January 2007 Mommies - Our First Baby Has Arrived!!!

[gmooter]

Gabe used to be a good a sleeper. Heck, 3 weeks ago I was thinking he was almost ready to give up his 3rd nap. He was taking 2 good naps and it was getting hard to get him down by 5pm for that last 45 minute cat nap at the end of the day.

Then it all went to HELL! (He'll be 6 months next week) He's reverted back to a 2 month old only wanting to take 45 minute cat naps. It's that damn 45 minute mark that he's having so much time sleeping through. I know he needs to sleep longer when he was up that soon. Sometimes I can get him back to sleep but I don't want to get in the habit of picking him up either?? And what do you do with your 2 year old that's downstairs alone???

The second part of sleep HELL is the morning. He's been waking between 5-6am on his tummy crying. I don't think he can flip back to get comfortable yet. So, I'm in there flipping him over a million times every morning. And the whole crying thing, I can't let him scream because I don't want him to wake Grace up. I know he needs to go back to sleep at that point because he'll sleep until 6:30 or even 7:30am. I can't get him to just sleep through that waking though. I can't go back to sleep after that so I'm so overtired from being awake that early every day. Then with him not napping, I can't even squeeze in a cat nap during the day. I just want to cry.

Does anyone have any suggestions?

Here's the schedule I'm trying to stick to (which worked 3 weeks ago)

Nap around 8:45 or 9:00am
Nap around 12:30 or 1:00pm
Nap around 5:00pm
Bed between 7:30pm and 8:00pm

I've thought of trying to put him to bed earlier but I'm not sure that's possible when he's not waking from his last nap until 5:30 or 6:00pm. I can't really get him down sooner but he still needs that nap

HELP!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

[jmvan74]

I wish I had some advice ,Gretchen. We are in a similar boat over here and nothing seems to be helping. I'm so tired I'm delerious. My patience is gone and I have cried nearly every day this week! I know I just need a decent night's SLEEP!!
Lots of empathy and HUGS!

In addition to my lack of sleep. Brady has been trying to adjust his eating schedule... sometimes he won't eat for several hours...almost like a nursing strike and then he wants to eat all night long. Good times! Plus, he barely takes solids from me, but will scarf down an entire stage 2 jar for my husband.

[Winter Biscuit]

Sorry - no sleep advice, but lots of sympathy! :( Sleep sucks over here too so I can't be much help.

At daycare, there is a (fairly) new state requirement that children are not allowed to nap in a swing or bouncy seat. If a child falls asleep in the swing or bouncy seat, the caregiver is supposed to carry the sleeping child over to their crib and lay them in it. Well, since Allie started going there, they haven't been very consistent about this policy and have been letting her sleep wherever she happened to fall asleep. All of a sudden they are all gung-ho about reinforcing the policy and so of course Allison isn't crazy about her crib there because she's barely spent any time in it. :rolleyes: Yesterday Allison would NOT nap at ALL for them - she was up for the day at 5am and then at daycare from 7am until 3pm....from 5am until 3pm she only slept a total of 20 minutes!! :eek: They kept putting her down in her crib and she kept freaking out on them and would not calm down OR fall asleep. I figured she'd fall alseep on the way home FOR SURE, but nope - she was wide awake and stayed up until 8:30pm!!! She is so stubborn and strong-willed. The good news is that she was so tired she slept all night and didn't wake up at all - so at least I got some uninterrupted sleep last night. We'll see how tonight goes...

We tried to give her sweet potatoes yesterday -- her first baby food (other than the oatmeal cereal). Let's just say it did not go well. She was really pissed off and kept gagging and spitting it all out. Guess I'll try that again some other time...

We had our 6-month WBV today. Here's her stats:
Weight: 16 lbs 10 oz (50-75%)
Height: 27" (75-90%)

She got 3 shots today and handled that really well. Cried for a few seconds and then stopped as soon as I picked her up. I asked about flouride supplements -- I need to find out if our daycare has city water or well water before they prescribe flouride supplements. (We have well water at home.)

[robyn]

Sleep - Sorry everyone is going through sleep hell ... we are too. DS has been so inconsistent. He'll go for a week or so where he'll STTN, but then he's back to waking up at 3:30 or so. I'm not quite at the breaking point yet, but I'm getting there. Oh, and I have a non-napper. He's always been this way, though. 30 minutes is the norm; 45 minutes is good; 1 hour+ is so unusual that I'll start to think he's stopped breathing. ;)

Solids - I had really intended to hold out for the entire 6 months, but DS was seeming hungry quite often so I decided to give it a try. We started Monday (just about 10 days shy of 6 mos.) with rice cereal. He LOVED it! He has been having constipation issues for the last few months, so on the 2nd day of solids I added prunes. And next I added carrots. Yeah, it's only been 5 days and we've tried 3 things. :o I know I need to be more careful about spacing them out, but I am just so gung-ho now that I've started. Luckily we don't have any history of food allergies in our family ... but still, I have vowed to slow down.

Crawling and Sitting - DS has been able to do the "gorilla sit" (as my DH calls it) for a few weeks now, and can sit up straight for a few moments at a time, but he's still not able to be plopped down on his own. I'm SO excited for that to happen. He's basically crawling, though. I didn't really consider it crawling, but several people at Gymboree were asking, "When did he start crawling?" so I guess he is pretty adept at it. We actually got asked to move up to the next level of Gymboree (6 months and up) because DS was kind of running over the other kids in the class. Oops!

Everyone has such cute kiddos!! I need to upload our eating pics and post some here.

Have a great weekend!

[Lucy Van Pelt]

Hey there everyone! It seems like forever since I actually posted, but I have been following along as much as possible!!

sleep - Katie is doing ok. She goes down around 10:30 and wakes up around 5am. I can usually give her a pacifier and she will sleep for another hour or so before I get her up to feed her. After feeding and getting a diaper change she will usually sleep another hour to 90 minutes. We get up around 9-9:30 and she plays and stuff until noon when she eats again and hopefully naps for a couple of hours into the afternoon.

She is still sleeping in her co-sleeper at night. We are contemplating moving her to her crib for the first time TONIGHT! Yikes. It could be a rough night, but I want to transition her on a weekend so DH can get his butt out of bed to deal with her too!

solids - We actually *might* try some cereal for the first time tomorrow. I had DH pick some up at the store today.

crawling and sitting - Katie is getting to be a pro at sitting up. She sits for several minutes at a time - up to around 15 minutes before she will turn too far to try and look at something and topples over. I'm not sure about the crawling...she will lay on her belly and push with her feet but isn't up on her hands so she pretty much grinds her face into the floor. It's pretty...LOL

I got another phone call from Stanford University and Katie is going to participate in another infant study next week. I think it will be pretty similar to the last one she did.

Here's some recent pictures!

Fourth of July with her cousin, Gavin

http://lh3.google.com/bradandginger/RpWiLIq9yMI/AAAAAAAACP8/BLHv0FOyxRg/IMG_5437.JPG?imgmax=800

http://lh4.google.com/bradandginger/RpWiWYq9ySI/AAAAAAAACQs/SvzESoe1eio/IMG_5445.JPG?imgmax=800

This one just cracked me up because she looks like she's at the spa or something!

http://lh5.google.com/bradandginger/RpWivoq9yfI/AAAAAAAACSU/uzTWjiMPS0c/IMG_5470.JPG?imgmax=800

Just sitting with Dad! (I still haven't uploaded the pics of her sitting on her own!)

http://lh3.google.com/bradandginger/RpmPAIq9zPI/AAAAAAAACZ0/7356qCEQJgU/IMG_5538.JPG?imgmax=800

[Alegna]

30 minutes is the norm; 45 minutes is good; 1 hour+ is so unusual that I'll start to think he's stopped breathing.


Do we have the same child? :) It's erie how to the minute Megan is with her naps. It's exactly 30 minutes. Then she's up ready to go again.

I knew she wasn't feeling well last weekend when she slept for almost 2.5 hours. I spent most of my time checking on her.

I think we're working on some teeth. Tons of drool, a runny nose, she's chomping on the nipple of her bottle instead of actually eating, and she was even tugging at her ear. (But no ear infection)

Megan has had rice cereal, oatmeal, green beans, and sweet potatoes. I finally got her to eat some of the potato by mixing it with the rice cereal. She won't eat it straight, or even if the ratio is wrong. I'm going to try applesauce tomorrow. We'll see if I can get a better reaction with a fruit. Cause this girl is not liking the veggies AT ALL.

[Elenna]

alegna and robyn: DS is the same way with naps. He's always been a 30 minute napper. The few times he's gone longer than that I started checking on him to make sure he was still breathing.

solids: DS is eating sweet potatoes, rice cereal, carrots, applesauce, peaches, pears, avacado, and bananas. We tried green peas for the first time yesterday and DS broke out into a rash all around his mouth. So, I'm not going to give him peas again for a long time. I'm really worried about it because I've read that an allergy to peas could mean your DC is allergic to peanuts, too. Very SCARY.

crawling: DS tried to crawl yesterday. He'd pushed his toy away and tried to get it back. He was pulling himself with his arms and kicking with his legs. Unfortunately he didn't make any progress and got frustrated. But he tried, I was so excited.

DH and I stayed up late to buy the new Harry Potter book after midnight this week and that threw DS's sleep schedule way off. We thought he'd just sleep in his carrier while we were waiting, but instead he stayed up the whole time. I figured he's sleep in late to make up for it. Nope, he woke up for the day at his usual time and only took his usual 3 30minute naps yesterday. He didn't want to go to sleep last night until after midnight and again woke up at his usual time. This kid has GOT to be tired.

[mommydearest]

6 months today! Where did it go????

Abby is 14 lbs 14 oz, and 26.5 inches tall. We are eating rice cereal, green beans, and peas so far. She hasn't quite gotten the idea on solilds though...she puts her tongue up right before you put the spoon in her mouth. The last several meals she's cried most of the time, which is getting frustrating.

My grandma is having surgery this afternoon, so please keep her in your thoughts. They are putting a new plate on her leg bone where it is permanently broken. If this doesn't work, she will need another big surgery and there are many many risks. To complicate things, my grandpa hasn't been feeling well for about a week. He has no energy and just going to the groccery is too much for him. Yesterday, while he and my mom were there, he took his blood pressure and pulse at one of the machines, and his pulse was 36 and the blood pressure was very low. My mom is a nurse and checked it, and yes, it really was 36 and it was also that about an hour later. So we are really worried that something is wrong since he is not on any medications that would cause that. They have only lived here about 3 weeks so he doesn't have a doctor or anything yet. My mom called my grandma's doctor and he said to keep watching it and if it gets worse, to go to the ER. So far it isn't worse, but not much better. Please keep them in your thoughts. :)

I hope everyone is doing well. Its kind of quiet around here!

[Alegna]

Anybody thinking about Halloween costumes yet?

I'm bored at work and it popped into my head today. I have no idea what Megan is going to dress up as.

[Winter Biscuit]

Anybody thinking about Halloween costumes yet?

I'm bored at work and it popped into my head today. I have no idea what Megan is going to dress up as.

Of course I've already thought about this. Last year, I bought DD#1's Halloween costume in August :o

Since Allison is my 2nd DD, and she was born in the same season as DD#1, she's kinda easy. She's wearing the same ladybug costume that DD#1 wore for her first Halloween. :)

Here's a couple pictures of DD#1 at her first Halloween nearly 3 years ago. This is what Allie will be wearing this year :cool:
http://farm2.static.flickr.com/1191/889078828_1065908ee1.jpg?v=0
http://farm2.static.flickr.com/1191/889078790_b8cbc84f25.jpg?v=0

[GardenGirl]

Kristin - your grandparents are in my prayers. My grandfather isn't doing well either, so I can feel your pain.

Angela - Halloween is a good question. I wonder what Carter will dress up as. I think I'll take a look at the Halloween thread for ideas. I have no problem copying people!

Carter was baptized on Saturday and we had a nice brunch at the house to follow. It was very special. He was a little fussy and I attributed it to the loud volume in the house, but I realized the next day that it was because he has caught a cold. I did the elevate the head thing, and the run the humidifier thing and he's only gotten worse. So I called the nurse this morning and she said to give him a half a strip of the Infant Triaminic strips for cold and cough. He couldn't breathe through his nose, I felt so bad for him. But about an hour after I gave him the strip, he could breathe great. Plus I haven't noticed any side effects. Yeah, he's a little fussy. But that's to be expected. And it isn't a grumpy kinda fussy. It's the pitiful cry/whimper fussy. Needless to say he has no real appetite, just seems to comfort nurse. Which is fine, we just stay curled up in bed all day.

Carter loves solid food. I hate the solid waste though. We are having to have prunes every day or every other day. Just a little will do the trick, plus he loves them. There isn't anything he hates so far. I think he could do without the peas, but he won't refuse them. He loves all the fruit though. I haven't tried apple(sauce) yet, but plan to tomorrow. Even though we are on week 4 of solids, I still only give him one solid meal per day. Sometimes I'll do two if he is fussy around lunch time and wants a little more. But then I'll cut down his nighttime portion. I'm still nervous about my supply going down (I have no issues now, I just don't want to have any in the future) . So I push the nursing whenever I can.

He's still sitting like a champ, plus now he can balance well on his tailbone if he rocks back or forth - he can readjust well. He's starting to reach out of his reach and sort of roll over and down to get what he wants. But I think we are at least 3-4 weeks from crawling. Maybe even months who knows. He's been sitting for 5-6 weeks and that came out of the blue. Maybe crawling will too.

[robyn]

Tera - Sorry to hear Carter is sick. :( Hope he feels better soon.

I love the ladybug costume Winter. I happened to buy this goldfish costume at Babystyle a few months ago for $8!!! They have it back in stock now at $24. I'm so glad I got it for a steal. Now I just need to find some orange tights, and then convince DH to let me put DS in tights. ;)

http://i20.photobucket.com/albums/b210/robynld/20181_MID_l.jpg

A few pics of DS:

First solids ...
http://i20.photobucket.com/albums/b210/robynld/DSC_0013-3.jpg

Love the carrots!
http://i20.photobucket.com/albums/b210/robynld/DSC_0065-1.jpg

Sitting!!
http://i20.photobucket.com/albums/b210/robynld/DSC_0076-2.jpg

[Elenna]

garden: I hope Carter starts feeling better soon.

Halloween: I just started to think about this yesterday when I got a BRU flyer in the mail with baby costumes inside. I have no idea what I want to dress DS up as....they're all just too cute. It was hard to not rush out to BRU to get him a costume already.

DS had his 6 month WBV today. His stats are:
Weight: 17 lbs 2 oz
Height: 26.5 inches

DS was just too cute during the visit. He shredded the paper covering the exam table and tossed it everywhere. Well, tossed what he hadn't soaked by trying to eat. And he was grabbing at everything. When the nurse put down her clipboard DS immediately grabbed the papers on it and tried to get them. He kept trying to grab the bandaids the nurse put down for his shots. I guess this is the downside of being able to sit up. DS hands are freer and he has a better reach for grabbing things.

[GardenGirl]

DS was just too cute during the visit. He shredded the paper covering the exam table and tossed it everywhere. Well, tossed what he hadn't soaked by trying to eat. And he was grabbing at everything. When the nurse put down her clipboard DS immediately grabbed the papers on it and tried to get them. He kept trying to grab the bandaids the nurse put down for his shots. I guess this is the downside of being able to sit up. DS hands are freer and he has a better reach for grabbing things.


I could have written the exact same post! We went through 3 different "sets" of paper before I gave up and sat him in my lap!

Carter is a good sick baby. But refuses to take a nap. I think its in part that since he can't breathe through his nose, he can't nurse very long - thus he can't nurse to sleep. The ped nurse said we could give him 1/2 a strip of infants Triaminic cold and cough (yes he's coughing too). Even though he's 18 lbs she said to go with the 7-12 lb dose. It helps him breathe better, but I think it keeps him up a bit. I'm trying to push the nursing to keep his fluids up, but he will only take a few sucks every 45-60 minutes. So I'm a human pacifier for the time being, but thats okay - we'll just ride it out.

[jmvan74]

Things are busy around here, but I wanted to drop off Brady's 6 month stats.

Weight: 20lbs 12oz (95%)
Height: 28 1/2 inches (90%)

I swear I must have heavy cream in my breasts. :rolleyes:

[mommydearest]

Wow, when it rains it pours. My grandma's surgery went well, but she is turning into a crotchety old woman! My grandpa is doing better, though they checked him when g'ma went to surgery and freaked out because his pulse was so low. His blood pressure is ok and he has good color, so it is hard to know what the problem is. He sees his new physician Monday morning for a full physical. My mom (a nurse) is sure they will want to put in a pacemaker. That makes 2 patients in her house.

But...this morning, my dad found a rather large lump in his chest. He also doesn't have a physician (mr. corporate bigshot is too busy to go to the doctor). So my mom begged my g'mas doc who wasn't taking new patients and now took g'pa to also take on my dad. The nurse wasn't happy about it but agreed to get him an appointment. So now we wait until Tuesday to see what it is.

I couldn't go see g'ma til DH got home at 7:00 and when I got there, my mom was just about over the edge. We went for a little walk and she started unloading and burst into tears. I don't know what to tell her. She's my daycare, though I offered to start looking for someone (I go back to work in 2 weeks) and now she has the possibility of 3 seriously ill people living in her house. Gma is like a baby...she has fallen out of bed twice and we have a baby monitor for her because she can't go to the bathroom or anything by herself. Mom literally has been checking on g'pa to make sure he is breathing while he is napping, and she has no idea about dad, but he is so far down the priority list right now that she can't worry about it too much. And, to top it off, DD has a fever from her shots, and DH kept calling me at the hospital because he couldn't find the baby's PJs, didn't know there was a bottle in the fridge, he cracked the plumbing in the fish tank and needed something from Home Depot to fix it, etc. Then went he got to Home Depot Tony Stewart was there and the baby was screaming because he forgot to feed her before he went, and I wanted to kill him. Can't you take care of your own daughter????

So...now that I wrote all that out, I feel better. When it rains, it pours.

[Alegna]

Kristen ~ wow, you aren't kidding about the pouring. I like to think that once your family gets past all of this stress it will be smooth sailing for a long time :)

I still haven't made it to Megan's 6 mo appointment yet. I've been sick, she was sick. I've been waiting for everybody to be better, but her stuffy/runny nose seems to be a permament thing. She'll have it for a few days and then be better for a few days and then it's back. I don't know if it's allergies or just teething.

Speaking of teething... We have a tooth! Still can't see it yet, she's too squirmy to get a good look. But you can feel it. That sucker is sharp!

I did manage to get some applesauce into Megan last night before she did the gag and shake her whole body routine. She's done that with every food except cereal. She loves her cereal. She still can't quite figure out the sippy cup. She'll hold on and put it in her mouth. But still won't tilt her head back to get anything out of it. Oh well, she'll get it someday.

Sneaky girl woke up this morning, I could hear her fussing and a few cries. So I get out of bed, go to the bathroom and head up to her room. And wouldn't you know it, she's gone back to sleep. But now I'm awake! I should go back to sleep myself, but I know as soon as I try she'll wake up again.

Maybe I'll catch a 30 min nap on the couch. I use my TIVO as an alarm clock. I just turn the tv on and then hit pause. The buffer will fill up in 30 minutes and the tv will start to play again waking me up. Easier than setting a clock every time you want to nap. :)

[wagsgirl]

Drive by!

Rogan had his 6 month checkup today. He was 20 lb even and 28 3/4" ...Officially out of the baby seat :( He's got 2 teeth already, too! Growing like a weed these kids! Who told them they could grow up so quickly?!?!

[ggclark]

hi all...

We are back from a mini vacation and I have had to catch up on all the posts. Before I do though, I wanted to share a few pics from Lily's Baptism and our trip.

http://i201.photobucket.com/albums/aa24/gmgigs/Lily-Baptism1.jpg

http://i201.photobucket.com/albums/aa24/gmgigs/Lily-Pool-Daytona.jpg You can see the 2 new teeth in this pic

http://i201.photobucket.com/albums/aa24/gmgigs/Lily-sourface.jpg This is Lily's first taste of a lemon- reaction

http://i201.photobucket.com/albums/aa24/gmgigs/Lily-Stroller-Daytona.jpg She looks crazed in this picture! haha

[ggclark]

Don't ask me why but we love this costume!!!

http://www.infashionkids.com/baby-costumes---lobster-costume.html

[Alegna]

I have no idea what I'm going to put Megan in for Halloween. Everything is SO cute! I've got a call into my SIL. My MIL made a whole bunch of costumes when she was alive. I don't know what there is or what size they'll fit. But I figured I should check it out before buying one.

DH is convinced I should be making Megans costume. Which is pretty funny considering I can barely hem my pants. He wants me to make an entire costume! Silly man.

[mommydearest]

I don't think Abby is going to dress up this year. We aren't going anywhere and no one will see it anyway. I'm sure she won't be happy about getting into one she can't crawl in. So, I'll wait and do a really cool costume next year when she is walking and trick or treating.

[Elenna]

mommydearest: I hope everyone in your family gets better.

alegna: You could always make your DD a ghost costume from a white pillow case.;) I'd love to be able to make my DS's costume, but like you I can barely sew.


We have two bottom teeth coming in! They've just barely broken the surface. I repeat what someone on this thread said earlier--those things are SHARP! Poor DS is very fussy.

[wine_o_girlie]

Yeah, y'all have been chatty and posting pics - I love it! We just got back this weekend from our vacation (Caribbean) and it was AWESOME! Griff loved the ocean and it was a perfect trip. We went to Anguilla and I love that place (our 3rd trip). We went with another couple and their 1 year old son and it was just wonderful. I need to download a bajillion pics and post a few of my little guy floating in the ocean and playing in the sand. He handled the plane ride like a champ.

We have 6 month old babies! I cannot believe it. :eek: Where has the time gone. Here's Griff's 6 month pics:

http://thegarnerfamily.smugmug.com/photos/175236611-M.jpg

http://thegarnerfamily.smugmug.com/photos/175236618-M.jpg

http://thegarnerfamily.smugmug.com/photos/175236628-M.jpg

We go to the Ped on Friday for his WBV - I think he might be 20 pounds or so. :eek: He's a chunk a monk. He's such a love, I just love this age and how cute and fun he is.

Halloween - Griff is going to be a monkey since we call him "Monkey" all the time. I am stalking costumes on eBay right now.

Solids - this is going better but the boy still is crazy for breastmilk. He will let us feed him a little better now if we let him hold an extra spoon but we still rely on the mesh feeder a lot because he wants to feed himself. He has really started moving the food around in his mouth well and "chewing" (no teeth still - fine by me since I am still nursing!). So far he has eaten peaches, pears, bananas, watermelon, avocado, peas, sweet potatoes, carrots, and squash. We also just started giving him half of a Cheerio on his tray and he LOVES trying to pick them up. He is not that great at getting it into his mouth but he likes trying and is getting better with it. He loves gumming the pieces of Cheerios. He's still in love with biter biscuits and this past week on vacation we gave him a few tiny pieces of bread and he loved that. I don't plan to give him too much bread but we were having a hard time keeping him occupied in some restaurants so we caved.

Sleep - Ah sleep, what a wonderful thing it would be to have more of this. I tell you, the sleep deprivation is starting to wear on me because it's now been 6 months since I have consistently gotten 6+ hour stretches of it. I feel like I have perma-bags under my eyes and coffee is a very good friend. I am totally fine with feeding him once per night but lately he has been wanting to eat twice and it's killing me. I have started sending my husband in his room if it's prior to 2 a.m. and it pisses Griff off but he will almost always go back to sleep for him. If I go in there, forget it, he must have boob. I have also started turning off the monitor after his 2-3 a.m. feeding. Our rooms are next door so I would hear him if he gets too loud but it's been good for me because sometimes he will make noises and random cries on the monitor that wake me up. Now I don't hear those. We also had a breakthrough this morning - he ate at 3 but woke up crying at 5 a.m. and I did not go in there. He fussed for a bit but went back to sleep on his own. Thank God. I guess I need to do that more often. It breaks my heart but he's gotta learn to put himself back to sleep.

Crawling and Sitting - He's a pro at sitting - he can sit for loooooong periods of time (30+ minutes) and now we can just plop him down somewhere with some toys and he is good to go. Sitting independently is a wonderful thing. He's still crawling backwards instead of forwards and is getting super frustrated by that. He now moves his legs correctly but still hasn't figured out the arms. I am guessing that it will be soon though since he's been rocking back and forth for weeks and weeks now.

Pulling up and standing- he has just started wanting to do this. Yikes! He loves to try to pull up on the side of the bathtub and I see the little wheels turning in his head about the crib. I think we need to lower the crib mattress ASAP. All he wants to do is stand up when you hold him. He constantly pulls up on you using anything he can get his hands on. He will barely sit down now cause he just wants to stand up.

Hope y'all are well and keep on posting those pics! I love seeing the babies.

[Alegna]

I got a look at tooth #2 yesterday. It hasn't broken the surface yet, but you can definately see it. So far teething hasn't been too bad <knock on wood> She will pull on her ear and sleep longer than usual.

I like it when she sleeps through the night. I just wish I knew a head of time so I could pump before I go to bed. I was ready to explode this morning. I went a head and pumped because she's still asleep.

I don't know how but she's managed to sleep through our roof getting replaced. And these guys are banging around and yelling at each other right outside her window! Not to mention the dog going crazy running around barking at all the noise outside. I was glad to go to work yesterday. It was quiet there. :)

And we've added peaches to our menu. I still get the same reaction. Gagging, closing the eyes and shaking the entire body. She just doesn't like anything with flavor I guess. She tolerates the fruit better than the veggies. But isn't a fan of any of it.

I'm jealous of everybody that's got to go on vacation. Everybody looks so cute!

[katmg]

We've finally turned a corner with foods! I discovered that she LOVES plums. Once I fed her those, she has started actually eating more and swallowing, etc. rather than just pushing it all out with her tongue. I've even gone back and had more success with some of the previous foods we tried. I think I'll introduce oatmeal today.

Sleeping is finally getting a bit more regular/predictable. I'm starting to see naptimes develop, etc. Don't want to say too much lest I tempt the sleeping gods. ;)

DH has taught her to blow raspberries which is her new favorite trick. She can even blow raspberries while sucking on her pacifier. Lovely! :rolleyes: It actually is pretty cute - she gets her whole face worked up doing it.

[mommydearest]

Sleep--what's that????? DD went from awesome sleeper to "I won't sleep longer than 20 minutes." It doesn't matter how long your rock or what you do...she either wakes up the instant she hits the sheets or 20/30 minutes later. I have resorted to letting her CIO for her naps today, which is the last resort option for me, but essentially she has been crying for almost 3 hours now (I let her cry for 30 minutes, go in and rock for 15 or 20 minutes her til she falls asleep, put her down, she wakes up either right away for a few minutes later, and then repeat the cycle.

I go back to work in a week and I cannot keep being up for an hour 3 or 4 times a night or I won't be functioning. DH can't sleep if we CIO at night (I tried turning off the monitor last night and just letting her cry after she had been rocked back to sleep 3 times and I couldn't take it any more. After she cried for 10 minutes he got mad and went in and rocked her for an hour and finally out of sheer exhaustion she stayed asleep.

I don't know what to do. She is crabby all the time, and freaks out if you do anything but play with her/sit by her. It is driving me nuts and my mom (aka daycare) has to take care of my wheelchair bound grandma and DD so she's going to have to sit and play by herself some and take decent naps. I have looked for an evenings job but nothing comes even close to half of what I am making now. I'm just glad she isn't going to someone outside of the family--that person would either quit or kill her!

[wine_o_girlie]

Ugh, sleep woes - what is up with these January babies??????? Griff was up for an HOUR last night from 12:30-1:30 a.m. crying. My dear hubby went in and was working his butt off to get Griff back to sleep but I finally had to go in after 40 minutes and I nursed him and he immediately went back to sleep after eating. He had his usual "dinner" (which is quite large) so I am hesitant to think he was really hungry at 12:30 a.m. but maybe he was. I just don't know...he started crying again at 5:00 a.m. just like usual. I swear he has an internal clock and it always goes off at 5:00 a.m., no matter if he eats at 1:00 a.m. or 4:00 a.m., he wakes up at 5. UGH!!! I remained strong and turned off the monitor and let him fuss it out. I was kind of drifting on and off with sleep so I'm not exactly sure how look he cried but I think it was around 20 minutes on and off. He woke up for the day at 7:00 a.m. which is much more acceptable. He was all smiley. I don't know what the heck his deal is with sleep anymore. :rolleyes: I am one tired mama...

Here's some pics from our vaca last week - oh how I already am dying to go back...

http://thegarnerfamily.smugmug.com/photos/178703588-M.jpg

http://thegarnerfamily.smugmug.com/photos/178709238-M.jpg

http://thegarnerfamily.smugmug.com/photos/178713038-M-1.jpg

http://thegarnerfamily.smugmug.com/photos/178807660-M.jpg

http://thegarnerfamily.smugmug.com/photos/178807132-M.jpg

[Alegna]

Well, I finally made it to Megan's 6 month check up. Of course, she's almost 7 months, but close enough.

She weighed in at 16 lbs 12 oz. Was 25 1/4 inches tall.

Doctor was happy with everything. He said not to worry about her not liking solids too much. Since I'm still nursing he's not concerned at all. He also said that we should use the bottled water for her since she'll need the floride and we have a well.

There was a trick question on the question sheet they have me fill out. It asked if the child could focus on small objects like a penny or a pea. I answered N/A because I don't give her small objects to play with. I answered correctly :)

She got 4 shots. Only yelled for a minute. Then was all smiles. She managed to pull off one of her bandaids and was chewing on it when I went to get her out of the car when we got home. :eek: I gave her some Tylenol just in case and we went to the county fair. She was in good spirits and having a good time. She fell asleep in the stroller. We were prepared to leave if she got fussy. I just really wanted a funnel cake. :)

[katmg]

Alegna - That's funny about the bandaid. The nurse at my dr's office told me to take them off when I got her in the car so she wouldn't try to eat them. I wouldn't have even thought about it but DD would have probably done the same thing your's did!

We start swim lessons next week and I'm really excited. It took me forever to get signed up and now it's already August but I still think DD will enjoy it. She tries to float in the baby bathtub all the time! Which leads me to my QOTD:

How long are you planning to use the baby bathtub? - DD seems to be outgrowing ours. She always arches her back and tries to float when I'm bathing her. I'm not sure if it would be easier somehow to let her try the big bathtub. It just seems so big with her still being so small.

[mommydearest]

DD is outgrowing her bathtub too. I tried the kitchen sink once this week (g'ma and great g'ma kept reminding me that is what they used for me). There was water everywhere and it didn't work so well. I know people say the baby bath rings are dangerous, but I want one anyway. I'm not going to leave her there alone or anything, but she is kind of tippy still and I want to be able to wash her hair without having to hold her up. I'm ready for her to be standing so I can just take her in the shower!

[gmooter]

Just a quick update. Gabe had his 6 month WBV today. Here were his stats:

Weight: 20lbs 2 oz (95%)
Length: 29 inches (97%)
Head: 17 3/4 (75%)

He's sitting up all on his own (where I can actually leave the room) and has started pushing up onto his hands and knees!! I'm sure crawling is about a month away now! The Dr. gave us the go ahead for meats and yogurt whenever I'm ready! My boy is growing right up!!
http://images.costcophotocenter.com/232323232%7Ffp%3B5%3Dot%3E2327%3D3%3A5%3D54%3C%3DX ROQDF%3E232393%3A7%3B5934ot1lsi
http://images.costcophotocenter.com/232323232%7Ffp%3A%3C%3Dot%3E2327%3D3%3A5%3D54%3C%3 DXROQDF%3E232393%3A7%3B58%3A5ot1lsi

[GardenGirl]

Sleep - add us to the "sleep has gone to crap" list too. I thought it was just his cold that was interfering with sleep, but now that he is almost well it's still bad. He was waking every 45-60 minutes, so I kicked DH out of bed and brought DS in. He slept well in bed with me, plus it was more convenient for me when he'd wake up coughing - I could just pat him and he'd fall back asleep. But I missed my husband and thought that since he's feeling better that we'd move him back in his crib. He was worse than when he was 2 days old. Now that he is pretty much well and I'm not having any pity or sympathy for him and he's going to sleep in his crib. Last night he went down well, I didn't rock or nurse him and while it took 30 minutes of me singing and patting his back, he did fall asleep on his own. Then slept 4 hours. That's a marked improvement. I hope to stick with this and not cave. We'll see how long it lasts.

Bathtub - we put away the baby bathtub, he was much to big for any enjoyment. So DH gets in the big tub with him in our master bathroom. It's their time together. They take about a 20-30 minute bath and play. It's one of DS's favorite play times, I can tell. But now my bathroom is littered with bath toys.

Katmg - have fun at swim lessons. DS loves his - he's a great floater already. If you don't mind me asking, where did you decide to go. You can PM if you want. We like HSC, the instructor we have loves Carter so that helps :)

I take him swimming at our community pool alot and have the same float Griff does. The baby pool goes from 6 inches to 18 inches so I can put DS in his float and his feet can touch the bottom and he sort of jumps like he does in his Jumperoo. He loves to splash too.

Since we've had a lot of rain, we miss out on swimming some days, so I got this little inflatable pool and put on the porch. He loves it, plus it was only $7 at Walmart. We took it to my parents last weekend so they could watch him But it ended up raining, so my parents (being the kind that go overboard spoiling their grandchild) decided to put it in their living room - yes living room - and watch him splash. What suckers! Here's the pool, it's smaller than the picture portrays, which I like ...
http://i78.photobucket.com/albums/j99/terashelton/pool.jpg

Well he just woke up from a nap - only 35 minutes, don't get me started ...

[Elenna]

Wow, it seems like a lot of January babies are big babies. My DS was only in the 50% for all his stats at his 6 month WBV.

swimming: DS's swim classes at the Y start on Monday. I'm kinda nervous about them. I don't know how DS will react to being in the pool. He's never been in more water than his bathtub.

I haven't posted a photo of DS in a very long time.
Here's him after feeding himself carrots.
http://farm2.static.flickr.com/1033/966854090_6323aef88a.jpg?v=0

He loves to feed himself. He'll grab the spoon from our hands as soon as it gets within reach. He'll put the spoon in his mouth, gnaw on it and turn it around in his mouth a while. Then he'll give the spoon back to us to fill up with more food. I've now started stripping DS down to his diaper for his feedings because of the mess.

[jmvan74]

Elenna, I needed a good laugh today! How adorably funny!! Look at that mess. I love it.

sleep: I'm not even going there. It's been an absolute nightmare. He has never slept through the night or even close. I'd give my left arm for a 4-5 hour stretch of sleep. :(

bath tub: Brady is still doing okay in his. I did give a bath w/ his brother the other night and he did fine. I had to hold him up, though.
Kat, if you're not quite ready for the big tub, you can buy an inflatable tub that fits in the tub. I had a rubber duck tub for Collin before we moved in to the tub.

[katmg]

gardengirl - we're going to the YMCA in Katy. The one near my house only had infant swim lessons at 6 pm during the week! That's bedtime around here!! Anyway, the one in Katy had several times during the week and I don't mind going out there since both sets of grandparents live out there.

Elenna - Looks like your DS is having fun with those carrots!!

jmvan - thanks for the advice on the inflatable tub. I may look into that.

[ggclark]

Gardengirl:

Hey... what is the name of that pool? I love it... I showed my husband and we looked online at walmart and couldn't find it!

Let me know! Thanks!

What a great idea!

[jmvan74]

We have major army crawling!! Brady can army crawl around the room in no time! :eek: I'm so terrified he's going to find one of Collin's toys that is not baby friendly and choke! This is so stressful! :o

[GardenGirl]

GGClark - I couldn't find it on Walmart's website either, but I know they have it since that's where I bought it. This picture is from http://www.qualityinflatables.com/56438.html I found the link to send to my MIL; she wants to buy one for DS for our visit at the end of the month. We love it.

Katmg - enjoy the classes. We go to the Houston Swim Club in Katy and tried to do a 6:00 evening class as a make up one day and it was packed. Plus the traffic was horrible.

Bedtime - so 6:00 huh Kat? Wow, you and DH must get some nice alone time. But you are probably up really early. We are down about 7:00-7:30 at the latest now. At 6:30, DS gets some veggies, then is in the bathtub with DH for 20-30 minutes. Then he nurses for 15 minutes or so and is out. I'm trying to wake him a little after nursing so he doesn't keep nursing to sleep. It seems to be helping his night wakings. He isn't STTN again, but I'm having less wakings.

DH just hollered to get the salad reading for dinner, I'm out ...

ETA - Okay, back in ... had to congrat Julie on Brady's crawling. I'm trying to show Carter how to get up on his knees, but he won't. He just moves his arms and legs back and forth while on his tummy, like a Superman. He really shows no signs of wanting to crawl. Actually that's okay with me, as soon as he's mobile I won't be able to set him down and turn my back.

[Alegna]

Megan's getting pretty good at crawling backwards. Ok, it's more like scooting. But between that and rolling she gets where she wants to be.

We had a definate Dada today. Might have been a fluke but it definately sounded like she was saying dada over and over.

Megan has been sleeping through the night. I think I've been dressing her too warm. It gets pretty warm upstairs, even with the fan on. I left her in just a onesie and she slept through. If I put her in jammies she wakes up coughing. I think she gets too warm. It doesn't help that she's like a furnance when she sleeps. She fell asleep in my grandmas arms yesterday and when she got back up grandmas shirt was all sweaty.

So with the new found sleep schedule I've got to pump in the mornings before she gets up. So now I'm able to replenish my freezer stash. I had been dipping into it for a while. Not that big of a deal since it was time to rotate it out anyway.

Now that Megan is sitting up really well I bought a cover for the shopping cart/high chair. We used it this morning at brunch. I think she likes it. :)

[katmg]

gardengirl - DD is usually down sometime between 5:45 and 6:30 ish. :eek: She's also usually up between 6 and 7. That works out fine since DH leaves for work about 6. There are definitely days when he doesn't get to see DD at all though.

[ggclark]

gardengirl- I will have to go to Walmart and check it out! I will let you know

on crawling- - DD is not interested in doing this yet either. She will do the swimming thing on her tummy.. but she isnt even close- which is ok with me... the house isn't baby proofed entirely yet!

on sleeping- - I feel like we are close to dropping the third nap... so I tried to this weekend.. and it was a MESS.. she was miserable. Not quite there yet I guess. The problem is, she wakes up at 5:30 in the morning -- so I thought she needed less daytime sleep. I don't know... perhaps it's her internal clock.

on solids- - we started a few stage 2 items (not sure if I was "supposed to" yet, but we did and DD LOVED them... way better then the stage 1. So... I am going with it!

[GardenGirl]

Talking - I bet you heard a "Dada" Angela, we've heard it several times. Now he doesn't know what he's saying, but he says Dada, Baba and every now and then he'll even say Mama believe it or not. He loves to "talk" with us. He'll say Dada, we'll say Dada and repeat the process.

Stage 2 - DS didn't like the consistency of Stage 1, so after we went through the 1s I bought, we went to the Stage 2 single ingredients. We've pretty much tried every single ingredient now. I'm going to start making some of my own now that I know what he prefers and that he isn't allergic to anything. I have a few 2s that are multiple ingredients, but after I bought them I'm not sure if he can have them. I need to call the ped. The printout they gave me said not to introduce citrus JUICE until 10 months, but didnt say anything about citrus foods. I guess that's the same though? Also, I know strawberries are a "no-no" food until 1, how about other berries like blueberries? What about cherries and grapes? Are they okay? There are several Stage 2 foods out there that I don't think my 7 month old can have. Maybe I'll cross post this on the Solids thread.

We are flying to see the ILs in 2.5 weeks, I've sent MIL a list of things she can pick up for us (diapers, wipes, cereal) so I don't have to pack them. But I need to work on my list of things to take. I'm a planner, so I've started thinking about logistics - especially since we are flying. They have nothing in their house for babies and since we are staying 6 days, I'll definitely have to figure out which toys to take. I think we'll make a trip to Walmart when we get there and buy some toys for the week. Then either ship them home or keep them for our visit during the holidays. DS is really into interactive toys, instead of the quiet-just-stare-at-me toys. In fact, he loves his musical train but there is no way that is making the trip! Here's the photo ...
http://i78.photobucket.com/albums/j99/terashelton/train.jpg

I think I'm going to have to give DS a hair cut. The hair around his face is up to 4 inches long. I have to tuck it behind his ears and a couple strands even touch his collar. Now it isn't like that in the back. The back is a reasonable length - about 2 inches. I'm not happy about doing this, but when his "baby comb over" isn't combed over it is in his eyes. I've been waiting so I have enough to save as a lock for his baby book. I think if I tie it all together, it will be enough. I'm just sad I have to cut it. I may wait until after we go to the ILs ... we'll see.

[gmooter]

crawling Gabe can get up on all 4's and rock back and forth. With Grace, it was about a month after that she was crawling

sitting Gabe can sit alone unassisted now and good enough so that I can leave him there with a toy and leave the room!

sleep Gabe is STTN for 11-12 hours. We're still working on the napping thing. Somedays it's 2 naps, somedays it's 3.

solids We got the go ahead for meats and yogurt but I'm going to wait at least another month for that I think. Plus I have a stash of baby food that needs to be used up before I buy new stuff!

[ggclark]

Stage 2 - DS didn't like the consistency of Stage 1, so after we went through the 1s I bought, we went to the Stage 2 single ingredients. We've pretty much tried every single ingredient now. I'm going to start making some of my own now that I know what he prefers and that he isn't allergic to anything. I have a few 2s that are multiple ingredients, but after I bought them I'm not sure if he can have them. I need to call the ped. The printout they gave me said not to introduce citrus JUICE until 10 months, but didnt say anything about citrus foods. I guess that's the same though? Also, I know strawberries are a "no-no" food until 1, how about other berries like blueberries? What about cherries and grapes? Are they okay? There are several Stage 2 foods out there that I don't think my 7 month old can have. Maybe I'll cross post this on the Solids thread..


Let me know what you find out b/c I have given Lily a few multi ingredient ones... simple ones like squash and corn... and she has done ok, but would be curious about the rule of thumb or what your ped says. Also.. one of the mixed ingredients I gave her was blueberry and pear... she did ok.. no allergy to the blueberry... she LOVED it too... So I don't know.. I did hear about strawberries and won't go there. Here's my question-- if there are so many things that are no no;s... why do those silly baby food companies make them... I saw they had chicken in stage 1... what's that about.. I thought no meat until 9 months or so... hahhaa

[wine_o_girlie]

Just wanted to post Griff's 6 month WBV stats:

18 lbs, 2 oz.
28.5 inches

He's a big, tall boy. Looks like several of the January babies are huge, wonder what is up with that?

Milestone alert - Griff started picking up Cheerios this weekend and putting them in his mouth! He's been able to kind of pick them up for a few weeks but this weekend he became a pro and he started being able to get them in his mouth. It's so cute and he looks so proud of himself.

QOTD: Clothes: What size is everyone buying for fall? My latest (weird) obsession is clothing. We have my nephew's clothes but he was a peanut and wore 12 month clothing when he was close to 2. Well, Griff is already wearing a lot of 12 month stuff now. :eek: I hadn't planned on buying much of anything but now it looks like we will soon go through my nephew's clothes (he is almost 3 but is just now wearing size 2T).

I went through the monumental task of getting all the 12-18 month fall clothing from my nephew out of my basement and washed it all yesterday and put it in the closet. Whew, that was a surprising amount of work - thank God my husband put in a closet organizer last month!

This weekend, I also bought a lot of stuff at Gymboree for next summer that was super cheap - 6 things for $35! :) I was a huge fan of the lobster and crab stuff. I bought things in 18-24 month size and one 2T t-shirt. Hope he isn't too big for that size by next summer! Look at these lobster swim trunks I got for $6.99 minus 20% -

http://s7ondemand1.scene7.com/is/image/Gymboree/140019009?$240x305$


Elenna - Griff does the SAME thing with the spoon. Ugh, it's cute but such a mess. We do almost all meals now with just a diaper on, especially because he has learned how to take his bib off.

[amwilson615]

I am SO SO SO jealous of your babies who STTN--Jaden is absolutely nowhere close to it. NOWHERE. I look like a zombie and am constantly irritated and tired. Please, what books/articles/tips/hints/advice can any of you offer--I am so very desperate for sleep. Getting even a 3 hour stretch of uninterrupted sleep is pretty much still unheard of in my house. HELP!

[jmvan74]

Thanks, Tera. That train is so cute. Luckily, I have all of Collin's old toys I can just pull out of the closet. I trimmed Brady's hair last week. :( It was unruly. I'm still sad about it. LOL!
I flew alone w/ Brady a few weeks ago and he did great. ;)

solids: We do stage 2 and I put different kinds of fresh fruit in the mesh feeder. Unfortunately, he's just not a big solids fan. We're working on it.

Bedtime: Brady is down between 6:30-7:00. He is up for the day between 6:30 and 7:00. However, we still have 2-3 night wakings to eat. *sigh*

wine_o: I bought the same swim trunks for brady for next summer. LOL! I've been buying Brady 9-12 months for the fall and 12-18 for next summer. I know his weight will slow down now that he's on the move.

[GardenGirl]

Julie - did you keep Brady's hair? If so, how? Did you just put it in an envelope in the baby book or what? I want to keep a lock or two of Carters, but it is so fine that even though it's long, it won't seem like very much.

Solids - we have the Pear & Blueberry, but I haven't given it to him. I'm with you GGClark, why on earth would they put things in their that you can't feed them. It's too friggin confusing. I need to call the pediatrician, but I think I'll wait until next week. Since Carter was sick the past two weeks, I was calling once or twice a week and I'd like to give the poor nurse a break. Which leads me to my newest vent ...

I figured out where/how Carter caught the viral croup. I was suspicious at first, but I'm almost positive now. 2.5 weeks ago we went to gym class and there was a baby there who was obviously sick. He shouldn't have been there, snot was everwhere and he was coughing. Not to mention he was fussy and tired because he didn't feel good. Well, Carter got sick 3-4 days later, so we didn't go to gym class that Friday. I didn't want anyone to catch what he had. So this past Friday when we did go, there were two other mom friends of mine that said they missed last week too because their DC had the congestion/cough. All three of our babies were on the same "sickness schedule" so it had to be that first child. I'm just so frustrated that someone would bring their baby around other infants when their's is sick. While it was a boring two weeks, I didn't take DC anywhere (no swimming, no gym, no nothing) because I didn't want him to spread it.

Some people will say I need to take a chill pill and that you can't protect your child from everything. But my rebuttle to that is this - Carter couldn't breathe through his nose for 2 weeks, he had crap in his airway and his lungs. Not to mention he was up every 45-60 minutes. So I don't think I'm overreacting.

Fingerfoods - Congrats to Griff for eating Cherrios. Refresh my memory. Does he have teeth? I'd like for Carter start seeing if he can feed himself, but since he has no teeth I'm worried about choking. He likes the mesh feeder and I put all sorts of fruit in there, but I'd like to take it a step further. I think we might try puffs in the next week or so, I think they pretty much dissolve in their mouths so we don't have to worry about choking. If you give fruit, how small do you cut it so they don't choke?

Meats/Yogurt - the handout the pediatrician gave me said to start meats around 7.5-8 months. We'll wait until 9-10 months for dairy. The pamphlet said that since the meat is a good source of iron he should be getting 2/3 to 1 cup of meat a week. I think we'll start that around labor day since he'll by 8 months then.

Clothes - Carter is pretty much true to size and has been since about 3 months. Right now most of the stores have fall stuff already. That's crazy. It's 95 degrees in Houston today. I can't think about long sleeves and jeans. He is in 6-9 clothes. Some are 6-12 if they don't have 9 months. He can still fit in 6 months, except for his footed pajamas, they are starting to pull on his shoulders.

[zhannushka]

Hello ladies! Sorry to have been MIA for so long! - life's been a bit busy over here... I won't even attempt individual SO's - I've missed way too much... Our WBV schedule has been a little off lately, so - we had a 6.5 month visit (and he got 2 shots) and the next one will be a 7.5 month visit (and 2 more shots). His 6.5 month stats are: 20 lbs and 29.5 inches. He's going to be a big boy!

Since I last posted - Joseph has hit a few milestones: he can sit unassisted for some time and can even get to a sitting position all on his own (he does it in very strange way, but whatever gets him there, right?) He is also crawling! He's been getting on all 4's and rocking for quite some time (about a month now) and sometime last week he actually started moving forward - he's still very unsure of himself when he does it, so - he does fall after a few "steps", but - he's crawling nevertheless! He is now eating chicken mixed in with his fruits and veggies. His favorite is a homemade chicken soup (chicken breast, potatoes and carrots), pureed.

I've decided that it's time for me to go back to work soon, so - I'm currently sending out my resume and interviewing. I'm not planning to start until September though. We've decided that we're going to hire a babysitter to come in to our home and take care of Joseph while DH and I are at work. So, no daycare center for him yet (at least not until he's a year old). As much as I want to go back to work, I'm also very sad about not spending all my time with my baby, but - I just have to do this for myself. I really need to get out of the house and do "my thing" on a daily basis!

On some of the topics you've been discussing here:

solids: He loves them! He's had pretty much all of Stages 1 and 2 fruits and veggies now. I try to make things myself as much as I can, but I always have some store-bought jars, just in case. Chicken has been the newest addition to his menu.

sleeping and bedtime: Joseph has been STTN for months now, which I'm more than grateful for! However... his schedule is a little crazy (totally mine and DH's fault) - we don't put him down for the night until 1 am and he doesn't get up for the day until 12 pm! Him and I both get about 11 hours of uninterrupted sleep, which is amazing, but - this schedule MUST change, especially since I plan on going back to work soon! So, that's what I've been working on lately - adjusting his bedtime a little bit every day... It's tough! He still naps about 3 times a day (on most days) - each nap is about 45 minutes to an hour long.

clothes: Joseph wears all 9-12 month clothing now, with an exception of just a few 6 month things. I haven't bought much lately, we still have plenty new things left from gifts we got when he was born, his Bris and afterwards. I'm glad that lots of people gave us bigger clothes (9, 12 and 18 months) - seems like we are pretty much set until the winter! :)

Here's a few latest shots of my big boy:

crawling
http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v196/zhannushka/7thmonth022-2.jpg

sitting
http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v196/zhannushka/7thmonth013-1.jpg

new favorite sleeping position :)
http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v196/zhannushka/7thmonth026.jpg

Wow, there are 1048 posts in this thread already?! I've been such a bad threadmistress... :o I promise to have a new one up and running by tomorrow!!!

[katmg]

Solids - The foods I've heard that need to wait until at least a year are:
citrus fruits, tomatoes (due to acidity, not allergies)
berries (except blueberries and cranberries)
shellfish
peanut butter/peanuts
milk
whole eggs (can do yolks earlier)
grapes (choking hazard - need to be cut in quarters)

I really like www.wholesomebabyfood.com - I printed out their chart for introducing solids and keep it posted on the fridge. The grandparents like to check it out and tell me how different it is from when they had babies! :D

The thing with mixed flavor foods is that you need to have introduced the foods separately first so that if there is a reaction you'll know what food caused it. For example today, DD had a blend of pear and oatmeal which was fine since she has already had both food singly. But if it had been, for example, apple and barley that could have been a problem since she hasn't had either food yet.

Since I'm making her food it tends to be a bit chunkier than the jarred stuff. I bought a jar of stage 1 carrots (due to nitrate concerns) and it was so thin! I think next time I have to buy jarred food, I'll do the stage 2.

[GardenGirl]

Thanks Kat for the list. I make some of my own stuff, but only after I know he isn't allergic to it. But you are right, those stage 1 foods are incredibly runny. That's why I moved quickly to the Stage 2 single ingredients. I think because I waited until he 6 months (one week shy) that he was ready for a thicker consistency. I think they keep in mind that some babies have their first solids at 4 months. I knew about the blended foods, so we've been on top of that. I guess I'll let him have the Apple, Plum, & Grape this evening or tomorrow since he can have grapes as a puree. Glad to see that he can have blueberries. I guess cherries are probably okay too then. I haven't been on the wholesome website in a while. I forgot to check that out. Thanks again.

[Winter Biscuit]

I can't believe how big all our babies are getting!

Allison has a fungal infection in her diaper area :( The first spot appeared sometime around mid-July. It started out as a small white spot - almost looked like a mosquito bite. We had her 6-month WBV scheduled for 7/20 so I decided to keep an eye on it and mention it to the ped on 7/20. Well, by that day, the spot had grown to the size of a nickel. The ped said it was a fungal infection, but not ringworm. Prescribed some ointment, which we used for a week -- the ointment had no effect whatsoever on the infection. In fact, it grew and spread some more :( I called the ped last week Monday and they said to discontinue using the ointment, and just use vaseline at every diaper change instead. On Tuesday, we got a call from daycare saying that the spots had spread and they suspected ringworm. So I called the ped again, and got an appt that day. They confirmed again that it's not ringworm, gave me a note to take back to daycare saying that its OK for her to be there, and prescribed a different ointment. It's slowly clearing up. It doesn't seem to bother Allison, but it doesn't look so pretty either. Anyway, she was up to 17 lbs when I took her back in last week (she was 16 lbs 11 oz on 7/20).

Solids -- going well. We've had sweet potatoes, squash, green beans, bananas, pears, and peas. She hates peas -- HATES them. She'll tolerate the rest and will make all kinds of growling sounds when I'm feeding her the other stuff, but OMG this kid hates peas. :)

Babbling -- Allison has lots to say. We've had lots of bababababa and dadadadadada and yayayayayaya. One time it sounded like she was saying Blah blah blah :D

Sitting/crawling/moving -- Allison is sitting up, but not crawling yet. She did scoot around on her back once, and when she's on her belly she can rotate in all different directions, but she hasn't gotten on all 4's yet. Totally fine with me. DD#1 hit all her milestones VERY early, so it's kinda nice to have a kid that is a little more laidback for a change :) That, and the fact that I don't feel like babyproofing.

Clothes -- I'm not buying anything since Allison inherited DD#1's wardrobe ;) They were born in the same season, so just about everything should fit. She's mostly wearing 9 months now, but still wearing a few things in 6-months.

Gotta get to bed - talk to you ladies later.

[mommydearest]

Wow this has been a busy place!

Moving: Abby can sit alone for a good bit and is starting to lean over and go on her tummy to reach for things. Usually it makes her mad though. She can scoot backwards really well, and definitely is never where you left her when you come back.

Clothes: Shes only 15 lbs, so we are still in 6 months. I have bought mostly 12 months for fall because when I was preggo I assumed 9 months would be Aug/Sept. But the 9 month clothes are so big that I'm worried now.

Solids: We eat stage 2. I couldn't tell a difference between 1 and 2 except size honestly. We've done peas, green beans, bananas, sweet potatoes, chicken, and turkey. She HATES the meats by themselves, but tolerates them mixed with peas. She also HATES oatmeal and rice cereal. And, she throws up the Chicken Vegetable meal. I thought it was a fluke yesterday, but no, she puked it up tonight too. So we'll be avoiding that one.

Babbling: She says mama and dada, but mostly blah blah blah and other nonsense. Usually she babbles when she's tired.

Sleep: This weekend I bit the bullet and started some sleep training for naps and night. Things are going much better, but are a long way from perfect. I read the Weissbluth book (well, the pertinent parts) and No-Cry sleep solution and talked to some other moms. What we have settled on is that I change her diaper, nurse her, put the binky in her mouth and rock til she is almost asleep and put her down. 3 out of 4 times she goes to sleep. If she cries, someone goes in after a couple minutes and calm her down without picking her up so she knows we answer when she cries. Then we let her cry it out, which is usually significantly less upset than the first time. Usually she protest wimpers for about 10-15 mintues. She kind of set her own bedtime this week at 8:30, when it had been between 9:30 and 10. She's been waking up at 2 and then again at 6 to nurse, which I'm not thrilled about but am ok with. She is then up for the day at 7. It is so much better than before that I am really happy about the going down process.

But, my problem is this...which I can't find addressed in any book.

She wakes up after 20/30 minutes every time she goes to sleep. I'm not entirely sure how to handle it. Usually I go and calm her, then let her CIO again, but I don't know how to break the 20 minute cycle. Most of the time when she falls back asleep, she will then take a decent nap or sleep at night. Any help would be greatly appreciated!

[jmvan74]

Tera: I kept a lock of his hair (just a little curl) and it's in a zip lock bag for now. I have Collin's in a zip lock bag, too (although his was put there at a salon since he didn't need it cut until his first birthday). I'm probably just going to keep a large envelope of things like this with/in his scrapbook. Of course, I haven't even begun to make his and am just finishing Collin's. :o

Kristen: I think the only thing you can do w/ the 20 min wake-up is to continue going to her or starting CIO there. I wish I had some good advice, but we are strugglng w/ sleep here, too. I love Weisbluth, but it's so hard for me to be consistent when I'm dog tired. ;)

Thanks for the reminder about the wholesome baby food site, Kat. I always forget about that.

Zhanna: Joseph is a doll. I can't believe how many big boys we have over here. If you want help w/ the thread, I'd be willing to help. I've never done it before, but I'd be willing to give it a shot. PM if you want.

[katmg]

gardengirl - cherries are in the same category with strawberries, raspberries, blackberries, etc. Best to wait for a year before starting. Apparently blueberries and cranberries are the okay because they are not actually berries. HTH! :D

[Elenna]

crawling: No sign of crawling here. He hasn't gotten onto all 4s, yet. Though, he'll almost get on all 4s when reaching for something while sitting.

solids: I make most of DSs baby food. I only buy the jars to introduce a new food or for carrots (because of the nitrates).

talking: Last week DS started saying "dadada" consistantly. He's also occasionally gotten out "nanana", "lalala", and "blablabla". DH is very happy to hear the "dadada" even though he knows it doesn't mean him.

I have a tired baby here. He took 4 one hour naps yesterday. I wonder if he's fighting a bug.

DSs swim class didn't go so well yesterday. He cried for the first 15 minutes. I'm hoping it goes better today.

[ggclark]

My DD is turning into the most finicky eater-- she has a definite pallet and when the doesn't like something, she won' t eat.

DD Current Favorite Food: Butternut Squash and Corn... whatever, right?!! If she likes it, she likes it! hahaha


Oh and Lily HATES peas too! Someone mentioned that in their posts.. ahhaa

[GardenGirl]

Carter is definitely starting to show his preference for fruit. When we were trying new foods, he would eat anything. But now that we are going back and repeating some he fusses at me when I feed him green veggies. He'll swallow it, but he'll moan at me until I go to the cabinet and give him some fruit. I did this twice in the last two days just to see if it was a coincidence or if he was actually showing a preference. He is. However, that won't stop me from force feeding him! Fortunately like I said, he'll swallow them. I just can't feed veggies and fruit at the same time. He can have fruits in the morning and veggies at night.

Julie - thanks for the tip on his hair. That's probably what I'll do. I'm obviously thinking about this because I had a dream last night that I went and had a salon do it. But the salon was at a truck stop and they cut all his hair off and when I asked them for a lock, they wouldn't give it to me. So I told them I'd sue them if they didn't give it to me. So they conceded and sent me over to the chair. But I couldn't get it because it was mixed in with a bunch of other people's hair. I was so upset. Then I woke up - DH laughed at me all morning after I told him.

[January2007Mommies]

This thread is now closed.

Here is the link (http://www.constantchatter.com/forum/showthread.php?t=35486) to our new thread! :)