking (just Santa, Mrs Claus and a reindeer). They have some really neat holiday sets but I figured at this age he doesn't need them - but I am going to watch for them to go on sale.

[jrsygirl]

jane thats random about joey because paige did the exact same thing...and she's my good sleeper..she woke up shrieking around 11pm..i was so upset because she never does that I almost had brian convinced we should take her to the emergency room. but once she was up and calmed down she wanted to play- booger.


ETA: here are the weebles I bought they were in the holiday aisles by the stocking stuffers...http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v231/hbd511/weebles.jpg

[Jane&Andy]

jrsygirl - we were about ready to take Joey to the emergency room too! At least once he calmed down he went to sleep.

cool weebles. :)

[Kopper]

Hi everyone! Thanks for the travel advice. DH, Jacob and I are in Salt Lake this week. We flew in yesterday and DS did so well on the flight. He only fussed maybe 30 seconds twice. He slept half of the flight and the other half he liked to look out the window and play with the seatbelts. We didn't pay for a seat for him but luckily the flight was open enough that the ticket agent gave us a row to ourselves. It is cold here btw! We had snow in Texas on Thursday which is very early for us. Oh, DH was gone last week and we survived it. He will be home next week and then he has to travel the week after. I think if this week goes well we will come with him once a month. The hotel is very nice and we have a suite so he can sleep in the bedroom at night and we have the living room to ourselves.

Cute pictures everyone!!

Kimmie - Congratulations! Thanks for stopping by sharing your good news.

QOTD - Schedule:
This is pretty rough
6:30-7:30 - wake up
8:00 ish - small bottle w/ leftover sup from night before
9:00 - nurse & nap (anywhere from 30-90 min)
10-12 - nurse once or twice
12:30 - 1pm - nurse and nap (1-2 hours)
3pm - veggie or fruit and cereal
4-5 - nurse once or twice
5pm ish - bottle
6:30 - nurse to sleep

Nighttime varies every night. I usually nurse him 2-4 times in the night but he sometime wakes up 3-4 other times. :( He's never really been a great sleeper.

[LittleStar]

Well, we went to the dr. again today (the THIRD Monday in.a.row), and H appears to have gotten over the croup and now has RSV. :( (sigh) He's such a trooper though - he still gives me a few smiles. DH and I are both swamped at work, so we're alternating who stays home. I think we're going to have my mom fly down to help us out so we can get caught up work.

Schedule:
5:30-6:30- wake up and nurse (waking time varies; I usually end up falling back asleep while nuring H in the glider)
6:30 - I start getting ready for work. H used to go in the swing (until he started trying to escape :eek: ), now he gets "parked" in his crib, the exersaucer, or my closet (this is actually the best spot because it's carpeted, he can see me in the bathroom as I'm getting ready, and it's big and mostly empty)
7:45 - arrive at H's school - they feed him oatmeal and a fruit
9:30 - (school) H has an 8 oz. bottle then goes down for morning nap.
10:00 - I pump for the first time.
11:00 ish - (school) H has a veg.
12:30 ish - (school) H has an 8 oz. bottle and goes down for afternoon nap.
2:00 - I pump for the second time.
3:00 - (school) H has a fruit
4:30 - (school) H has an 8 oz. bottle.
6:00 - I pick H up from school and we go home.
6:30 to 7:15 - H's bath, story, nurse, bed.

Of course, the last few nights, H has been waking around 2:30 a.m., coughing and wheezing. Poor guy.

[SaphirimalMei]

Holy cow! I am so behind! I havent really been online in ages. So busy at work and when I'm not busy at work, I'm busy with the little ones, and when I'm not busy with them, well...I'm asleep! :p

Finn's doing really well. He'd been scooting backwards and rolling all over to get where he wants to go til TODAY when he decided he's decided to try going forward for a change. It didnt last long and ended in a face-plant and a freak-out, but it counts...he's a crawler.

At his 6 month visit Finn was 90% in everything including his head which jumped from 75% so they wanna see him back for a mid-check-up check-up which is scheduled for Friday. I'm betting they just caught him in the middle of a growth-spurt, but, we'll see what the doc says.

He's babbling a lot these days. dadadadadada, bababababa, etc. So cute. Especially when he gets really emphatic about it. DADADADA!!!

No teeth yet, but I'm not surprised as Jillian didnt get a single tooth til she was 14 months old. She was a big faker...can't tell you how many times I thought she was finally getting a tooth. Finn's drooling up a storm and chomping on everything in sight, but I won't believe he's actually teething til I see a tooth.

Member Info:
CC Name: Saphirimalmei
DS/DD Name: Finley
Real Name/Age: Marisa
DH's Real Name/Age: Phil
Married: 9/27/03
EDD: 4/22/06
Birthdate: 4/28/06
Time of Birth: 6:10pm
Weight: 8lbs 6oz
Length: 21 1/4 in
Other Children, furbabies, etc.: DSD Gaelyn 14, DSD Elizabeth 9, DD Jillian 1 3/4, Saint Cornelius the dog 6

Finn (SaphirimalMei)
Weight
Birth: 8lb 6oz
2wks: 9lbs 6oz
4 months: 16lb 10oz
6 months: 19lbs 4oz
Height
Birth:21.25in
2wks: 22.25in
4 months: 27in
6 months: 28.5in

http://static.flickr.com/105/303276864_e467eb69a9_m.jpg

http://static.flickr.com/118/303276852_ec675fb022.jpg?v=0

[April'06Moms]

Updated to here.

We don't have many pictures on the first page! Please post in red by the picture if you would like it on the first page - I don't repost without permission.

[Jane&Andy]

Saph - he's adorable! I love that picture of him on all fours - what a cutie!

LittleStar - I'm sorry Harrison has RSV - I hope he feels better soon!!!

Kopper - I'm glad you had a nice flight - I hope you have a good time in Salt Lake.

Joey slept just fine last night - I was so worried he'd wake up screaming again! I finished wrapping his xmas presents last night. I am so ready to give them to him! :p I'm not very good at being patient.

Well, Joey is napping (up at 6am this morning! :rolleyes: ) so I'm going to go bathe the dog and then take a shower. :)

[relly]

Jane and Hapa – love, love, love your cards

Kimmie – thanks for stopping by with an update. I can’t wait to hear the good news in March 2007 – I wish you the very, very best.

Littlestar – gosh, poor little guy, hope H gets well soon!

Schedules – this is an ideal schedule, it all depends on how long they nap for, but they pretty much always have 3 naps/day

7 am – wake up
7:30 am – cereal and bottle
8:30 – 11 am – nap
Noon – veggies and bottle
1-3 pm – nap
3:30 pm – bottle
4-6 pm – nap
7 pm – cereal and bottle
8 pm - bed

Here are 2 pics from Thanksgiving, we went to my sister's house

http://www.imagestation.com/picture/sraid220/pbf9f32a0b70b3d2334172c38b4d954a3/ebda5086.jpg

http://www.imagestation.com/picture/sraid220/peafd40c70c1086f4498ee3df2009ef66/ebde0013.jpg

[JenniferEC]

jrsygirl - Those Weebles are cute. Are they hard plastic or would they be easy to teethe on? Marin is so not into teething rings.

Jane - I can't believe you've got presents wrapped. I'm still trying to finish up my shopping.

relly - What cute pics! Love those red shoes.

sick babies - I hope all the sick babies get better soon, especially before the holidays. Not a fun time to be sick!

QOTD - Has anyone lowered the crib mattress yet? We did this on Saturday because Marin can get on all fours and I was afraid she'd find some way to fall out. At the next setting, I have to take the crib skirt off because it drags on the floor. :(

Schedule:
7:30-8:00 Up for day
8:30 Cerereal and fruit
9:30 nap
11:30 bottle
1:30 nap
3:00 bottle
5:00 veggies and fruit
7:00 bottle
She has been getting up around 5am and having a bottle. We are still waiting for her to sleep until at least 7. She's so much different than Caden was.

[Jane&Andy]

Jennifer - what can I say, I'm a xmas freak. :) :p This is actually the first year in a long time that I'm not done with my shopping before Thanksgiving!

crib - the mattress was lowered before Joey ever slept in it b/c my neice was visiting and slept there. I never bothered to raise it again, I just left the drop side down to make it easier to get him in and out (now I raise it b/c I know one of these days he'll pull himself up). But my crib skirt doesn't hang on the ground.

relly - what gorgeous babies you have!

[jrsygirl]

Jennifer I would say they seem to be pretty similar to the Peek a Blocks and Balls from FP. Paige and Cole regulary suck on those.

Relly so cute they are!

I forgot to take any thanksgiving pictures since it was also the first time I ever cooked the entire meal myself so I was a tad crazy that day!

I do have a pic from their baptism that was that weekend. Paige is teething for sure..we don't have a single picture without her fist in her mouth!
http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v231/hbd511/baptism.jpg

ETA: I cannot believe they are 8 months old!!!!!!!!

[charissa]

crib - that thing has been lowered since we discovered he can sit up on his own. He's been pulling up on everything for about a month and a half now, and he's already starting to stand on his own for a a few seconds. So needless to say, I'm TOTALLY freaked out. DH was more worried than I was, so we lowered it pretty early.

[Kopper]

crib - We lowered it one notch two months ago when he started sitting up. A few weeks ago we had to lower it all the way b/c I found him standing in his crib. I was terrified that if we didn't he would flip himself out. Speaking of cribs, how long do you plan on having DC in it? I was wondering when you move them to toddler beds or regular beds. Right now I am thinking at about 18 months or so unless he starts escaping and then we may do it sooner.

[Sal03]

crib katie's is not lowered yet. it's funny how different my kids are. Dylan's was lowered so early and bumpers out because he was all over the place. and Kopper Dylan is almost 2.5 and still in his crib! It depends on the kid. We knew before this he would never stay in a bed. And he has never climbed out. He is a perfect sleeper overnight and for naps so the Ped said if it isn't broken, don't fix it! Especially since he is not potty trained yet so he did not need to be in a bed. He is JUST starting now to put his foot up on the rail to test the waters so we will be moving him SOON

[Sal03]

forgot to comment on the pics!

jrsygirl They look like a little prince and princess. so sweet

relly they are so adorable, love their matching red :)

saphirimalmei he looks like such a big boy! especially with all that hair. where did all our infants go??????????

[shania0474]

Hi ladies... struggling to catch up on my reading but I have looked at all the pics and the babies are all adorable!!! DH and I tried to take Christmas photos for cards but the boys were ALL OVER THE PLACE and after about 40 minutes, DH said, "That's it. Just go to the store and buy some generic cards!" :)

QOTD schedule rough estimate as it depends on if I'm home and if David goes to preschool or not
6:30-7am Wake up and nurse
8:30 Breakfast (oatmeal +fruit)
First nap (either at 9am for an hour or at 10:30/11 for two hours): if I'm home I nurse him before the nap, if not, 4-5oz bottle of formula
1pm Lunch (usually some kind of pasta with veggies or pasta with ground turkey)
1:30-3:30 Second nap
4pm Snack
5:30-6pm Dinner (varies depending on mom's mood, what's leftover in the fridge, if he's had enough milk that day, etc)
6-7pm Bath and Bedtime

QOTD crib we've had ours at the lowest setting for over a month now since he started pulling up when he was almost 7 months

teeth he has four teeth now... he was suddenly crabby one night last week (woke up twice crying) and two days later we saw two new teeth on top

update We've been traveling for the past two weeks -- first to England and then to Africa -- visiting friends and family. Sal I've got a scary MIL story for you but I'll have to come and post another time as the boys are waking up now. They both have bad coughs too so I'm taking them to the ped today.

Oh and he says "mama" all the time now much to DH's frustration because he has completely stopped saying "dada" :D

[jrsygirl]

shania he's eating ground meat and pasta? How long have you been giving him that? Just curious because my two are so bored with purees and salivate over whatever we are eating...just curious how you introduced them

[Jane&Andy]

Joey pulled himself up to standing today!!!!

what a sweet picture jrsygirl!

crib - I plan to leave him in the crib until he's about 2. That's about when my sister's moved their kids out of the crib - I think only one of them ever climbed out and she was just barely short of 2 then (and she didn't get hurt - once she did it the second time they put the crib mattress on the floor for her).

[JenniferEC]

Jane - Congrats on him pulling up! He'll be cruising next.

crib - We moved Caden right around his 2nd bday. He probably could have stayed in the crib, but I didn't want to buy a second one. He never climbed out and I liked him being confined. :) We'll see how Marin is when she's two, but I'm not going to rush her out of the crib.

We ran to Target earlier and some lady walked up to me and said they had those TMX Elmos in stock. I went ahead and got one but now I have no idea why. Caden isn't that interested in Sesame Street anymore and Marin has no idea who Elmo is. I guess I will put it away and see if she's an Elmo fan in the future.

[Sal03]

Jennifer SELL IT ON EBAY! :D

[Sevilla]

QOTD Crib: D has never slept in his crib, it's his changing table so it's not lowered. But if he were to sleep in it we would have had to lower it a few months ago when he started pulling up to stand - as it is now we have to watch him closely when we change him b/c he loves to pull up on everything and could flip himself out.

[jrsygirl]

Jennifer SELL IT ON EBAY!

seriously..its a gold mine and if your kids won't care!!

[mel7dog]

Ben's top two teeth came through last week and I think he looks so grown up already!
http://www.babysites.com/site6/benjaminlongley/myphotos/4photo18.jpg
Crib - He goes in there for most naps and sometimes to play while I shower. We lowered it when he was 6 months just to be safe, but he hasn't started pulling up yet.

More pics:
Scooting around the house
http://www.babysites.com/site6/benjaminlongley/myphotos/4photo21.jpg
And one for the front page
http://www.babysites.com/site6/benjaminlongley/myphotos/4photo19.jpg

[shania0474]

mel I love the third photo -- he looks like a little man! :)

littlestar what's rsv?

jrsygirl G eats anything and everything. Spaghetti & ground turkey is his brother's favorite meal and he has to have it everyday so one day G kept crying for it (he was about 7 months at the time) and I gave in and gave him a bit -- I overcooked the pasta, mashed it with a fork and sat with him and chewed along with him and he was a master chomper (even better than his brother!) The next day I watched out for signs of constipation (and gave him the Earth's Best prunes and oatmeal jar for breakfast) and he was totally fine so that was that! Since I was way too careful with his brother (and now he hates trying new things) I am way more willing to try new things with G (except obvious no-nos like eggs, honey, citrus, etc) and so far there is nothing he has rejected or had digestive problems with. Good luck!

crib forgot to add that we moved David out of his crib a few weeks ago (before his 2nd birthday). He had been taking his naps on the big bed in the guest room and we tried it for night sleep one night and never looked back

MIL story We spent the weekend after thanksgiving at the in-laws. It actually wasn't bad at all. I love FIL and he seems to keep his wife in check whenever he's around. He loved playing with the kids and thoroughly spoiled them. He invited family and friends over to meet his grandkids while we were there (it was the kids' first trip there) and we had fun. Later, one of DH's cousins said to me that she thinks madness runs in MIL's family and that I should pray it doesn't affect my kids :eek: :eek: :eek: I was too shocked to speak and she proceeded to outline some quirky behavior from MIL, her sister and her brother. I would have dismissed this as nonsense but I was really freaked especially since DH's older brother had just been diagnosed with schizophrenia. I almost lost my mind because I obviously could not say anything to DH. After a few days, I calmed down and reminded myself that I have deep faith in God and He is watching over my family. I insisted to DH that we start going back to church and I'm now constantly praying over my kids.... what would you have done if this happened to you? Should I say anything to DH?

[uskiku]

A fly-by, as A is about to wake up...

Schedule is going through a major change, as we are in the middle of transferring from 3 naps to 2, and he is getting his 3rd tooth... ;)
Thanks so much for posting your schedules, it's been so helpful to see what everyone is doing and how you're structuring your days!

Crib was lowered last Saturday when I discovered him with his hands on the rail!

Wonderful, wonderful picures, everyone!!!

Shania yes, I would to talk with DH. It sounds scary, but try to stay positive: yes, your BIL was diagnosed, but that does not mean (in medical or clinical terms) that "madness runs in the family", KWIM? It sounds like something someone (not a very nice someone) would say, but I wouldn't read much into it. And I'm a major worrier, by the way! As an example of my worry-wart-ness: when I was pregnant with A, I had my AFP come back with a slightly elevated risk for spina bifida and I watched for the first 12 weeks of A's life his every movement, worried that he might have spina bifida. I only calmed down when he rolled over at 12 weeks! Having said that, my MIL was diagnosed with schizophrenia 4 years ago. She has been on medication and is doing fine. Am I worried about A? No. I can honestly say that I'm not. MIL has 3 biological children and they are all fine. I firmly believe that my child(ren) are going to be fine as well - as will be yours! Hugs to you! :) Oh, and feel free to PM me, if you'd like to talk about this!

Question about cough/teething: A seems to be getting a cough, but this could be related to teething... At least DH thinks so, and yes, our little man is teething right now. Still, I'm worried... He mainly coughs when he is asleep. He seems fine - no fever, quite happy (as happy as he can be right now ;)) and active otherwise. Should I call a doctor? Would you?

ETA: A has been doing 'army-style" crawling and "real" but backwards crawling for weeks now, but this morning DH and I watched him *crawl* forward a couple of steps!! So, not quite there yet, but getting VERY close! :)

[shania0474]

uskiku I PM'd you! Thanks so much for the support.

cough/teething I took both boys to the ped yesterday because they've both been coughing (severely at night then a few times during the day). She checked their lungs & throat and said they were both fine. She blamed the coughs on teething (G just got his two top teeth and David is getting his 2y molars). Something about all the drool pooling and forming mucus when they are lying down and inactive... HTH!

[jrsygirl]

cough/teething Something about all the drool pooling and forming mucus when they are lying down and inactive... our ped said the same thing..cole also has a super runny nose but i think he actually has a litte cold right now. Poor guy.

[Sevilla]

Shania - It is hard finding out about difficult family history and weighing how it could affect your kids. It's like that with health issues, mental illness issues, personality traits, etc... I think the best thing you can do is be proactive with your kids and if you see signs that something isn't right you can do things to help them cope and such right away instead of things being left untreated. But I seriously would not worry about it unless you have to.

[LittleStar]

crib - we lowered it a month or so ago when H started pulling up.

rsv - it's a respiratory infection. the dr. prescribed an inhaler to use when H is "wheezy" but other than that, no other medication. I though he was starting to get better, so we took him to school yesterday morning for the first time this week, but they called us at noon to pick him up b/c he had a fever.

I'm home with him today, and he seems better. At least, no fever. But still very congested (his little nose is disgusting and he HATES for me to wipe it), coughing, sneezing, but not wheezing.

I'm super stressed right now, and am having second thoughts about going the daycare route, instead of nanny like most of my friends. My work is suffering and I am getting so behind, and thus far, my boss has been understanding, but who knows how long that will last. DH's job is demanding too, and I think we get a little frustrated with each other when we try to work out who stays home with a sick H b/c we both really need to be at work. But really, other than H being sick these last few weeks, I am so so happy with his school and wouldn't change. I just wish we had family to watch him on the sick days when he can't go to school so that I can go to work. And then I feel like a bad mom for even thinking that! Any other WOH moms with any advice?

thanks for letting me vent a bit.

[Txfish]

(Littlestar) I've been there, and it's so tough. I hope you find a solution that works for you -- no matter how much you want to (and hey, sometimes you don't!), just can't stay home every time kiddo is too sick to go to school. I was lucky enough to have a SAH stepmom nearby when DD1 was little, and she saved me & probably allowed me to keep my job. I think the nanny solution is great, maybe even until H gets a little older and has a little better immunities built up, and then back to school for early ed & socialization. Good luck!

Our schedule:
wake around 6 (that's new, and very unfortunate LOL)
bottle, then take sis to school
cereal w/ fruit around 8:30
nap from 9:30-11
bottle around 11:30
lunch around 12-12:30 (usually more cereal or a fruit/veggie)
nap 1:30-3
pick up sis from school
(sometimes small bottle 3:30-4ish)
dinner at 5 (usually a meat/veggie and a fruit) -- all stage 2's still
bottle at 6:30
bed at 7

Ah, the crib. Whitney actually DID make her way out of the crib already, talk about heart-stopping. Luckily my older daughter was in there with her and half-caught her on the way down. We'd lowered it to the second lowest position once she started pulling up on things, and it was still high enough under most circumstances -- but sister had gone in and given her some big toys in her crib, which she climbed up on, and... Horrifying. It's all the way down now.

Oh, and I kept DD1 in her crib forever -- we finally took the front panel off and made it a crib-sized daybed when she was a few months shy of 3, and moved her into a twin at about 3.5 LOL

[jrsygirl]

little star i'm sorry thats so tough. it is so hard to balance. I struggle with it every day
luckily I do have a nanny and my DH works from home mostly when he's not travelling. I was initially going to do daycare but realized that I wanted more flexibility in terms of schedule and i can be assured the twins are getting individual attention and staying away from germs. To be honest ..its actually less expensive for me because i have two...but i'm not sure what the going rate is in TX...I pay $13/an hour and this way I also have a experienced sitter i trust with the kids when we want to go out at night...

[LittleStar]

Thanks jrsygirl and Txfish. It's hard to admit irl that I'm struggling. I guess I'm just having one of those days :rolleyes: But I really appreciate the support.

[jrsygirl]

Little star hang in there...i spent hours last night telling dh how torn I am..that when at work all I think about is how much I wish I was home and what idiots i work with, and then when i'm home i worry about money and losing my career and feel all this pressure to work...i feel like i can't win.

[Jane&Andy]

shania - ITA with Sevilla - just watch your boys close and be proactive. Mental health issues run in my DH's family so I understand how you are feeling.

we took Joey to see Santa today, you can see from the picture how well it went...
http://www.imagestation.com/picture/sraid220/p6ba4b583c36cde88655fac42743c2b0a/ebb885fc.jpg
:p

I got a haircut today and feel so much better - my first haircut since June and that was a bad one. I feel semi-cute for the first time in a long time. :)

[Sal03]

Jane LMAO I think that is the first time I have seen Joey upset in a photo!! Doesn't the new haircut feel great? I have been a new person since mine

Littlestar sorry you are having a rough day. the mommy guilt just never ends. I am always feeling guilty about something. I hope he feels better soon and you too!

Shania well that gives you something to think about. I don't see anything wrong with talking to your DH about it, that is what he is there for. but I would not worry too much about it. I know you watch your kids closely and you will see if anything is up, but I am sure that it won't be passed to them. Oh and it's so funny, I am trying to give katie everything too because I never did with dylan and he won't try ANYTHING. He says ALL DONE anytime I try and give him something new. So all he eats is egg salad, grilled cheese, pizza and sometimes meatballs (but no pasta!) for dinner. great.

Took katie to her first class today at My Gym. It was SO MUCH FUN. She absolutely loved it. And I was so happy to have quality time with her. All the other moms were commenting on how much fun she was having. I am so happy I signed up for it. I am going to start music with her in January. And all the other moms were so nice. I felt like when I took Gymboree with dylan the other moms never talked and the teachers were lousy. This was just great. DH is taking Dylan to a class there on Saturday morning. hopefully my little scaredy cat will like it.

[Jane&Andy]

Sal - it feels awesome. And its the best haircut I think I've ever had. Getting it was stressful though (they messed up my appt and scheduled me with someone that wasn't in yet). It took forever so DH spent an hour pacing the mall with Joey and was kinda crabby when it was done - kinda killed my buzz over the good cut. :( And by then Santa had just left for an hour break so Joey was overtired. He was happy in line though but totally freaked out when he was handed over to Santa.

The class for Katie sounds awesome. I want to do something like that with Joey but the only things I've found are too expensive. He loves to interact with people (aside from Santa apparently). We have playgroup once a week but I think he'd like to get out more.

[jrsygirl]

sal what exactly did she get to do at mygym? I've been hinking about signing them up for a class but I'm not sure what they would get out of it at this point..I'd love to hear more!

[Txfish]

I'd love to find something cheap to do with Whit, also -- she is such a social bee. But the closest one, where Caro has her class, is like $300 a semester! For an infant? Give me a break.

Has anyone done StrollerFit? My neighbor and I took a trial class that happened to be starting when we went to the park one day, and we loved it -- also too expensive for my taste, but it really was a cool environment and a much different workout than I'd ever experienced. The babies loved it.

Off to prep for my Daisy field trip today. I absolutely loathe being the troop leader LOL I wish there had been any kind of acceptable adult willing to do this, instead of the sleazy, swearing, smoking ones who offered. Blech. (I don't have a problem with smokers in general, just don't want them around my kids. For instance, my co-leader is going to drive her own car today so that she can smoke on the way to the library. :rolleyes: )

[Sal03]

classes they are expensive but so worth it. we are in a little pinch now from paying for these two classes ($500 I think for the two kids for 10 weeks plus a one time family membership fee of $75 :eek: ) during holiday season but we are doing it because there is so little to do with them during the winter.
I'll find out later what they do for Dylan's age but at My Gym for Katie it was adorable. We all sat in a big circle with our babies in front of us and they put on fun dance music and did a little baby work out. We moved their arms, feet, did little situps...she was laughing the whole time. Then we picked up the kids and walked in a circle to a song and ran and jumped and stopped and walked and the moms behind me said katie was laughing the whole time. Then they had swings and little trampolines so she was doing that and they had a huge rubber ball that they were rolling the babies on. Then they had a music part where we clapped their hands and sang songs. And as they move more there are tubes for them to crawl through and things like that. I feel like they get SO much stimulation out of a class (as long as it is a good class with a good teacher so a trial is a great thing) at this age. Music Together I took with Dylan and will start that with Katie in January. That is less physical stuff and lots of sitting in a circle and singing along and letting them experiment with touching instruments and banging their hands on drums and shaking maracas and dancing in place with them. Dylan always was mesmerized by the music so I think Katie will like that too.
jrsygirl that was long but hope it was a good overview!

[Sevilla]

Sal - That sounds like such a cool class!!! Glad you guys enjoyed it.

Jane - Joey looks so cute in spite of being upset. Love his outfit!

[Jane&Andy]

Sal - thanks for telling us about the class - it sounds great. I may have to discuss it with DH after the holidays.

Joey finally managed to get up on all fours today. And he was sitting and bouncing today and actually managed to scoot a few feet (sitting the whole time, just propelling forward a little with each bounce) while holding a balloon. Silly boy. :)

Joey got a new cousin yesterday so he's not the baby anymore (well, he still is in my family but not in DH's). :( I'm still recovering from a nasty cold (worst cold I've had in a long time) so we haven't seen the new baby yet. Makes me very nostalgic for Joey's newborn days and excited to think about having the next one (but not TTC yet).

[Kopper]

Jane&Andy - Congrats on your new neice or nephew! :) Hope you start feeling better soon.

mel7dog - Ben is such a cutie! I like the teeth picture.

--
Hope everyone is having a good weekend. We are trying to spend it cleaning since we have a maid service starting Monday. Isn't it weird how I want to clean my house before the maid comes? It was part of the deal with DH getting a new job, I could get a maid to come and clean the house.

Solids - Jacob is starting to get bored with purees. Today we went to our neighbor's son's first birthday party. They had lunch so I let him try the green beans and baked beans. He loved both. He won't touch the green beans I pureed but he didn't mind them when I cut them in small pieces.

[shania0474]

Thanks everyone for your kind words and support. I finally told DH and it really was a load off!!! He didn't get upset like I thought he would and I didn't tell him who said it (but he could probably guess because he didn't press too much). I LOVE being a part of this group, there is no one irl I could discuss this with and I'm sorry if I hijacked the thread with my MIL stories...:(

Anyway, on to better things...

Kopper Congrats on the maid service! We have a woman (wife of the super in one of the buildings in our area) come in once every two weeks to help clean up and I'm always running around putting things away the night before she comes :D

Jane Congrats on Joey's new cousin! I hope you feel better soon.

Sal Glad to hear that Katie enjoyed her class so much! David attends music class and gymboree but I think I'm not as pleased with gymboree as I was at the beginning (though they organized an awesome birthday party for him last month). I must check if we have mygym in the area. No classes yet for Gabriel... my rule is that they must be either walking or be one year old (whichever comes first) before we shell out dollars for a class.

littlestar I know how you feel. I've been there! The decision to quit my job was a major one for me because I love working and bringing home half the bacon. Now that we have an awesome nanny that we trust (and I'm so glad I took the time off to look for her) I am slowly getting back into work mode. I knew I missed it the first day I put on a suit to attend a meeting with a potential employer! I haven't quite decided yet on what I'm going to do but whatever it is, I want two things guaranteed: I will be my own boss and I will have a flexible schedule so I can work from home if I need to. Good luck with everything and hope you're feeling better!

getting cute Sal and Jane, I've been considering a "project get cute" as well! My hair is a mess and I have NOT lost all the pregnancy weight (there is still a stubborn 8-10lbs to go)! I joined the gym but never went and finally cancelled my membership so I stop wasting $98 every month! I got a $1 skipping rope at Target instead :D The plan was to jog to the park, skip rope for twenty minutes and walk back home, but the rope has been sitting on my bedrom floor for almost two weeks now and I'm yet to motivate myself to get up at the crack of dawn when the boys are still sleeping. Hmph!

[Jane&Andy]

Shania - I highly recommend a hair cut! I feel a lot better. I'm doing WW now and that is helping with the weight loss. I'm a little below my pre-pg weight now but that's still not a good weight for me. I don't know what happened but in that last 6 months before getting pg I put on a lot of weight. I'd like to join a gym b/c I just won't workout at home but I'm afraid to spend the money on it. I was going for a lot of walks but now its too cold. Buying a jogging stroller almost sounds tempting but I've never been much of a runner - it hurts my hips.

thanks Kopper - its a niece. :) yay for a maid! I hosted playgroup yesterday and one of the little girls cleared my picture frames off a bookcase (seems to be a common activity for 15month olds that come over to my house - she's the 3rd to do it) and exposed my dust to the world! :p

Joey is surrounded by girl cousins in both families - the 4 cousins closest in age to him are all girls (ages 2 and under). Not that he can;t play with girls but I'm sure hoping the next cousin is a boy. My 2 older sisters each had a boy and then a girl so their kids are kind of paired off together and have so much fun. The two boys are 11 mos apart and the 2 girls are only 6 months apart. And then there's Joey - odd man out for now. Its not a big deal, I was just the youngest in my family by a lot so I'm over-sensitive to being left out (my sisters were good to me but with the age difference I was left out a lot - its not like I could go out with them to bars when I was 15 and they were both 21 and over).

I've been trying more finger foods with Joey but I think he's going to be sticking with purees for a bit longer. He seems interested i whats on my plate until I put it in front of him to eat.

[JenniferEC]

Jane - That pic of Joey with Santa is hilarious! Definitely a keeper. We're going to take Caden and Marin this week when it's not crowded. Congrats on your niece!

Txfish - I don't blame you about the smoking. It's so gross especially when your kids are around it. OH just passed a smoking ban, but unfortunately I still have to walk out of my way just to get into Target because the smokers stand right outside the doors. Gross.

Sal - Do you do the class while Dylan is in school? I'd love to do something like that, but what would I do with Caden?

Kopper - I'm so jealous of your maid service! Maybe one of these days I can get one when we win the lottery.

Shania - $98 a month! :eek: We joined the Y (DH's work pays for it)and it's actually motivated me to work out a couple of times a week. The jump rope sounds like fun, too.

[Jane&Andy]

I joined a gym yesterday and signed Joey up for a 6wk swim class starting tomorrow (indoor pool). :D I can't wait! I did 30min on the elliptical yesterday while DH stayed home with a napping Joey (he has access to a free gym at work so he didn't join) and now my legs are aching a little.

[jrsygirl]

project get cute update I'm still not feeling altogether better about myself but I have made some steps to get there at least:

I have been making sure my nails are always neat and have at least a clear coat

i caved and bough some more "fat" clothes because frankly they are more flattering than my clothes that don't fit

i have an appt to get my hair cut

Brody and I will be doing some sort of daily execrcise startling with long walks and building up to some running perhaps since he went to the vet last night and is as chubby as his mommy!
I would join a gym but i want to prove that I am committed fiirst..we let our memberships go since I oculdnt work out while I was preggo. and to be honest I don't know when I'd go..my commute is already so long...

I also bought the new Taebo total fat blaster workout and had B move the dvd player int the loft so I can workout upstairs...


swimming i am signing the twins up for the swimming class at the local Y. Brian and I are both big water people and want to make sure the twins get used to it and are comfortable in the water early..


jane go you on working out!!

santa we wnet on saturday. I haven't uploaded the pic yet but I will tonight. Cole was very impressed. Paige not so much.

[Sal03]

quick post...

Jennifer the class is thursdays at 10:30am. So I drop Dylan off at school at 9, drive around for a while with Katie to get her to sleep then let her nap in the car then go to class from 10:30-11:15 then rush back to pick up Dylan at 11:30. it's a crazy morning but worth it :) And DH just started a class there with Dylan on Saturday mornings and Dylan loved it! I was so surprised at how brave he was. He has really grown up since starting school. He would NEVER go on a trampoline or anything like that before!

[Jane&Andy]

Joey had his swim class last night and LOVED it. He squealed and splashed for the entire 30min. He got water in his mouth a few times and spit it out without crying. We didn't do a whole lot in the class besides walk around the pool but he still had a blast. It was so much fun! :)

[relly]

Jrsygirl – your twins are so adorable, love his outfit. We just had our babies baptized a week ago Sunday.

Littlestar – Both DH and I work full time and its really, really difficult. And I’m not helping myself by constantly wishing I could be a SAHM. Hopefully, H is all better now and his sick days are behind him for a while. I’m so glad you’re happy with your daycare and your boss is so understanding – mine is not. I need to ask my boss for a change in hours to accommodate daycare, he is going to flip out. I haven’t asked yet because I’m afraid he’ll say no.

Jane – that Santa pic is precious, aawwww

Lowering the crib – we did it a few weeks ago, they both started reaching up and grabbing the top rail.

Teeth – they both have 2 on the bottom

Coughs/colds – they both had a horrible cough, but seem to be getting over it now. She still has a bit of a runny nose.

Classes – I am so envious, no time for classes for us. And the same goes for . . .

Gym – my membership has been on hold since Feb when my Dr. told me I couldn’t go anymore. It’s killing me, I used to go everyday on my lunch break, but now I need to do errands during lunch or skip lunches to make up time due to daycare drop offs/pick ups.

Swimming lessons – Jane, that sounds like so much fun. We hope to take those, we live near the beach and both my parents and sister have beautiful pools, we’re water people. All the kids in my family have taken them as babies.

[LittleStar]

yogurt - H is 8 months today, and I'm thinking about letting him try some yogurt. What brand do you recommend?

swimming - I'm hoping to sign us up for a class in the spring. H loves splashing around during bath time so I think it'll be a hit :p

gym - haven't had a membership in forever! I enjoy running but haven't gotten back into it yet.

We haven't taken our Christmas pics yet :eek: I'm afraid we'll have to send out Happy New Year cards...or Valentine's at the rate we're going!

[Sal03]

quick post
littlestar we have not given it to katie yet, but we started dylan on the yobaby organic yogurts. he still loves them. they come in 6 packs

[bctoledo]

I've been reading along, but haven't had time to post. Work has been crazy lately and I only work part time. I can't imagine how crazy it is for those working full time.

Swimming I have signed up for classes at the Y for the winter. We are both water people and do a lot of boating, so it's important to us that Ben is comfortable in the water.

Gym I have signed up for a kickboxing class at the Y. I am excited to have a reason to get out of the house this winter.

Lowering the crib We haven't done this yet. Ben is just starting to really get into rolling, but hasn't shown must interest in pulling up on anything.

Teeth Ben has 4

Cough/Cold We had a horrible week right before Thanksgiving. Ben had an ear infection, cold and got 2 teeth. It was a rough week.

For those of you that have a Britax Marathon, are you satisfied with it? We just bought a second car (DH has a car through work that can only be used for work purposes) and I would like to put our existing car seat in his car and get a new one for mine. We have an Evenflo Triumph and I hate getting him into it. It seems pricey, but all the comments I've read on-line are positive. TIA!

[LittleStar]

Marathon - we have one and really like it. We actually need to get a new carseat for DH's car, and have been wondering what to get. I don't want to spend the $$ on another Marathon, just b/c DS hardly ever rides in DH's car. It would really be just for emergencies, like if DH had to pick DS up from daycare. bdtoledo - so you wouldn't recommend the Evenflo Triumph?

Teething biscuits/puffs - What brands to do you guys recommend? I think DS is ready for some finger foods, but when I was looking at the grocery store this morning, all the teething biscuits/zwieback toasts that I saw had suger and a bunch of other ingredients I couldn't pronounce!

DS is sick again! He woke up with a 101.4 fever this morning. He's been fussy all weekend. MIL is coming tonight to stay with us for a few days b/c I just can't miss any work this week-I'm so busy.

He's only slept 30 minutes and then 15 minutes today - he's in the crib now crying off and on - I wish he'd just fall askeep :( He's soooo tired - just rubbing his eyes and yawning, poor guy.

[Kopper]

We've had a rough week. Monday Jacob started getting a really runny nose and sneezing all the time. It kept getting worse so I took him to his ped on Friday and it turns out he has an ear infection and allergies. His eyes were/are watery so we have eye drops, decongestant and an antibiotic to give him. The eye drops are so hard to give b/c he hates them. I don't blame him though. On top of all this his top two teeth are about to break through. I can see the white but they haven't come in yet. So sleep has been horrible! Even w/ co-sleeping he has been up every night for several hours.

LittleStar - Sorry your DS is sick again! Poor baby! I hope he gets better soon. I hear you on the sleeping. DS has been the same way.

[Jane&Andy]

bctoledo - I have a Marathon and love it - DH has handled the installation and says it was super easy. Getting him in and out is easy too. I've used my sister's roundabout but that's it for my carseat experience.

LittleStar - Joey loves graham crackers. He eats Gerber puffs and wagon wheels too but graham crackers are his favorite.

We just had a xmas get together with some of my in-laws. Joey got the FP piano that I've had my eye on (decided I wanted for him AFTER I finished buying his xmas presents so I was going to get it for his birthday). :D

sorry about the sick babies Kopper and LittleStar - I hope they feel better soon.

[jrsygirl]

Jane - Do you break the graham crackers up for him ? Paige and Cole love the puffs but I want to give them something different..

[Jane&Andy]

I don;t know who designs the packaging for these kid's toys but I just had to wrestle that damn piano out of the box. :confused: :mad:

jrsygirl - I just give him a piece to gnaw on - usually 1/4 of a wafer. I gave him teeny tiny bit size pieces at first and then one day decided to try giving him a bigger piece and he devoured it.

[shania0474]

quick one...

bctoledo we have the Marathon too and love it. David still uses it. We also have the Britax Decathlon (for Gabriel) and love that too (it comes with extra padding for infants which we already took out because Gabriel was getting too big for it). Highly recommend both!

littlestar We've been giving David yo baby yogurt since he was about 11 months... I started giving Gabriel the yo baby soy yogurt and plan on starting the regular ones soon. G also likes gerber puffs and cheerios (the puffs are easier for him to pick up and feed himself)

[Jane&Andy]

Joey had his 9 month WBV this morning...
Weight - 17lb 7oz (10%)
Height - 27.5in (25%)
Head - 44.25cm (25%)

Here's Joey with his new piano
http://www.imagestation.com/picture/sraid221/p155d422472a037c300f1e6c9dcdbbf5f/eb9049a6.jpg
in his new sock monkey robe
http://www.imagestation.com/picture/sraid221/pad49c59f5208464bc1336f92d05a22e0/eb9048e3.jpg
(too big but it ought to fit great next fall/winter)
and enjoying the Noah's ark set
http://www.imagestation.com/picture/sraid221/pc2a7016934cd21b9b3375ab4ae4a8a0d/eb90496f.jpg
(that's a zebra in his mouth)

he was just being too cute today with his new toys. :)

The ped thinks he'll be crawling very soon. He's really trying hard. It'd be great if he could do it before xmas so that my Mom and sister could see him in action. We're leaving on Thursday for NC for xmas.

[Txfish]

just wanted to drop in and add -- I had the Triumph for my older daughter and LOVED it. I thought the straps were absolutely the best thing ever; I don't know if they've changed it or something because I have seen some reviews that complain about it being hard to turn the release knob but I never had any problem. I always thought it was super easy to use and adjust.

[JenniferEC]

Marathon - We have two and love them. It's easy to adjust the straps and they are easy to clean. Our backup is an Evenflo Titan but we rarely use it.

Finger foods - Marin has just started with the Gerber Puffs. She loves them but can't get them in her mouth.

Milestones - Still no hair, no teeth, and no crawling. She can scoot backwards but hasn't figured out how to go forward yet and she can finally sit up for about a minute before tumbling over. She is also still not sleeping through the night. Last night she was up at 2:30 and 6:00. Caden was STTN at 2 months so I guess I got spoiled.

Jane - Cute pics. He looks like a natural at the piano.

[relly]

Jane - Joey is so cute, you have the best pics. ANd look at all that hair he's gotten. Have a safe and happy holiday.

We went to a Christmas party on Saturday at my DH's brother's house. My poor son was a bit timid, which is so unlike him. Whereas my daughter hammed it up. She got the FP learning bunny and really liked it.

Here's a pic from their Baptism from a few weeks ago, this was taken at the end of they day, when they were getting passed around for pics. I was so proud of them, they didn't make one peep at the church nor at the reception afterwards. They were very, very good babies.

http://www.imagestation.com/picture/sraid220/p7d6aac61829f5cfb0b4e6c193fc9d0a2/eb9f4afc.jpg

[Jane&Andy]

what a great picture relly! I know it must be a heck of a lot of work to have two at once but I just love seeing the pictures of twins - it looks like so much fun! And thanks for noticing his hair! He's still pretty darned bald but its sooooo much more than he had before - its been filling in for the last month. :)

and here's a picture of Joey with his graham crackers to show how big of a piece I give him
http://www.imagestation.com/picture/sraid221/p73578e0db991db2758c29745bdcb7047/eb8f43f3.jpg
he didn't eat all of that - one cracker was promptly thrown to the floor for the dog.

[Sal03]

carseat we heave a marathon for dylan and a roundabout for katie. we figure both will be in them for a while then when d moves to a booster, k will move to the marathon.

finger foods Katie definitely prefers real food. I gave her some pieces of pasta and meatball and the jarred diced fruit and she loves all of that. Also some vegetable soup and she REALLY loved that. I am trying to really give her a wider variety because I did not do that with Dylan and he eats nothing now. Won't try anything new.

Jane look at him with the cracker! what a big boy! those get soft so quickly, that's a good idea. plus it will keep her busy for a while in the high chair!

Went to the ped for Katie's 9 month yesterday. She is 19.2 pounds and 27 3/4 inches. I have no idea what percentiles because I forgot to ask and I am so bad at reading those charts. I may call because I want to know. I got bitten for the first time over the weekend while nursing and WOW I forgot how much that hurts. their little teeth are like daggers. We had a hanukkah party on saturday night and the kids got so much stuff it is insane. we are still not even done opening. Among the things katie got are the Parents Busy Zoo cube which both kids LOVE, the FP animal choo choo which is ADORABLE and some leapfrog stuff.

The ped said that she is not concerned about Katie not babbling (she just makes squaking noises and coos, no consonants like bababa or mamama) even though I am. I am so paranoid since Dylan talked so late. She is not waving or clapping but she said she should start to do that in the next month or two. She also said that she should be following simple commands in the next month or two like wave bye bye and clap hands. Since Dylan did all of this so late I am trying to be more proactive with Katie. I mean what are you doing with your babies? Do you say clap hands and clap alot and same for waving? Dylan claps for her a lot too and she thinks it is so funny.

[Jane&Andy]

Sal - Joey doesn't wave or clap yet either. I think we just started waving and clapping more about a month ago to show him how. But we probably don't do it enough. I love giving him the graham crackers - I can eat lunch, clean the kitchen or empty the dishwasher when he's eating them. I'm still right there with him, watching him. But he's never had any trouble eating the graham crackers. He does babble some but mostly its just shrieking and cooing. yay for some cool toys for Katie! Joey is getting the FP choo choo too. :) Happy Hanukkah!

[jrsygirl]

relly they are so cute! Mine were really good at their baptism too. I think its better to do it later..all the other babies at ours screamed!


jane look at his hair! Cole's is starting to slowly come in too but he's still pretty much a baldy.

sal Cole doesnt wave or clap although he gets very excited when we do..I try and do it a lot but mostly because Paige is sort of waving bye-bye- (she lifts her arm and wiggles her fingers) and it is so freaking cute!!!!


Cole is so on the move. He stands completely on his own now and will walk if holding onto something. he loves to push the empty laundry basket around the room. The problem is at bedtime you put him down and he stands right back up... last night I had to rock him to sleep which I havent had to do since they were 2 months old!

paige is a lot more mobile but still not crawling comletely..she mostly goes backwards and side to side... she gets where she wants to go so she doesnt seem to be in a huge rush... Anyone else's babies not really crawling yet?

[Jane&Andy]

jrsygirl - Joey gets on all fours and rocks but doesn't crawl. The ped said yesterday that he would crawl very soon. He's trying more and more so I think she's right. He can scoot backwards on his belly with his legs out straight really fast now. So he's not immobile, but he's not crawling yet either.

I've been online a lot lately b/c I'm putting off getting ready for our trip - laundry, packing, etc :p

[KB57]

Hello Ladies,
Quick post---it's been way too long since I've been in here---all of the babies are just gorgeous and growing so fast!!!! Abby is doing great, she was 8 months old on 12/13, at her last appt on 12/16 she was 21.4 lbs and 30 in. long.
She is currently into Sesame street and Elmo, its great, I can leave her in the highchair or the jumper and she just watches it in awe. Otherwise ,she is crawling all over the place, follows me around the apartment like a puppy lol...she started standing up in her crib around Thanksgiving time and now pulls herself up onto anything and everything that comes into her path....giving me near heart attacks all day long!
As far as eating, she has two bottom teeth so I've been giving her the gerber cookies and she loves munching on those. She likes the jarred baby food (meats & veggies) but she LOVES real food-like pastina and scrambled egg.
She waves bye-bye and hi, and she just started giving big wet sloppy kisses...(love them!!!) One thing she doesn't do (which drives me insane!!!) she refuses to hold her own bottle. She holds the sippy cup of juice or water but when its time to drink her formula she will not hold the bottle!!! So strange!
I can't believe how fast its going. Next month, it will be a year since my baby shower!!! Time really flies. Here is Abby's Christmas pic:
http://i55.photobucket.com/albums/g134/KB5705/XMAS.jpg
Hope you all have a wonderful and blessed holiday, its so great that we get to share it with our beautiful babies!!!

[jrsygirl]

kerri she's so cute! Paige and Cole were doing the same thing with th ebottle so during the day they now drink their formula from the sippy cup.
We only use the bottle at night.

[LittleStar]

Love all the pictures of the cute babies!!

Crawling - H does 1 or 2 steps of "real" crawling and then switches to "army" crawling. It's funny to see him scurrying around like that.

Pulling up - Does this a lot when playing, but I haven't seen him do it in the crib yet. Takes steps if we hold his hands.

Babbling - Lots. Bababa, dadada, but no mamama :(

Food - Last night I bought every fingerfood I could find :p wagon wheels, zwieback toasts, biter biscuits, sweet potato puffs...Now I just have to decide which to try first.

Waving/clapping - We've been working on "hi" and "bye" for a few months now. He does the lift his arm and wiggle his fingers thing too - very cute! Sometimes he'll just lift his whole arm up and down reallyfast. In the last week or so I've started playing patty cake with him. I haven't seen him clap on his own yet.

[uskiku]

Sorry - just a fly-by... this has been a crazy week! My parents are staying with us and we're in the middle of a developmental er... storm or maelstrom (which means no sleep for mommy... :( )!

crawling A has been full-on crawling for 2 days now

pulling up A started this yesterday

AND, to top it all off... we have 2 new teeth! He is still very cranky and awfully slobbery, so maybe he is working on tooth # 5! :eek:

babbling yep!

waiving/clapping nope! He loves when other people clap, but won't do it himself.

food we haven't tried finger foods yet... I'm getting worried that I'm moving too slowly with him... It took him about a month to really start eating anything, so this is a new thing for us. So far, he LOVES sweet potatoes, banana, apple sauce and oatmeal! :) I'm going to make butternut squash tomorrow...

Love all the pictures - adorable photos!!!

[Jane&Andy]

LittleStar - I think puffs or wheels are a great food to start with. I started Joey off with a biter biscuit but when he bit a chunk off of it it freaked me out. But I love how quickly the puffs and wheels disolve.

Joey clapped today! He certainly won't do it on command but he did it!

sippy cup - Joey thinks his makes a great chew toy!

KB57 - she's adorable!

uskiku - it took Joey about 2wks to like purees and then he just took off with them and loved them. I worried he was getting to much puree but my ped said to follow his cues. I think it would work the same in reverse. If he's not thrilled with foods then I wouldn't worry about moving too slowly - just follow his cues.

I did finally start packing earlier. :) Joey has swim class again tonight, I can't wait. DH is coming along this time. :D

[mel7dog]

Jane - Super cute pics as always! Swim class sounds great! We have one here, but only in the summer :(

Carseat - We have the marathon and love it so far

solids/fingerfoods - Ben is so-so about puree, but loves gerber puffs for finger foods. He wants to eat them all the time, I seriously have to put a limit on how many he can have! I think we will focus more on fingerfoods/self-feeding since he likes that better. I just diced some apples into tiny cubes and cooked them. We'll see how he likes those later on today.

teeth - We have 4 now and two more on the way. With the new hair, DS is starting to look like a little man

waving/clapping - DS has been clapping for about a month and has just starting some slight waving. He is also learnign to "slap 5" with Dad

and his nap is over, gtg :p

[charissa]

carseat - we have a Marathon, DS loves sitting in it - well he isn't complaining anyway :)

solids/fingerfoods - DS is still eating purees as well as those gerber puffs, I've tried putting other stuff in front of him, but he just pushes it aside and goes for the puffs, haha.

teeth - we have 3, the top 4th hasn't broken yet. But its on its way, the 3rd just came through this AM.

waving/clapping - DS waves, but no clapping, he brings his hands together, but then leaves them together, its kinda cute.

crawling - been doing that since 6 months

pulling up - been at it for about a month now

sippy cup - he just figured it out today actually, but he has been drinking through a straw for the last month or so.

babbling - can't get him to stop haha, I don't even hear it anymore, its kind of been tuned out, when I'm doing stuff. Like when we're watching something on TV or a football game, it doesn't even bug me that I can't hear the words, haha, but everyone else notices.

[relly]

Wishing you all a wonderful holiday season!!!

Here’s some pics from our Christmas card, for those who celebrate, have a Very Merry Christmas.

http://www.imagestation.com/picture/sraid220/p4e80301b045b816aa228c38afa98f3dc/ebd563a4.jpg

http://www.imagestation.com/picture/sraid220/p93a095f157ba644732a08c958edf9e8c/ebd5793d.jpg

http://www.imagestation.com/picture/sraid220/p040690987c6b6bceee8a58d14f9d6a28/ebd57a02.jpg

[Sal03]

Happy Holidays to everyone!

Relly Those pictures are PRECIOUS!

I am happy to report that katie has been babbling a ton since last week. mamamamamama is all we hear and she has just started bababababa too :) So that is nice news. But in not so nice news she has her first cold. I am so happy she lasted this long because she is NOT a happy camper when she is sick. She was awful on Sunday. She could not even nurse she was so stuffed up. it was so sad. she finally figured out she could nurse a little then breathe then nurse some more. I finally gave her a little pediacare night time over the weekend because she just literally could not breathe. Last night she slept through without it though so I think she is getting better. She has been a bear during the day though because she has barely been napping. Right now she is actually napping after no nap this morning and I am not letting Dylan nap because I am afraid he will wake her!!
Dylan got the Leapfrog leap pad and some of the inserts he got for it are great for Katie's age too with learning animal sounds and simple objects like ball and dog so I think I may try and sit with her and read it with her each day. Katie's favorite things right now are definitely the leapfrog table and the parents busy zoo cube. she can stand at both by herself and could play there forever. We just have to sit behind her in case she loses her balance. Oh and her other favorite thing is FOOD. loves everything, starting to really lose interest in mush. She likes cheese, eggplant, meatballs, pasta, bread, graham crackers (thanks for the suggestion Jane!)...you name it. I think that is all there is to report.

[Jane&Andy]

what great pictures relly!

Sal - yay for Katie babbling! I hope she feels better soon. Glad she likes the grahams! I'm trying more finger foods with Joey but for the most part he still enjoys his purees.

Happy Holidays everyone!

We just got home today from my Mom's. So I'm running around unpacking and trying to clean b/c my FIL and SIL are coming over sometime tomorrow. But I need a break, so here I am. :)

Joey has mastered clapping and will clap if he sees someone else clapping or if I just say yay! He also imitated me waving my arms in the air but I said yay! when I did that too and he found it confusing. So now he'll often wave his arms before he claps. :p And he'll babble his version of yay! the whole time. He's trying very hard to crawl. He can pull himself forward on his belly and when he's on all fours he'll move a knee forward - so he's close!

He got lots of toys for xmas and some clothes and a little cash for me to shop with for him. And he has a few more presents coming to him still. My sister sent me home with a few handmedowns from her kids too.

He pulled up again right before we left town but then my Mom didn't really have any toys for him to pull up on so he hasn't done it again.

[Kopper]

Happy Holidays!

Sal - Sorry Katie is sick. Jacob has had allergies/cold for almost two weeks now and it's not fun.

Jane - Yay for almost crawling! It sounds like he will be doing it in no time. Once Jacob got the hang of it you couldn't stop him.

relly - Very cute pics!

---
Sleep - I finally have good news to report here! After agonizing over it for many many weeks DH and I decided to try CIO. DS was waking sometimes as many as 10 times a night and needing us to put him back to sleep each time. With DH traveling every other week I just couldn't take it anymore. The first night he cried for just under an hour and now 1.5 weeks later he cries for at most 30 seconds before putting himself back to sleep. He sleeps in his crib for the first half of the night and then when he wakes and is hungry I get him or DH brings him into bed with us. Sometimes if he won't go back to sleep after nursing I have to put him in his crib. He will cry for a few minutes and then go back to sleep. If I don't put him back in his crib he will be up for sometimes an hour or more. Have any of you co-sleepers delt with this? Where DC won't go back to sleep in your bed and instead wants to kick and play? I'm really starting to think he sleeps better in his crib. He wakes a lot less. We are down to only 2 times a night where I have to nurse and soothe him. It is such an improvement. I finally don't feel sleep deprived every morning.

[Sal03]

Jane I can't believe joey is pulling up. WOW! I am starting to think boys are movers. Katie is content to just stand at her toys and hang out :)

Kopper that's great!! Everyone thinks their kid is going to scream for hours but I have never heard of it happening. It really works and I think sleep training gets such a bad rap. Dylan CIO the first time for 50 minutes and has been the best sleeper ever since. We were on our way with katie until she got sick but after ST they usually bounce back. We stopped co-sleeping at 3 months because I felt that way with Katie then. She would see us and get all excited, but would sleep great in her crib. So we moved her out and she sttn consistently after that without even needing CIO. I loved co-sleeping but I never get how people do it with their toddlers. My kids get WAY too excited to sleep when we are around!

[jrsygirl]

Happy Holidays everyone!

kopperglad CIO worked for you and that you are getting some sleep.

I think my kids are posessed. They have been so cranky they have literally cried for the last three days. I am exhausted and DH and I are at the end of our rope with each other over it. I was up 17 times last night. I know we really need to get back to our sleep training but its hard when you're so exhausted. We tried a few nights ago with Cole and after an hour I just couldnt do it knowing that he was probably not feeling well. It doesn't help that his dad had a heart attack on Christmas eve and is the ICU.

We tried to not let it all get to us and tried to enjoy our first Christmas with the kids but it was tough.
They must be teething something fierce because i can honestly say I have never seen them so cranky and upset in their 9 months. I hope these teeth break soon.

[Jane&Andy]

Joey crawled tonight! He's not fast or graceful but he's on the move! And he even crawled to me and not one of his new toys! :D

Kopper - that's exactly how Joey was when we co-slept. I had to give it up long ago. :( He would actually fall back asleep quickly in the bed with me (and that's why I kept doing it) but he wouldn't sleep for long and would want to play and kick me. And he woke up very frequently. So I moved him out to the bassinet and then eventually the crib and he sleeps so much better. We've done some CIO too and it didn't take him long to learn to put himself to sleep - its such a wonderful skill for them to have!

jrsygirl - I'm sorry about the cranky babies.

Sal - he pulls partway up a lot - he has a that parents cube thingy too and he pulls up just enough to chew on the beads. I figure that's still good exercise for his muscles.

[shania0474]

HAPPY HOLIDAYS EVERYONE!!!

jrsygirl So sorry to hear about that! Who had the heart attack? I couldn't tell from your post if "his dad" meant your DH (Cole's dad) or your FIL (your DH's dad). Either way, I'm sorry and I hope he feels better soon! Hope the teething gets better too... Infant Tylenol or Motrin almost always works for G.

Jane Yay for crawling and clapping! G isn't clapping yet but he waved bye-bye to his babysitter today and we both got so excited, he promptly stopped and stared at us like, "what did I do?" :D

kopper hope the sleeping continues to get better! we actually never co-slept with either one (DH would not allow it) but now David wakes up at 6am, gets out of his bed and joins us in ours until G wakes us all up at about 7:30am.

Sal I'm so glad that Katie's babbling! G loves the learning table and the busy zoo as well (he got the busy zoo for christmas but inherited the table from David). He's a bit too tall to stand with the busy zoo but he loves playing with the blocks on the side. His favorite thing to stand (and walk) with is the high chair.... he'll stand behind it and push it around the house squealing with excitement (or frustration when the chair gets caught in the doorway). it's soooo frigging cute (and sad at the same time because soon he'll be walking and won't be so mommy-dependent anymore!!!) G and David have also been battling colds/coughs for weeks now but each time I take them to the ped, she says their lungs are crystal clear (plus they don't cough once while we're there and their noses don't run so I end up looking like one of those crazy women that lie that their children are sick just to get some attention)... hmph!

[JenniferEC]

relly - Those pictures are great. I love the smiles in the second one, but the third one is pretty funny!

Sal - Sorry to hear Katie is sick, but hopefully she'll be better real soon. That's great that she's talking. How is Dylan doing with sharing? We're having an issue with this, especially with all of the new toys in the house, but Caden is doing better each day.

Jane - Sounds like you are busy. Enjoy the time with the ILs. Joey is going to be cruising before you know it!

Kopper - Good for you for CIO. We had to do that because Marin was getting up too many times in the night. She's always been good at putting herself to sleep for naps but I was tired of getting up just to put a pacifier in. She never cried for long, but it's done wonders teaching her to put herself back to sleep.

jrsygirl - Poor thing! I hope you can get some rest soon and I hope your FIL is doing better. I can't even imagine sleep training with two babies.

Marin started crawling on Christmas Eve and has been working on it since. I'm so excited to see her moving, but sad that she's getting mobile. I miss my little baby. She loves her school bus that Santa brought. She also got two baby dolls that she likes to chew on. Both kids were sleep deprived over the past couple of days so we're going to get caught up starting today. I can't take two cranky kids anymore!

[Jane&Andy]

jrsygirl - I missed that about your FIL (I'm assuming its your FIL and not your DH) having a heart attack til Shania responded - that's what happens when I'm posting when I'm tired and busy. I hope he is doing ok.

[Txfish]

Hi everyone -- hope the holidays were kind to you. (And sleep, babies, sleep!)

Jrsygrl -- hope FIL is doing well -- thinking of you.

All the babies look so cute (per usual!) One of these days I will actually post one of mine LOL We had pro pics done at Xmas of our extended family - I'm so excited to get them. Although my older dd was being a stink, and wouldn't smile for half of them. 5 is *such* a joyous age LOL

Whitney is 9 months next Wednesday -- she waved a couple of times around Thanksgiving, and has not repeated it. Sigh. She is clapping regularly, on command and just when the whim strikes, and is crawling, pulling up on things and cruising furniture. She is also trying to walk around pushing something -- and has pulled the kitchen chair over on herself three times. Classic. She got the Leapfrog table & the Parents wooden walker for Christmas, loves both. (The table was so funny -- we walked downstairs Christmas morning and she crawled right over to it, stood up, and started bopping her little heinie to the music LOL) She is actually trying to stand and walk at the walker! That thing is great.

Not doing much in the way of finger foods, but that's partly my fault -- she eats so much earlier than the rest of us, it's partially that we don't have any food fixed for her to try. So I'll sit her back down at her highchair when we're eating, and have occasionally given her small pieces to try, but then she isn't hungry and so just makes a mess. I'll work on it. She does love cheerios, finger puffs, wagon wheels, and had some of those crunchy little breadsticks at Christmas dinner.

[Kopper]

jrsygirl - I hope your babies are doing better and FIL is recovering. Hugs!

Jane - Yay for Joey crawling!! That's great!

shania - OMG Jacob is doing the same thing with the highchair. It's one of his favorite things to do. He loves anything with wheels. Walking is just around the corner. I keep asking him to slow down but he isn't listening.

JenniferEC - Yay for Malin crawling! Hope sleep is going better.

Txfish - Jacob is pulling things over on himself all the time too. He tries to pull up on everything.

--
Sleep - Thanks everyone for the comments and advice. Sleep has improved so much. I can't believe he is the same baby that would wake up so many times a night. Tonight he turned a new corner. I put him down and he woke up which doens't normally happen. I tried to pat him back to sleep for 10 min. or so and then had DH try. He gave up after 10-15 min. DS cried for less than a minute and then put himself to sleep. When DH left the room he was standing in his crib. I just can't believe it. I really think he needed us to leave him alone and let him put himself back to sleep. Co-sleeping on the other hand is not going well. I have had to put him back in his crib the last three nights in a row. Each night he has cried for much shorter periods of time. If tonight is the same than I think I will just start going in his nursery to nurse him and then put him back in his crib when he is done. I am going to miss him but it will be nice to finally sleep. Because he is now sleeping longer I keep waking up and am getting engorged. Hopefully this will level out soon.

[amygrrl]

JenniferEC - Yay for Malin crawling!

hehe!!! thanks! malin just started crawling last week!!!

other updates...

sleep - she's pretty consistantly sleeping though the night. we still rock her until she's super drowsy before putting her down. however, i'm thinking we need to stop some of that and try to get her to put herself down.

mobility - she's pulling up on everything... starting to cruise. has the crawling thing down pat.

food - starting on finger foods... but with the exception of puffs, prefers to eat out of the spoon (peas, chunks of banana or avocado, mushed black beans, etc.) and man does she love her puffs. she loves to sit on the floor with me and take them out of my hand and have her 'snack'.

sign language - we're still working on this. her first signs are drink, more, and all done. she seems to 'get' more when it comes to puffs (hands fly in the air, big smile, etc.)

waving and clapping - she's waved back at me once or twice, but nothing reliable. we are working on clapping right now too. she will open her hands when i clap them together, but doesn't quite clap on her own yet.

[Kopper]

hehe!!! thanks! malin just started crawling last week!!!

Oopps! I meant Marin but yay for Malin too! :D

[Jane&Andy]

boy oh boy, its been a busy few days. had in-laws over Wednesday, went to MIL's yesterday and today I tried to go to playgroup (it was at a new house I hadn't been to and I didn't realize my directions were incomplete til I got to the town 45min away! - so I tried to find it, couldn't and drove home frazzled and tired). tomorrow is another busy one but then Sunday, Monday and Tuesday should be quiet days and DH will be home too. :)

anyway, Joey is crawling more and more. He's a little fussy today but I think he is just over tired from the long days.

He's been waking up most days around 4:30/5:30am. I feed him and he goes back to sleep for a little while. But I can't always manage to fall back asleep. So I'm tired. I don't know what's going on. Naps have been a little more difficult lately too. Maybe its the crawling or the holiday chaos. :confused: Its certainly not teething! :p

He's waved a few times now. I need to use sign language with him more, I just have a hard time remembering.

I really think he needed us to leave him alone and let him put himself back to sleep.

Kopper - that's how Joey is. He was really struggling with his morning nap yesterday - DH and I finally decided to step out and give him a few minutes and he went right to sleep.

[JenniferEC]

Kopper - Glad sleep is going much better. It's so much better when you're rested yourself!

I've been trying very hard to get myself back into shape. I've been working out and I can finally get into some of my pre-preg clothes that I haven't worn in forever. My goal is 3-4 times per week and no Coke! We leave for FL in a month and I want to be swimsuit ready by then. We also booked a short trip to Disney while we're down there and I can't wait!

[Sal03]

Jennifer good for you! the trip to FL sounds great. You'll have to tell me how Disney goes. Sharing is going okay. Some things he refuses and we have been respecting that for now because Katie does not care and I do believe he has the right to have his own toys. We'll have to see what happens when she does care!


Katie started saying Dada today so that is the M, D and B sound. :D And she is following Joey and pulled up twice this morning on her busy zoo! She is so strong though - we have to watch that. She could pull the whole thing over if we are not there. So we STILL have not lowered the crib mattress and now it is obviously time! No babysitter for us this year, so we are going to have filet mignons, drink wine and watch a movie. Oh and I baked a cake :)
Happy New Year everyone!!!!!!!!

[Jane&Andy]

Happy New Year!

Like Sal, we'll be drinking wine and watching a movie tonight. :)

Joey is pretty fussy today - I think he just needs a few days of rest after the holidays. He has a runny nose too so I guess another cold is on the way.

Sal - Joey has the same problem with toys almost falling over on him when he tries to pull up.

[Kopper]

Happy New Year!

We had the wine last night. My mom babysat after DS went to sleep and we went to my favorite Thai place and then Emack & Bolio's (gourmet ice cream). Tonight we went to Red Lobster with my BFF and her family. DS is in bed for the night and DH is doing dishes. What fun! :D I don't know about you guys but I don't plan on being awake at midnight.

Hope everyone has a safe and happy New Years!

[Kopper]

http://i110.photobucket.com/albums/n118/Katie-John/Card.jpg

[April'06Moms]

Updated to here.

[shania0474]

Happy New Year everyone!

Thanks for the wine idea, Sal and Jane! Last night, after I put G to bed, I came online for a few minutes (to pass time while DH put David to bed) and really loved the wine idea! I was in the mood for sweet wine wine but we only had red in the house so I ran downstairs to the liquor store and bought some Riesling. We drank with dinner and then again at midnight (yeah I didn't think I would be up either but I was!) G has been extra boisterous today so I'm thinking perhaps its because his nursing mother was a lush last night! :p

kopper that's a gorgeous photo! Jacob has such a beautiful smile/laugh (and infectious too because I smile every time I look at it).

[LittleStar]

I really should be working...;)

We had a great Christmas and New Years. H did great on the flights. And he loved all the attention from family. We've been a little off schedule with naps, but I'm hoping that falls back into line on its own. New Years Eve - we got a babysitter and went to a party at a friends house. It was lots of fun, and probaby the first time in 4 years I stayed up to see midnight.

Baby brain - So, AF's late, and I took a pg test (negative) over the weekend. I've been nursing a lot because I've been able to spend more time with H during the holidays, so that's probably caused the delay. I was a (little) hopeful it would be positive. Last time, I charted like a mad woman. I'm thinking we'll "see what happens" for a while - it would be nice to get a "surprise."

Solids - I had a scare last night. H has only had baby food purees (from a jar) and baby cereal. I've been offering wagon wheels, biter biscuits, puffs, zwieback toast for the last month. H won't get them near his mouth - just plays for a bit and then throws them on the floor. My bright idea was to mash up some "real" avocado and see if he'd like that with his dinner. Well, the second it hit his tongue, he gagged :eek: So, I thought maybe I hadn't mashed it up enough. So I get it to what I think is a very smooth consistency and give him a bit along with a bit of baby food. Well, he immediately gagged and then threw up. Is this a normal baby thing? I've gotten myself worried that he has a "texture" issue.

[Sal03]

LOL Well I am glad everyone else took advantage of our wine idea. DH caught the cold the rest of us had. So we ended up not cooking, ordered in Chinese so we could have hot soup AND he was in bed at 8:30 and me at 10. :p

Kopper He really does have SUCH a smile. Love that picture. Oh and I LOVE emack and bolios!

LittleStar he may just not be ready. Keep trying things slowly. Katie loves everything, but Dylan definitely went slower with the solids and still has some texture issues. won't eat grapes, does not like the feel of sticky things... so I can relate. But it is early yet. I would just keep trying.

Went to the mall yesterday morning to get out a bit and it was empty. What a treat! So we had fun with the kids. Here is a pic from our day walking around
http://i49.photobucket./IMG_3719.jpg
Oh and since Katie has to do everything Joey does, she has started waking a few minutes before 6! Ugh. at least she will play a while in there before I have to go get her but really, then I am up way too early. She had been sleeping until 7 and so had Dylan. I was so spoiled! And HOW did I get here that sleeping until 7 is being spoiled?? :p

[Jane&Andy]

Sal - sorry about the early mornings, you know I feel your pain! :p sleeping until 7 sounds like a dream to me! what a cute picture! Miss Katie is getting so big! so is Dylan!

Kopper - great picture, what a cutie!

LittleStar - good luck seeing what happens! I think I'm finally at the point where I wouldn't cry for days if I got PG again, but we won't be TTC til August. AF did come back on Xmas eve (lucky me :rolleyes: ). So if I got PG in the meantime I wouldn't be unhappy but I'm definitely not ready to TTC for real. Joey gags when he tries new things - so far its always been just gagging with the food on his tongue - as in "this is new, I don't like it" but not gagging as in choking. Just take it easy with the new foods if he doesn't like them, he won't stay on purees forever!

shania - wine and a movie is my favorite "at home" date. We do that a lot - particularly dessert wines and a luscious dessert. :)

crawling - Joey is crawling all over the place now. He seems to have inherited his "big brother's" (the dog - the one who eats sticks that I'm always complaining about) keen sense of survival. :rolleyes: He makes a beeline for shoelaces and electrical cords. Our house is severly lacking in overhead lighting so we have a lot of lamps. Although DH managed to create a barricade in the living room with spare pillows to keep him confined to a safe zone.

Joey had his third swim class tonight. Its been fun - he only has 3 classes left. I'll be sad when its over but I can't afford to sign him up for the same class over and over. Most of the time is spent just walking around the pool with DH or I so the instructors don't add a whole lot anyway. I'm hoping we can join a pool nearby this summer.

DH had today off for Ford's funeral and only worked Friday last week - he returns to work tomorrow. Back to the real world for me. :rolleyes: Its been nice. Poor Joey has been such a mess recovering from the holiday chaos - having DH home has saved my sanity.

time for bed! if I'm lucky I get to sleep til 6 tomorrow. :p

[mel7dog]

I have been readng along, but not posting since we've been oot a lot and busy. And I'm leaving again today to get a new car. We're getting a mini-van and I'm still tryint to get used to the idea :p My Dad sells cars so we got a great deal, but I hve to drive to MA to get it. I'm leaving this afternoon and won't be back till Monday.

teeth - Ben got two more teeth during the holiday and has 6 total now

solids - We indtroduced a little protein with chicken and tofu which he seems to like. He loves feeding himself, so we've beeing giving him mostly finger type foods

AF/TTC #2 - Still no AF here (I nurse 2x a night) We've decided to TTC #2 in Feb 08 when DH gets back from deployment.

Ben has been scooting a ton more, but still not crawling on hands and knees yet. He did learn how to wave right after Christmas though :)

[JenniferEC]

Kopper - What a great pic! He's got enchanting eyes.

Sal - Your kids are so cute together. Katie is such a doll and it looks like she's getting hair. I'm jealous Dylan is in the stroller. Caden will have nothing to do with a stroller right now.

Jane - I hope your week goes well. At least it is a short week!

mel - Congrats on the new car! There is nothing better than that new car smell. Have a safe trip.

Marin broke out in hives yesterday so she's been on Benedryl. Poor thing. It makes her so drowsy, but she's taking good naps. She's crawling all over now so we have to get the gates back out.

I wonder who will be the next preggo in here???

[Jane&Andy]

Joey has decided that he will no longer take 3 naps, no matter how early in the day his second nap is and how badly he needs another nap. :rolleyes: My head is pounding! He was up from 1 to 6 today and that's just too long for him. I need to work harder at pushing that second nap back but today he fell asleep in the car.

here's a picture from swim class
http://www.imagestation.com/picture/sraid221/p6080abddae2bb4dfa555220d2ef91d8a/eb4a5f8d.jpg
and playing with a ball toy he just loves
http://www.imagestation.com/picture/sraid221/p749136bff82446c4d34c24f21bb10b72/eb4ab99d.jpg

his poor knees are taking a beating from the crawling, all red and dry. I'm putting lotion on him a few times a day now.

[Kopper]

shania - Thank you! Glad you had a good NYE!

LittleStar - Glad you had nice flights. DS has been good on flights so far. (Knock on wood...) Oh... he gaged and threw up non-pureed peas. He hasn't done it with anything else so I think it may just have been the peas.

Sal - Thanks! Our Emack & Bolios just opened and we love them! I wish I had some now. Katie and Dylan look so cute together. Such happy kiddos. :)

Jane - Thank you! Once they start crawling they are into everything aren't they. Swim class looks like so much fun. We have Gym Kids but they don't do lessons until 12 months. I can't wait.

mel - Six teeth wow! Jacob still only has two. Yay for the new car! Have a good weekend. :)

JenniferEC - Thanks! Sorry about Marin's hives. Hopefully they are gone by now. Do you think it was food related or just a fluke? Jacob gets small localized rashes every now and again and I always wonder what caused them.

----
Last night we had a first! Jacob slept from 6:30pm tp 6:00am. I of course was up several times wondering when he was going to wake up and I was engorged by the time he did. I still can't believe it. Maybe tonight he will have a repeat performance. I had to let him CIO tonight but he cried for less than 10 minutes and the major crying was over in 2-3 minutes. He just would not settle with me and didn't want to nurse. I hate when he cries but it is helping him STTN and has drastically cut down the number of times he wakes so I can live with it.

TTC and AF - My cycle still isn't back but since I'm on domperidone it's to be expected. Once DS is 12 months I will wean from the DPD and hopefully I will start cycling then. We had planned on TTC Jan 2008 but have decided to go ahead and TTC once DS is a year old. It could change but that is the plan for now. Two months ago I could have waited for several more years but the baby bug has bitten again. :eek:

[bctoledo]

Well, my MIL bought the Marathon for us over the holidays. I love it!

TTC #2 We have decided to just see what happens. AF has only shown up once. We will officially start trying in April.

Mel Congrats on the mini-van. We bought one in August and love it!

Jane Glad Joey is enjoying the swim classes.

Loved the wine idea! We had sparkling grape juice (I don't like wine) and watched a movie on New Year's Eve. We were in bed before midnight though.

[LittleStar]

Food - Thanks so much for the support. I talked to the ped. today and he said it didn't sound like a texture problem to him, more that H didn't like the new taste of the avocado. He said to slowly start offering H more things - operative word being slowly. So, we will see what happens.

Sick - H is coughing and wheezing again. For goodness sakes, when will this end???

I've got the baby bug bad! Workwise, it would be best to get pg in July or later, but I wouldn't be at all upset if it happened much sooner. AF is all crazy still, with cycles ranging from 23 to 45 days. We'll just see...

Jane - such cute pics of Joey! I need to look into swim classes for this spring.

[uskiku]

A fly-by post... My little crawler and standing-by-himself-big-boy is driving me insane! My parents left yesterday and I don't know what to do - he has no sense of balance and would do the most dangerous things (like let go of whatever he is holding onto) - what to do??? Crib won't work, as he stands up there and lets go of the slats. the only 'safe" place at this point seems to be his high chair, but I don't want to make it an unpleasant "containment" spot for him... Any ideas?

Sorry about the fly-by - gotta get everything done while he naps, as I literally do not have a second during the time he is awake! :rolleyes:

[jrsygirl]

usikuwhat about the crib bothers you? Cole is right now cruising around rooms standing up but when he was first pulling himself up and holding the crib bars he would fall a lot. At least the mattress is a soft spot. I think its good that they "learn to fall" in a safe spot so that whan they fall when they are out of the crib they don't hurt themselves by falling the wrong way..

TTC since for me it would be #3 I think we'll be waiting a little while ...if ever ;)

Little Star sorry he is sick again..

************************************************** *******

So Paige is officially crawling now so I have two babies on the move...She is so cute though.. She'll crawl a little ways, sit up ,clap for herself...and then crawl some more.. adorable!!

Cole on the other hand is doing everything but walking alone..He pulls up on anything..and will "walk" from his toys to the furniture ..to the walls ..to the door.. to the dog...yesterday he was conyemplating how to get up on the ottoman and had his one leg up tryin to scale it. Scares the crap out of me.. at least we have a carpeted floor in the playroom.

[Jane&Andy]

safe spots? maybe exersaucer, pack n play, crib (at least the ctib is soft when he falls)

Kopper - yay for sleeping through the night!! We've done some pretty minimal CIO and its worked well for Joey. The engorgement ought to stop in a few days, can;t remember how long it took but it wasn't long.

Joey is pulling up to his knees to play a lot but rarely pulls up to standing. So no cruising yet. He does try to crawl over the pillow barricade we have set up blocking exits from his play area in the living room. :p He went from crawling to sitting today for the first time. Although I didn't see him do it - I looked at him crawling, glanced over to the dog and then looked back and he was sitting. Sneaky devil.

Still no teeth.

He's been refusing his third nap lately so today I kept him up til a few minutes ago (even though he was tired at 11, he woke up from his morning nap at 9). He held up ok - he was snuggly. We watched a little bit of a signing time video, snuggled and had a snack and then I put him to bed. Ideally 1pm would work better for his afternoon nap we'll start with noon and see how it goes. Tomorrow we have playgroup so it'll be a screwy day.

[Kopper]

yesterday he was conyemplating how to get up on the ottoman and had his one leg up tryin to scale it. Scares the crap out of me.. at least we have a carpeted floor in the playroom.

Jacob has been doing this too. We bought him a push and ride toy and he is already trying to figure out how to climb onto it to ride. Yesterday it was up against the couch and he climbed on top of it so he was standing in the seat. I was amazed. He is going to be a climber I bet.

Jane - Thanks! Jacob woke up last night at 12:30 but put himself back to sleeping with very minimal crying. He was up again at 4am though so I nursed him. I don't mind if he wakes up once or even twice though. Sorry you are going through a rough nap patch. We do naps at 9 and 1 and then bedtime is 6:30-6:45ish.

I forgot to post his 9 month WBV stats
9 Months:
Weight: 22.5 lbs
Height: 30 in