January 2007 Mommies - On our way to 3 now! How did that happen?!

[January2007Mommies]

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January 2007 Mommies - Part I (http://www.constantchatter.com/forum/showthread.php?t=19293)
January 2007 Mommies - Part II (http://www.constantchatter.com/forum/showthread.php?t=24229)
January 2007 Mommies - Part III (http://www.constantchatter.com/forum/showthread.php?t=28574)

New members are always welcome!!!

*Please list your stats in RED in your first post.

Username:
Me: Name, age
DH: Name, age
EDD/Actual Birth Date:
Predicted/Actual Gender:
Baby's Name:
Any other children:

*Please posts all updates in RED.

The threadmistresses for this thread are zhannushka , Indiana Bride, Lucy Van Pelt and jmvan74

[January2007Mommies]

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Alegna
Me: Angela, 27
DH: Mike, 31
Any other children: dog Abby

amberwaves
Me: 32
DH: 36
Any other children: Big Sister Gabrielle, Born 7.1.04

amwilson615
Me: Amanda, 27
FH: James, 28
Any other children: I have a 3.75 year old daughter (Avery Beatrice, 8-15-2002) from a previous relationship, he has no kids.

ButterflyJen
Me: Jen, 32
DH: DH, 29
Any other children: DD, August 14, 2004

Dansgirl
Me: A, 26
DH: D, 32
Any other children: Nope, just a cat that's gonna be very jeolous when the little one comes along!

Elenna
Me: Lorelei, 32
DH: Jay, 33
Any Other Children: 2 furbabies..Joey and Audrey

GardenGirl
Me: Tera, 27
DH: Brian, 36

ggclark
Me: G, 27
DH: J, 30
EDD/Actual Birth Date: EDD Feb 6/Actual Jan 30
Predicted/Actual Gender:Girl
Baby's Name: Lily June
Any other children:Not yet
Lily was 5lbs 10 oz, 19 inches, born at 4:28 am



gmooter
Me: 31
DH: 32
Any other children: DD, 08/30/06

IndianaBride
Me: Stacey (31)
DH: Nate (29)
DS: Jackson (2)

Jilly
Me: 29
DH: 28
Any other children: DS: 03/26/05

jmvan74
Me: Julie, 33
DH:
Any other children: DS Collin (born 6-13-05)

katmg
Me: 27
DH: 31

la_bride_2004
Me: 34
DH: 38
EDD/Actual Birth Date: 02/14/07, scheduled c-section 2/06/07, actual birth date 01/12/07
Predicted/Actual Gender: boy/boy
Baby's Name: Malcolm
Any other children: 2 furbabies

lindzgirl
Me:25
DH:23
EDD:1/19/07
Actual Birthdate:2/3/07
Baby Girl: Daphne Nicole
Prediction: Baby girl
Birthweight: 7LBS 7OZ
21 3/4 inches long

Lucy Van Pelt
Me: Ginger, 35
DH: Brad, 31
Any other children: Just our 2 year old cocker spaniel, Lucy!

magdesilver
Me: Margaret, 29
DH: Dan, 29
Any other children: DD Allison, 4/25/05

mommydearest
Me: Kristen, 26
DH: Russ, 26

NYLACHI
Me: Catherine, 31
DH: Allen, 31

purpleorchids
Me: Cheryl
FH: Mark
Any other children: I have a 17 month daughter

quest
Me: quest, age 40
DH: age 43
Actual Birth Date: 1/14/07
Predicted/Actual Gender: Boy!
Baby's Name: Jack
Any other children: DD, 10/03


richards2
Me: Mandi 27
DH: Don 28
Any other children: Daughter Lilianna born August 5, 2005

Robyn
Me: 29
DH: 28

thechick79
Me: 26
DH: Steve, 27
Any other children: Just our puppy, Dory

usafwife
Me: Meri, 28
DH: R, 39
Any other children: Sarah, 6/05

wagsgirl
Me: Tonya, 31
DH: Ryan, 30
Any other children: Briley Rose 10/28/02, Greydon John 2/18/05

wine_o_girlie
Me: 28
DH: 32

Winter Biscuit
Me: Winter Biscuit, 32
DH: DH, 35
Any other children: DD born 12/17/03

zhannushka
Me: Zhanna, 28
DH: Mark, 30
Any other children: Just our furbaby, Malish

[January2007Mommies]

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***December 6th, 2006
Isabella (richards2)

***December 30th, 2006
Reese Katherine (IndianaBride)

***January 4th, 2007
Gretchen Sofia (amberwaves)
6 lbs. 12 oz
20 inches
Born at 12:50 p.m.

Charlotte (katmg)
7 lbs
19 inches

***January 5th, 2007
Lydia Grace (thechick79)
6 lbs 11 oz
19 3/4 inches
Born at 1:17am

Megan Elizabeth (Alegna)
6 lbs 7 oz
19 3/4 inches
Born at 5:21 am

***January 8th, 2007
Carter Lloyd (GardenGirl)
6 lbs 9 oz
20 inches
Born at 7:08 pm

***January 10th, 2007
Joseph Eduard (zhannushka)
8 lbs 9 oz
21.5 inches
Born at 12:44 am

Ayla (purple orchids)
Born at 2:56 am

***January 12th, 2007
Owen Michael (jilly)
7lb 13oz
20.5 inches
Born at 8:11 am

Malcolm (la_bride_2004)
5 lbs, 14 oz
18 inches
Born at 10:39 p.m

***January 14th, 2007
Jaden James Alexander (amwilson)
8lb 9oz
21 inches

Jack (quest)

***January 17th, 2007
Brady (jmvan74)
7lb 14oz
21 inches

Lee Edward (Elenna)
6lbs 7.25 oz
19 inches
Born at 10:27 am

***January 19th, 2007
Alexander Thomas (usafwife)
7 lbs 6 oz
19 1/4 inches
Born at 1:39 pm

***January 20th, 2007
Griffin Todd (wine_o_girlie)
7 lb 3 oz
Born at 2:24 pm

***January 22nd, 2007
Rogan Irey (wagsgirl)
8 lbs 12oz
21.5 inches
Born at 12:16 pm

***January 23rd, 2007
Allison Grace (Winter Biscuit)
7 lbs .08 ounces
20.25 inches
Born at 10:27 am

***January 24th, 2007
Abigail Grace (mommydearest)
6 lbs 7 oz
20 inches long
Born at 1:21 pm

Asher Noah (NYLACHI)
7 lbs 15 oz
Born at 8:21 am

***January 26th, 2007
Ethan George (magdesilver)
Born at 8:21 am

LJ (robyn)
7 lbs 6 oz
19.75 inches
Born at 9:35 pm

Gabriel Marcus (gmooter)
8 lbs 11oz
22 1/4 inches
Born at 1:38 pm

***January 30th, 2007
Lily June (ggclark)
5lbs 10 oz
19 inches
Born at 4:28 am

***February 1st, 2007
Julia Morgan (ButterflyJen)
5 lbs 11 oz
18 1/2 inches
Born at 4:35 pm

***February 3rd, 2007
Daphne Nicole (lindzgirl)
7 lbs 7oz
21 3/4 inches

***February 6th, 2007
Kaitlyn Isabelle (Lucy Van Pelt)
8 lbs 5 oz
21.5 inches
Born at 11:34 pm

Charlotte Ila (DansGirl)
7 lbs 8.5 oz
21 inches

[January2007Mommies]

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[January2007Mommies]

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[GardenGirl]

Just coming in to subscribe - so I will stop posting in the other one.

It's hot here, I think we might go to the pool this afternoon.

Thanks for opening the thread Zhanna.

[zhannushka]

No problem, Tera! I'm sorry it took so long... :o Have fun at the pool! :D

[katmg]

Yay for a new thread! Thanks zhanna!

[jmvan74]

Thanks Zhanna!

[ggclark]

Thanks for posting the new thread...

Here is my most up to date information... in red :) Since i am sort of new to the site and missed all the info in the beginning.. here it is now!

Username:ggclark
Me: G, 27
DH: J, 30
EDD/Actual Birth Date: EDD Feb 6/Actual Jan 30
Predicted/Actual Gender:Girl
Baby's Name: Lily June
Any other children:Not yet
Lily was 5lbs 10 oz, 19 inches, born at 4:28 am

[lindzgirl]

Here is my updated info in red as well.

username: lindzgirl
Me:25
DH:23
EDD:1/19/07
Actual Birthdate:2/3/07
Baby Girl: Daphne Nicole
Prediction: Baby girl
Birthweight: 7LBS 7OZ
21 3/4 inches long

Thanks Zhanna!

[January2007Mommies]

UPDATED TO HERE

[mommydearest]

QOTD 1: This is mostly for ROs, but do you have a gate at the top of your stairs that you like? I went to BRU and there were a bunch of choices in the $50-$100 range. DH doesn't want to spend that much money without trying one out, but our BRU stopped having them out of the box.

QOTD 2: Did those of you still nursing buy new nipples for your bottles since the baby has gotten older? I use Dr. Browns and hadn't bothered but my mom told me it took DD 20 minutes to drink 4 oz.

QOTD 3: Did you buy new binkies? DD is still using the 0-3 month at bedtime only and I'm not sure if I should upgrade to 6+ month ones.

[wagsgirl]

QOTD 1-I can't be of much help. We have one gate but it's at the entrance to our kitchen, not at the stairs...

QOTD 2-We use Avent bottles (rarely) and I switched out the newborn ones to the next size up. I've heard for BF'd babies, it's ok to keep the slower nipples because they're used to it being out of the boob (a bit slower than a bottle).

QOTD 3- I still use the little binkies. Haven't moved up yet. He still seems happy with the other ones. But I do have some new ones bought and "in waiting" ;)

[zhannushka]

QOTD 1 - We haven't bought any gates yet, so - I can't be of any help here unfortunately.

QOTD 2 - I pump and bottlefeed - we went up once, when DS was around 3 months old - from the slow flow to the medium flow size. He's doing very well with medium flow, so - I don't anticipate having to upgrade to the fast flow nipples.

QOTD 3 - We are now using all 6+ months binkies. The little ones were becoming too small for him - he kept spitting them out and getting upset.

[gmooter]

Just subscribing for now!!

[katmg]

QOTD 3: Just bought some 6 mo+ pacifiers and need to sterilize them. I'm trying to be less reliant on them. I haven't decided where I want to restrict their use to. I'm thinking, for now: crib, pack n play, car. No more pacifier at the store or playing on the ground, etc.

[ggclark]

Changed my picture/avatar... :) Something more recent.

[zhannushka]

Changed my picture/avatar... :) Something more recent.
Awww! She's adorable! :)

[Alegna]

Thanks for the new thread Zhanna. :p

Q1 ~ We've got a few gates we use for the dog. But we just lean it up against the door frame for her. Haven't bothered to mount anything for Megan yet.

Q2 ~ We use Avent bottles and I went up to the faster flow nipples a week or so ago. Daycare mentioned it was taking Megan a while to finish and she was getting very frustrated. But she only gets 2 bottles a day so I'm not worried about it affecting my nursing relationship. Althought I did get bit yesterday! Not sure if the faster nipples have anything to do with that or not. But I'm definatley keeping my eye out!

Q3 ~ I bought some new pacis too. A few of her 0-3 month ones got wierd. I don't know if water got inside when I washed them or what. But it was gross. She doesn't use them all that much. She doesn't really have a preference.

[GardenGirl]

Yikes - I can't believe Carter is 7 months today. I'm in denial.

QOTD #1 - we don't use any gates, so I'm no help there.
QOTD #2 - and we don't use bottles, so again no help.
QOTD #3 - I tried to give him the 3-6 month size and it was much larger than the 0-3 and he spit it out. So I just bought more 0-3, and the 0-6 Avents are the same size, so we have a few of those. He only uses them in the middle of the night and naptimes when I need him to calm down. Sometimes he'll get them in the car if he's frustrated and lonely.

We're still working on sleep over here. He's put himself to sleep the last couple days but it takes at least 45 minutes. I have to stay in there and I pat him at the first sign of frustration (he tail spins fast if I don't). But one little quick pat and he's okay. But I just sit out of sight and read a book while he plays. I think the success at night should help the naps. He's been a bear to put down for naps lately. He used to be easy.

DH hasn't been feeling well the last 3 days. He has a fever and is achy, but no other symptoms. He agreed to a doctor visit. I feel bad for him, but I also need him well. I can't take care of him and Carter in the evenings, it's tough. Props go to the mothers and/or fathers that do it by themselves.

[Winter Biscuit]

QOTD 1: We have 2 gates (from DD#1) , but haven't gotten them out yet. Both of them are similar to this one: http://www.toysrus.com/product/index.jsp?productId=2267000&cp=2255984.2256222&parentPage=family I like that they fit "normal" doorways, as well as wide doorways. Not sure what we're going to do about the stairs or if I'll be able to use one of those gates on our stairs.

QOTD 2: We use Avent bottles with size 2 nipples. I have the next size nipples (size 3), but haven't felt the need to switch. Allie's caregivers at daycare say that she is doing just fine with the size 2's - it takes her 15 minutes to drink 7 oz of EBM, which they are comfortable with. FWIW, DD#1 stayed with size 2 or 3 nipples her entire first year of life, until she permanently switched to a cup. It was never an issue for us to make sure her bottle nipple size kept up with her age.

QOTD 3: We switched to pacis in size 6+ months about a month or so ago. One of my friends and her husband are both dentists, and they noticed that we were still using the big ol' green Soothie that we got from the hospital when Allison was 5 months old. Being a dentist, my friend couldn't help telling me that I need to switch to an orthodontic paci. She even pointed out the "damage" that was occurring in Allison's mouth due to using a paci :rolleyes: I more or less dismissed her warnings at first, but admit that about a week later, I was at the store and felt guilt tripped into buying new pacis that are designed for babies 6+ months. Allison hated her new pacis at first (and I didn't dare throw out the green Soothies just in case) but within a day or two she was just fine, and I tossed all the green Soothies out. We can now switch between a few different brands of orthodontic pacis with no problems whatsoever.

[quest]

Just subscribing and posting updated info:

Me: quest, age 40
DH: age 43
Actual Birth Date: 1/14/07
Predicted/Actual Gender: Boy!
Baby's Name: Jack
Any other children: DD, 10/03

qotd: gates...we never really needed a gate for DD (she didn't crawl and was a late walker, and by then she just listened really well if we told her 'no' ;)) but I have the feeling DS is going to be a different story. We NEED something to fit at the top of our stairs but so far everything we've tried doesn't work. We're going to need to figure out something sooner rather than later, though!

qotd: nipple size...we're still on 'medium flow'...I tried the faster flow a few weeks ago because DS was collapsing the nipples but he was really po'd about them...I tried a few times but he just hated them. So I bought more medium flow and he's happy. But I still think he needs the bigger size so I'll give it a shot one more time.

new qotd: I think this was touched on a little bit ago...but if you use the mesh feeder, what have you had success putting in it? I bought one last week and still haven't tried it. I got it because DS LOVES the biter biscuits but got a huge chunk off it within seconds the first time he had one...DD never did that! So knowing how he liked the idea of that I thought he'd like the mesh feeder. DS doesn't like bananas, so other than that what works well in it?

[wagsgirl]

QOTD-I've never used a mesh feeder with any of my kids, so I don't know anything about them really...

Update info. As of today, I'm now 31...:o

[la_bride_2004]

Hi ladies! Yaay for a new thread!!

My updates:

Username: la_bride_2004
Me: 34
DH: 38
EDD/Actual Birth Date: 02/14/07, scheduled c-section 2/06/07, actual birth date 01/12/07
Predicted/Actual Gender: boy/boy
Baby's Name: Malcolm
Any other children: 2 furbabies




QOTD #1: We already had baby gates up for the dogs! I'll have to look to see what brand they are.

QOTD #2: He's on #2 nipples, I just moved him up. He doesn't like it to come out fast, so I'll probably keep the same for a while.

QOTD #3: He doesn't like pacifiers! He has a silkie blankie he chews on.

Mesh feeders Haven't tried these yet. If I do, I think I would put some apple or sliced pear in them. We're moving very slowly on solids.

[Elenna]

wagsgirl: Happy Birthday!

Threadmistress, can you update my age to 32?

QOTDs 1,2,3: We don't use gates, bottles, or pacifiers so I'm no help on these. Sorry.

QOTD:mesh feeders: We haven't used these. Though, I have been looking in to getting some. There is a whole threadhere (http://www.constantchatter.com/forum/showthread.php?t=35311) about what people are putting in theirs. I'm totally paranoid when I give DS a biter biscuit. I'm constantly pulling the biscuit (and his whole hand with it) out of his mouth to check to see if any parts of the biscuit are coming loose or have broken off.:rolleyes:

DS is getting much better in his swim lessons. He hasn't cried in any of the subsequent lessons. The only time he cries, now, is when we shower before and after the pool. Yesterday he started splashing and laughing as soon as we got into the pool. He doesn't like floating on his back. He raises his head and legs up out of the water. But the instructor thinks by the end of the class DS will be floating.:)

[katmg]

No mesh feeders here.

Swim lessons - We started swim lessons this week. Charlotte LOVES the water!! She is such a little fishy - she really tries to swim when I put her on her belly. Floating is not as much fun - I think mainly because the sun gets in her eyes. The best part is that it wears her little hiney out! She gets great naps when we get home. :D

[quest]

Thanks for the thread link, Elenna! That's exactly what I needed! And actually, today I put a biter biscuit in it (had to break off a little bit so it would fit) and DS loved it! Actually, he got a little cranky when it got really mushy, but at least I didn't have to worry about him getting a big chunk off of it!

Anyone else dealing with tantrums already? I swear, DS has official 'tantrums'...first, when I walk into his bedroom and he knows I'm going to rock/feed him before nap/bedtime...he starts whining. He just knows...even if he's so tired he can't take it..he whines. Then, if he's REALLY tired (if I missed my 'window' of getting him down easily) he completely arches his back and throws his head back and just basically won't have any part of his bottle, me holding him, anything related to him ending up in his crib. And now, when he's cranky about something, he does the 'arched back/throw back his head' thing and just let's the world know he's po'd. Seriously, at 6 months? I figured that started later (once again, sweet little DD never had fits like this until much later ;)).

Oh, and thanks to zhannushka, Indiana Bride, Lucy Van Pelt and jmvan74 for this new thread!

[mommydearest]

Mesh feeder--so far we have only done bananas and they were a huge mess but she loved it.

DD is starting to put herself to bed and naps really well and every time I think we have it down, she freaks out (like now) and is screaming her fool head off. It drives DH nuts. He can't stand to hear her cry.

We definitely get tantrums if I talk on the phone more than 30 seconds, make a sandwich, go to the bathroom...anything where I walk out of the room or pay attention to something else. I'm trying not to react to them and talk calmly while she is throwing it. It is often partly my fault because they are often thrown when she is overtired.

Parenting books: Any suggestions? I'm reading I Refuse to Raise a Brat which I am enjoying. I like her basic ideas, though I disagree with a couple minor points.

I also read a good "real" book last week while DD was learning to put herself to bed and keeping me up: Good in Bed by Jennifer Weiner. Highly recommend it when you have some time. Cannie (the main character) is someone every woman can relate to.

[GardenGirl]

Anyone else dealing with tantrums already? I swear, DS has official 'tantrums'...first, when I walk into his bedroom and he knows I'm going to rock/feed him before nap/bedtime...he starts whining. He just knows...even if he's so tired he can't take it..he whines. Then, if he's REALLY tired (if I missed my 'window' of getting him down easily) he completely arches his back and throws his head back and just basically won't have any part of his bottle, me holding him, anything related to him ending up in his crib. And now, when he's cranky about something, he does the 'arched back/throw back his head' thing and just let's the world know he's po'd. Seriously, at 6 months? I figured that started later (once again, sweet little DD never had fits like this until much later ;)).


Umm yeah - you couldn't have described some of our nights any better. I know he's hungry, but he knows he's about to go to bed so he refuses to nurse. It's ridiculous. I just have to be patient. It's taking me on average 45 minutes to get him to fall asleep. But we are making improvements.

I think I've decided to drop his last nap. Monday he didn't get his 5:00 cat nap and he slept for 9 hours (well, after he woke up 30 minutes after going to sleep, but it was 4 hours). Then Tuesday he did get a nap and he was up 4 hours later. Then yesterday he didn't get a nap and slept until 4:30 and went right back to sleep until 7:30. So today I toughed out some fussiness and didn't let him nap. Here's hoping I might have found a solution to STTN ...

Wagsgirl - Happy second anniversary of your 29th birthday (that's how we celebrate in our house).

Mesh feeders - we love ours. We put peaches, nectarines, bananas, and ice cubes in them. He likes the ice instead of teethers. I'd try apples and pears, but they are a little hard for him to bite/chew on for now.

Crap, I just looked out my window and saw I left the water on in the front yard. We've had almost 3 solid months of rain and this week none, so I'm having to water athe lawn nd I just haven't done it so long that I don't think to move the sprinkler. Yikes.

[mommydearest]

Rain??? What's that??? I've forgotten.

[zhannushka]

Tonya - Happy Birthday! :D

Kristen - I read this book a few years ago - LOVED IT! :)

[ggclark]

I need help.. I don't know what happened... over the last 2-3 weeks Lily has been getting up at 5 AM... and she is awake and ready to go... happy and all- she doesn't wake up tired. I should give you some history...since 3 months she would sleep from 7-6:30... always been a good sleeper (I am grateful for that). I don't go get her at 5... she sits in there for a good hour, playing... screaming (happily) and she wakes up the whole house. I always hope she will fall back to sleep, but no chance. She is then tired really early in the morning after being up.

Is this is a phase? Is this a sign that something else in her daily routine (ie naps) needs to be adjusted?

She currently naps 3 times a day... around 8, 11:30ish (both a good hour or an hour and a half) and then a 45 minute nap at like 3:30ish.

I don't know... it's just frustrating.

Any ideas?

[January2007Mommies]

UPDATED TO HERE

[Lucy Van Pelt]

Oh my goodness - I am so far behind!! Katie had her 6 month WBV today. Her stats:
Weight is 18 pounds, 10.5 ounces (90%)
Height is 26 inches (50%)
Head is 17.5 inches (90%)

She is really secure in sitting now and rarely topples over. She has started to scoot a bit more across the floor - yikers!

She is well started on solids (yeah, we a re a bit behind most of you since she was a late arrival!). She has really liked everything she has tried so far (sweet potatoes, peas, peaches) and I am looking forward to seeing her reaction to everything else. We haven't tried a mesh feeder. Maybe I will pick one up next time I am at Target.

I am afraid my nursing days are coming to an end. I calculated the money I am currently spending on medications to keep my supply and right now my breast milk is costing me about $4 an ounce to produce and I just can't afford to keep paying for all the medication. However, I have horrible guilt about stopping so I may give in and keep spending the money. *sigh*

[jmvan74]

mesh feeder: Brady loves it. He's had banana, peach, avacado, plum, and grapes in it.

ginger: Sorry BFing is so expensive for you. You need to do what is best for you and your family. You shouldn't feel guilty if you need to wean. You made it a lot longer than many women do. *HUGS*
Great pics.

Kristen: I'm actually reading a Jennifer Weiner book now, "The Guy Not Taken." It's a collection of short stories. It's pretty good, but not as good as "Little Earthquakes," by the same author. ;)

Tera: I couldn't help but laugh at your dream from the previous thread. I could just picture you arguing w/ the person who cut Carter's hair. LOL!

ggclark: Unfortunately, you may just have an early riser. Her schedule looks good. If she'll play for an hour, I'd just let her be.
Brady wakes between 6am and 6:30, but I don't take him out of his crib until closer to 7am. He takes his first nap between 8 and 9. It's normal for this age to take a first nap soon after getting up. Sorry I don't have any advice.

[Alegna]

mesh feeder ~ haven't tried it yet. I need to get to the grocery store and buy some stuff to put in it. :)

I think we've turned a corner with solids. I don't know if it just took her a while to get used to the idea of something with flavor or what. But she has eaten peaches, squash and peas without any complaints. I'll have to go back to retry the green beans, applesauce and sweet potatoes. Maybe she'll eat them now.

I picked up some more food at Target today. I used the web coupon for $1 off two Gerber foods. I figure it was basically buy one get on free. I got the 2nd foods. Well try the combo foods once we've gotten through all the singal ingredients. Someday I might get adventurous and make some of her food.

Megan has been going down around 8pm and waking at midnight for food and then she's back down till 6:30am. She eats and plays for an hour so so and then is back to sleep till about 9am. We've got to leave the house around 10am so I can get to work by 11am. The schedual is working well for now. I'm not sure how it's going to work in Janurary when I go back to work full time. I guess she'll just have to take that early nap at daycare. She just hasn't been napping well at daycare lately. I think there is too much going on and she doesn't want to miss out.

I think she's working on tooth #3. She's really been chewing on her upper right side. I don't see anything yet, and if I try and stick my finger in there she bites me with the lower teeth.

We took her to the pool for the first time last night. The tot pool was a lot colder than the adult section. We almost left before trying out the adult side. Megan was just shivering in the tot pool. But we did get a few pictures. Please ignore me....focus on the baby. :)

http://i62.photobucket.com/albums/h83/baby01_2007/IMG_4364.jpg
http://i62.photobucket.com/albums/h83/baby01_2007/IMG_4368.jpg

[Elenna]

alegna: I buy DS's baby food at Target, too. They have a bigger selection and better prices than my local grocery store. Very cute pictures. Was she splashing in the fountain?

ginger: You've done a great job being able to breastfeed her this long. Nice pictures.

gardengirl: I wish we could have some of your rain.

mesh feeder: I bought two mesh feeders yesterday after DS bit a big chunk off his biter biscuit and I had to fish it out of his mouth. I was so terrified he'd try to swallow it while I was trying to get it out of his mouth.
I bought some frozen mangos to put in them. I hope it is ok to feed him already frozen fruit. I, also, chopped up some bananas and put them in the freezer to put in his feeder.

organic solids: Is anyone else feeding their DC only organic foods? I've only been buying organic fruits and veggies, jarred baby foods, and biter biscuits. DH isn't sold on the organics, but I feel better not having to worry about pesticides.

standing up: DS started pulling himself up to standing from sitting yesterday. It is exciting that he's doing that, but I was really hoping he'd crawl first.

[Alegna]

Was she splashing in the fountain?

She wasn't sure what was going on. She was trying to grab the water. But since she was cold she wasn't have very much fun. Maybe next time.

[robyn]

I'm behind and it's hard to catch up! I love seeing all the cute babies, though. We have a very good looking group! :)

mesh feeder: We have one, but honestly, I'm afraid of the mess! Per my ped's suggestion we've gone back to veggies and cereal only (we had tried a couple of fruits) and I'm not sure what veggies, other than sweet potato, could be done in a feeder. Maybe I'll wait a few more weeks and try some fruits.

pacifier - Strangely, DS has taken the 6+ month pacifier from about 4 weeks. He never cared for the smaller ones. I was previously limiting the paci to the crib, car or when we were in public and didn't want to cause a scene. ;) But lately he's been a bit of a bear and I've slacked and allowed him to use it during playtime and such. Otherwise he was screaming if he wasn't held, and I had to be able to get a few things done!

organics - We've done all organic so far. I use the Earth's Best cereals, and jarred foods. Along with the Happy Baby frozen foods. I'm not always a stickler for organic/natural stuff, but I figured when I have the choice in front of me ... why not? I feel a tiny bit better about the organic foods and figure DS has the rest of his life to consume other crap ... might as well be as good as possible while he doesn't know any better.

standing - DS has been pulling up to standing in his crib for about 2 weeks now. Thank goodness we lowered it on a whim shortly before that! Now he tries to pull up on everything. It's tiring watching over him like a hawk since we don't have much of anything safe to stand up on. I went out and bought a FP activity table so that he would have a safe standing toy. He loves it!

http://i20.photobucket.com/albums/b210/robynld/C5522_b_1.jpg

We FINALLY had our first ever pro pics done. I spotted pics from another CCer who I was pretty sure lived in our area and she was kind enough to refer me to her photographer. She was great! My son, however, was not the greatest subject. He is normally so smiley, but he's been so cranky lately (teething?) and seemed confused by seeing someone other than me behind the camera. Oh well ... she posted a couple of cute previews on her blog. Hopefully she has more good shots to come!

http://i20.photobucket.com/albums/b210/robynld/DSC_1669bw.jpg

http://i20.photobucket.com/albums/b210/robynld/DSC_1545.jpg

[wagsgirl]

I have no advice for sleeping/naps. Rogan's not the best sleeper ever. It could be worse, but it could DEFINITELY bet better...

Thanks for the bday wishes gals! It was a great birthday. My DH gave me cash, so I went out and bought this pretty little thing...YAY!
http://i4.photobucket.com/albums/y148/wagsgirl/10986_SKHTO_t.jpg?t=1186976607

I had Rogan's 6 month pics taken a week or so ago. I was a bit behind

This one is my fave:
http://i4.photobucket.com/albums/y148/wagsgirl/0c309542-41ec-11dc-a42a-0016764b3ec.jpg?t=1186976041
http://i4.photobucket.com/albums/y148/wagsgirl/b9c94e8c-41eb-11dc-a42a-0016764b3ec.jpg?t=1186976164
http://i4.photobucket.com/albums/y148/wagsgirl/rogan6.4.jpg?t=1186976215
http://i4.photobucket.com/albums/y148/wagsgirl/rogan6.13.jpg?t=1186976243
http://i4.photobucket.com/albums/y148/wagsgirl/rogan6.19.jpg?t=1186976279

[ggclark]

My baby just started daycare today... first time ever!! I am a teacher, so I go back to work on Wednesday. We started her today to get used to it before I went back. This is the first time I am leaving her-- I have been home since she was born. I am so upset today.. crying all over the place. Tell me this gets better.

To make matters worse, the daycare wasn't ready for her today.. (even though she was signed up and her start date was set for weeks). The girls had to scramble around to figure out which crib was going to be hers and all. I gave them attitude about it b/c I wasn't leaving until I knew she was all set.

In the meantime, we have been searching for a SAHM in the area that could watch her at her home... more one on one attention, but haven't had any luck thus far.. so we are in a daycare center for now.

I hate this.

[mommydearest]

ggclark--This is the part of teaching that I hate. We started last Thursday. It is so hard to leave her in the morning!

[ggclark]

mommydearest- thank you for that! I know... as a teacher, you get all used to being home...

More on the daycare: We pulled her from the daycare center after only one day. I didn't like what was going on ... they just disregarded my schedule, requests and did their own thing... which resulted in Lily not sleeping ALL day and she cryed most of the day they said. She was all bloodshot and miserable when I picked her up. I don't think the daycare "center" type place is for us. So... I searched high and low yesterday... begged and finally we found a nice woman that watches kids in her house... I am hoping this is a good fit. I go back to work tomorrow.. so the trial days are over... I need peace of mind now!

[mommydearest]

ggclark- Sorry this is ramble-y.

You posted that at a good time. I love that my mom is watching DD. However, if I leave school at 4:30 (which I have to kill myself to do since the kids leave at 3:55 and I have to pump, and get any other phone calls/email/issues taken care of and that is not even including tutoring any kids after school), then I get to her house at 5:30, get Abby packed up, and am getting home each day at 6:15.

I then nurse DD, then feed her solids, then make dinner for us and it is 7:15 or 7:30 before we can do anything, and DD crashes and burns at 8:15/8:30. Not being able to go anywhere or do anything in the evenings is driving me nuts, plus spending 90 minutes in the car in rush hour traffic before I get home when my school is only 25 minutes from MY house adds to the frustration. And, my poor mom is also caring for my grandparents, so she is pretty stressed getting everyone taken care of. But I know that DD is getting good care from a nurse who has raised many great kids and done daycare for years, plus she has a vested interested since she's grandma.

I was considering looking at a couple centers near where I work so that I could spend more quality time with Abby instead of so much time in the car. But hearing what you said confirmed every fear I have about a center with an inconsistent staff who want to follow their schedule, not DDs, and ignore my requests. I would have been livid in your situation. I hope you got any deposits and money back.

So, I am very sorry that you had to deal with that terrible situation. But I am glad you posted it because it makes me not so anxious to find a place and more able to tolerate all the traffic.

[ggclark]

Mommydearest.. and all really:

If you can find family and/or yourself to care for your children... do it! I tell you, I would give anything to be able to stay home, even a few days a week... mommydearest- I think if your mom can handle it all, to keep Abby with grandma! I am glad my story could help you!!! It is tough to be on the go and rushing around so much, I know, but the alternative may or may not be any better. Lily was soooo miserable at daycare.. actually, so was I. But some ppl love it though. My advice is, if you do find a center and go that route... find one that has a small amount of kids (ours had 16 in one room) and a seperate NAP area or room. This one was one big great room... and it was bright and loud for the babies to sleep. I just didn't have a good gut feeling about it the moment I dropped her off, you know?!

[Lucy Van Pelt]

I really feel for you gals that are having to go back to work. I can't imagine leaving Katie.

So today at around 11:45am I got a call from the portrait studio at JC Penneys. They are having a special fantasy fairy sitting and wanted to know if I could bring Katie over to "model" for their promotional display! I had an hour and a half to get both of us ready and headed over to the mall. Well, what a disaster that was. Katie was a mess. She screamed and screamed and then screamed some more. She was ok until they put her wings on. They are looped around her arms and she didn't like that at all! We finally were able to get her calmed down enough to get some pictures, but I think we have been crossed off their list of models...LOL I don't think any of you are in the SF Bay Area, but if you are, check out your local Penneys Portrait Studio and you will see Miss Katie in her little pink fairy princess outfit!

I got Katie home and discovered what may have been the major problem...her first tooth is showing!!

[zhannushka]

ggclark - So sorry about the daycare problems... :( I hope that the in-home place will work out great for you and Lily!

Ginger - YAY for the first tooth! :D We just got our first one last week - Joseph was super cranky for about 2 days prior... He's kind of getting this way again now, so - I think he may be getting another one... :rolleyes:

Joseph is all into sitting nowadays. Ever since he learned how to sit up and stay there all by himself, that's all that he wants to do! The second I lay him down in his crib or PnP - he sits up, smiling very proudly! ;) Once, he woke up in the middle of the night to practice his sitting up skill. I woke up because he was talking to himself (it was around 4 am) - all I could do was laugh, it was too funny! :)

Well, I decided that it's time for me to go back to work. Not that I don't enjoy my little man and not that I don't love being with him, but - I feel like I need some adult time and I actually miss working... So, I've been sending out my resume and interviewing here and there. I am looking for something very specific (job-wise, location-wise and pay-wise), so - until I find that perfect combination, I won't settle for anything else.

I do know which daycare he will be going to whenever I go back to work - it's about an hour drive from home, but right around the corner from my parents' house. It's also in the area where we'll be looking to buy a house as soon as we finally sell our condo. So, I'm looking for a job in that specific location now.

I spoke with the daycare owner yesterday and DH and I have an appointment with her in 3 weeks. We'll go over all the details and give her a security deposit, which will guarantee Joseph's spot in the infant group, whenever we're ready. My good friend's son has been in this daycare center since he was 3 months old (he's 1 year old now) and she LOVES them. Since he started there, 2 of our mutual friends have brought their babies to the same place and they both love it as well. So - I am actually very excited about this! :)

[wagsgirl]

Ginger- I thought I recognized Kaitlyn. On the Jan07 board on LJ! I just read that story and did a double take. I'd just read it on LJ, too :)

[Lucy Van Pelt]

How funny - I didn't know you were a member of the LJ group too!

Quick question - How much is everyone eating these days? Katie gets solids twice a day - late morning and then for dinner. Usually I mix whatever "solids" she is getting with cereal. She will eat a whole serving of the fruit/vegetable AND about an equal amount of cereal. It just seems like she is eating too much! Tonight she ate a whole serving of carrots and about that much rice cereal and was still crying and wanting more when she finished it. She's already in the 90 percentile in her weight. I don't need her going off the charts! :eek:

[katmg]

Sleeping - We started using DD's FP aquarium in her crib more. Well, she has now learned how to turn it on herself!! I came in to her room at nap time and she was having a little party in her crib. She had the Aquarium on and two pacifiers in her mouth! I ran to get the camera but wasn't fast enough to catch her with both pacifiers in her mouth.

http://i108.photobucket.com/albums/n33/katgalpin/Charlotte/CharlotteAugust030.jpg

I've also heard the Aquarium going at 2 am. We're never going to leave this one home alone when she's a teenager - she'll have a party! ;)

Solids - Still not great about having a regular schedule for solids. I think she would eat more than I'm giving her but she doesn't seem to "demand" it or get fussy. I need to get on a regular schedule of eating at least 2x a day.

Creeping - I think DD creeped yesterday. Isn't creeping like crawling but they don't hold their bellies up? Anyway, I think she creeped a bit trying to get under her crib to the rubbermaid storage containers. :rolleyes: Why am I worried about toy recalls - she doesn't want toys, she wants to play with the crib base, or the ottoman, or the doggie furballs under the sofa. :rolleyes:

[zhannushka]

katmg - We have the FP Aquarium as well - sometimes DS turns it on in his sleep by kicking the blue shell button with his foot. It used to freak me out, since I couldn't understand how is it that the music is on if the baby is sleeping, but then I saw him do it in his sleep once... :)

solids: DS eats 4 times a day. I mix some oatmeal, rice or buckwheat cereal into his morning and night bottles. His "lunch" consists of 4 oz of yogurt and 4-5 oz EBM. His dinner is 4-5 oz homemade soup (chicken and veggies) pureed and 2-3 oz of fruit, followed by 4 oz of apple juice.

[mommydearest]

Solids Breakfast is pears or peaches and rice cereal, Lunch is 1/2 to full jar of chicken, full jar of veggies, half jar of fruit, Dinner is full jar of chicken, full jar of veggies, and maybe some fruit if she's still begging for more. She also gets nursed at 2 and 6 am, bottle at 9:30 nap, bottle at 4 pm, nursed at 6, and 8:30pm. So, 7 milk sessions and 3 solids meals.

FP Aquarium I hated this thing because she used to wake up by up kicking it in the middle of the night, esp. the red thing. Now that we lowered her crib all the way, she can't turn it on herself anymore and it isn't used much

Creeping Abby is mostly creeping backwards. She hasn't really figured out forwards yet and when she tries to go front, she goes back. She can move herself around in a circle though.

Crib height I feel really dumb that I didn't figure it out earlier. I always hit her feet on the rail and startled her when putting her to bed. Duh. If you put the mattress down all the way, you can leave the rail down too. I can't believe it took me 6 months to figure this out. Bedtimes are dramatically better. It also doesn't hurt that g'ma rocks her 5 minutes and puts her down completely awake during the day so after about a week and a half, she's finally learned to put herself to sleep.

[ggclark]

Lily starts monday with her new daycare! I am hoping for the best!

Solids: we have lunch and dinner... no breakfast yet. Our ped said b/c lily is not a big eater in the am, that we should stick with just the milk for now and when she is ready to finger feed, we could do cheerios or something like that for breakfast. For now, we do one jar of fruit for lunch and one jar of veggies for dinner. I took a break from the oatmeal for a while... if felt like we had so much of it! So we have 2 solid meals and 4 bottles each day

Crib: When did you all lower the crib to the lowest level? I am going to this weekend.. we have had it up this whole time and this morning's nap, I found her climbing up to the mobile.. so it's time!!!

Crawling: not yet... but she rolls all over the house and the poor thing occasionally bumps her head on stuff.. the sad lip comes out! breaks my heart.

katmg- ADORABLE she is!!!!

[GardenGirl]

Well we did it – Carter finally got his (much needed) first haircut. He looks like a little boy now (not so much like a girl :)).

Here's the before... To be fair, I purposefully fluffed his hair up so you can see how long it had gotten. I would never let him leave the house like that.
http://i78.photobucket.com/albums/j99/terashelton/CartersFirstHaircut008.jpg

Here's the some of the missing hair. She took off more but this is what she kept for me to put in his baby book. Actually, it was really great – they put it in a plastic envelope and attached it to a certificate with his name and the date of his first haircut, it was nice...
http://i78.photobucket.com/albums/j99/terashelton/CartersFirstHaircut020.jpg
Here's the after, he was a happy boy during the whole thing.
http://i78.photobucket.com/albums/j99/terashelton/CartersFirstHaircut028.jpg

Solids - I'm not very consistent. He doesn't like to eat much at breakfast so unless we are going out for breakfast he just nurses. If we go out for a bagel or brunch or something, I'll bring cereal so he has something to eat in his hairchair while we eat. If I feed him he'll get 2-3 ounces of fruit for lunch. If my mom feeds him she gives him a whole jar of food. Then at dinner he gets about 4 ounces of veggies. We have cereal every now and then, but he's prone to constipation so if he gets some it's only 1 or 2 ounces and then I cut back on the fruit/veggie. I think I should start feeding him a little more now. I've just been selfish with the breastfeeding.

[robyn]

Tera - that is the cutest haircut!! I am LOL at the "before" picture. Where did you take him? DS needs a little trim and I had done it a couple of times before when he was tiny (he had a mullet and I couldn't stand it) ... but now he is so darn wiggly that I can't even imagine him sitting still for a haircut. How do they do it?

- - - -

Solids - We nurse 6 times a day (including the 3-4am feeding) and try to get in two solid meals. I always do dinner, which is cereal mixed with about 1.5 oz BM and then usually a jar of veggies and we've been adding in fruit as well. Tonight we did oatmeal, avocado and then pears mixed with rice (since the pears seemed way too thin). I will do either breakfast or lunch, which is usually a jar and a half of veggies, or the homemade equivalent. Not sure when we will go up to three meals a day. I find it hard to work it into our schedule!

[Winter Biscuit]

ggclark - good luck with the new daycare tomorrow! The first place you described sounded horrible. Both of my girls have been in center-based care since they were 12 weeks, and I cannot imagine a center operating like that, especially in an infant room. ALWAYS trust your gut! I feel fortunate that we've had nothing but good experiences with our centers. I spent a LOT of time researching all our options and I will never forget visiting a few places during my search where I just knew that it was NOT the right place for my child. Never underestimate your gut feeling - it's usually right! I sincerely hope that the new place tomorrow is 110 times better than the first place! Keep us updated.

GardenGirl - love the haircut! But hey, send some of that hair our way - Allison is still such a baldie, she could use some of it :)

Solids -- Allison gets three (3) 7-oz bottles of EBM at daycare, and they also give her a bowl of oatmeal cereal. I nurse her in the morning, and usually nurse her another 2 to 3 times between the time I pick her up and the time she goes to bed. She is still waking up once in the middle of the night to nurse, as well. She only gets 1 jar of veggies or fruit for dinner. Yeah, we're taking the solids slow ;) and we're pretty inconsistent, too. Really, she isn't showing that much interest in them, so I'm not pushing it. She likes what we give her, but she's content with our feeding routine now. And most importantly, she's thriving and growing just fine. I'm following her cues and will gradually increase her solids intake.

Teeth - none yet!

Crawling - not yet, but she scoots forward on her belly all the time. (Not sure if that is what some of you are referring to as creeping? We might be talking about the same thing!) We can place toys in front of her, and she'll scoot on her belly until she can reach/grab the toy. She has scoot backwards on her back just once (that we've seen) - but put her on her tummy, and she's boot-scootin' all over! Today she got up on all 4's and rocked a few times. She wants to move - it's just a matter of figuring out how. I think she's getting close. She's been moving around in circles for a while now. Just needs to figure out how to get up on all 4's and then crawl!

[jmvan74]

FP aquarium: LOVE IT! We have the old version and Brady loves it. I turn it on everytime i put him down and he goes right out. He can sits up and turns it on in the morning and entertains himself. (our crib is lowered all the way, so he can't kick it in his sleep).

Tera; Carter's cut looks adorable. Brady really needs a good cut, but I just can't do it. :(

solids: Brady is just not all that interested. He usually gets 1-2 tbs of oatmeal and a piece of fruit in the mesh feeder for breakfast or lunch and then 1 4oz jar for dinner. He's starting to get the hang of the sippy cup, but still only takes 1-2 oz from it. Still BF's like a maniac. :rolleyes:

Crib: We lowered it a few weeks ago. As soon as Brady was sitting and moving. Now he is trying to pull himself up to standing. So far, he just makes it to his knees. :p

crawling: he's still got the army crawl/creeping going on, but man he is soooo fast!

teeth: I think I felt a little point coming through, but he won't let me get a good feel. I really would like the teeth to stay away until he is weaned! uggh.

[GardenGirl]

Haircut - thanks for the sweet comments. I was really nervous at first, but in the end I'm glad we did it. He looks so cute and MUCH less like a girl! Robyn, we went to Little Lords & Ladies. I had called Cool Cuts 4 Kids, and when the lady answering the phone could barely speak English and said "Uh, yeah, I can cut a baby's hair" I was turned off. Then I called LL&L and they said exactly what I wanted to hear - they make the first haircut a big deal. They keep the locks, tell you to bring your camera and then give you a certificate with his name and date. It was exactly what I wanted - a great experience.

We are flying to Indianapolis on Friday to see the ILs and rest of DH's family. I'm excited for the visit, but the incredibly long list of things to bring is quite daunting. The ILs have nothing for DS (or any child for that matter) so I have to think of everything. We bought him his own seat so that opens up the # of check bags which means I can pack more things for the week.

Teeth - we are definitely working on them, his gums are swollen but I don't see the buds from the top. He is drooling a bunch - and I didn't think that was possible.

Mattress - we haven't lowered it yet, but should in the next few weeks. He isn't moving and can't put himself in a sitting position, but I would hate for him to figure that out for the first time while he's in his crib!

[Alegna]

Well, I sent food to daycare for the first time today. I had to go into work early and didn't get time to feed Megan this morning since she was still sleeping.

Wow, this kid is growing up fast........ :(

Mattress~ we haven't lowered hers yet either. She's just now getting to the point where she'll get up on her hand and knees. She rolls around a lot too. I haven't seen her try and sit up on her own yet. I think we're ok for a while. I'm not looking forward it. I'm pretty short and it's going to be hard to put her down once the mattress is lower. I don't want to drop her into bed.

[ggclark]

Lily did OK at the new babysitter... it's a nice woman who watches little ones including mine... and she has a loving environment at her home. Lily did good with her naps and she ate and seemed to have an ok day. She cried alot in the morning, but I expected that, being in a new place..

BUT to complicate the situation, I have her home on what would be her second day with the babysitter b/c she was coming down with a cold. I took her to the doctor and she has... not one, but 2 ear infections... both ears!!!!! The Dr. said it is from her teething so bad-- she is cutting the top two teeth AND the ones on the side of the top two are not far behind they said... Apparently she wasn't draining all that drool... I was sooooo upset b/c I has hoped she wouldn't need antibiotics for the first year... but there goes that!! hahaa I asked if I NEEDED them and they pretty much said it was a must... and we don't want to mess with her ears... you know? SO... the ears would also explain the insane fussiness she has had over the last several days.

A tough couple of days for my little munchkin! She is resting now and should be ok by tomorrow-- I HAVE to be at work-- its the first day of school and I am a teacher!... so let's cross our fingers!

[zhannushka]

Tera - I love Carter's haircut! What a handsome little boy! :)

ggclark - I'm sorry about Lily's ear infections. :( Hope that the antibiotics do the trick and everything clears up real soon! Glad to hear that the new daycare is working out for you!

Mattress: We just lowered ours all the way a few days ago since Joseph is all over the place now - getting up on all fours, sitting up by himself, rocking back and forth and trying to grab on to the crib rails and pull himself up (he hasn't succeeded with this yet, but I have a feeling that it won't be long until he does...)

We booked our vacation last night! I'm soooooo excited!!! We're going to South of France (Cote D'Azur) for a week in October. We have a timeshare there and have been there many times before, so - we won't be doing much sightseeing, just hanging out and relaxing... A childhood friend of mine from Russia (haven't seen her in 5 years!) is coming to meet us there - she really can't wait to meet Joseph. It should be a good time! I just can't wait! :D

I have a few job interviews scheduled in the next few weeks and an appointment at the daycare center in 2 weeks from tomorrow. I hope that we love this center just as much as my friend who recommended it to me! I love the fact that the center is right around the corner from my parents' house - that way, if I have to stay late at work, my dad could always pick Joseph up and bring him to their house (my dad makes his own work schedule, so - he's pretty much available anytime.)

[mommydearest]

ggclark Hope Lily is feeling better. Good luck with the new daycare! I hope it works out for you.

Zhanna What a fun trip! We are so excited about going to Disney in October. This summer went by too quick without a fun vacation.

Crib Abby keeps getting her legs stuck in the rails. Twice she went in sideways and then turned to her tummy, and her knee is too thick to get out. So, DH of course freaked out the time he went it and found her, and he immediately went and got this bumper (http://www.onestepahead.com/product/osa/352762.html) at BRU. It is not very padded, but has stopped the legs getting stuck and I really like it. I wasn't worried about padding since she has had no bumper for several months. It also keeps the pacifier from falling down the back of the crib. They are about $20 and worth every penny. I think at some point I'm going to have to safety pin the velcro closed because she will be able to pick at it when she's older. But it will be worth it.

[Winter Biscuit]

Mattress -- ours has been pretty low since the beginning, so even if Allison pulls herself up soon, she won't be able to fall out. This is still a long way off, but I am really hoping that she won't attempt to escape from the crib like DD#1 did. DD#1 was leaping out of her crib Superman-style when she was 18 months old. I think I'd like to keep Allison contained a little longer than DD#1 was ;)

Loveys -- anyone else using a lovey?? Allison has 2 that I have encouraged her to attach to. One is a small pink blanket, probably 12 inches by 12 inches, it's really soft. The other is one of those Carter's blanket loveys, about the same size, only it has a stuffed animal head in the middle. They really do help her fall asleep. I can lay her down in her crib and hand her the loveys. She'll roll onto her side and stroke one or both of her loveys until she falls asleep. It's almost like she needs something to hold onto while she falls asleep. DD#1 never used a lovey and I have mixed feelings about them. Part of me says - whatever helps her fall asleep and stay asleep is great! The other part of me says - we're going to get stuck dragging that lovey with us everywhere we go, and what if (God forbid) we lose it? It's kinda like the pacifier -- I have a love/hate relationship with it :) But right now it's working and she has been sleeping great, so the lovey is welcome in our home. :eek: Did I really just mention that she is sleeping great?! I probably just jinxed it....

mommydearest -- my niece was (and still is!) a very chunky baby with VERY chubby legs. She got her legs stuck in the crib rails a few times, and they had a hard time freeing them because she is such a chunk. My SIL resorted to putting her in a sleep sack every night, and that solved their leg-stuck-in-slat problem. My niece slept in a sack until she was 1. Just wanted to mention this as an alternative, although the bumpers will certainly help too. Yeah, I know what you mean about how it also prevents the pacis from getting tossed behind the crib. Those little stinkers always seem to throw them BEHIND the crib. Sometimes I'm convinced that Allison enjoys watching me get down on my hands and knees to fish her pacis out from behind the crib...it's like entertainment for her :rolleyes:

[Elenna]

loveys: We haven't used one, yet. But only because DS seems to fall asleep right away when I put a receiving blanket over him when he's being slightly fussy before falling asleep. (Not sure why that works.) We're thinking of introducing a lovey.

zhanna: That vacation sounds dreamy. We just booked our vacation to Las Vegas, to see family, this X-mas. Not as relaxing sounding as your vacation.

fp aquarium: DS loves his. He now plays with the on/off button, spinning ball that opens the clam, and lever that spins the starfish. (I think we have an older model.)

DS sat himself up yesterday! He only did it once and I hope he repeats it. He'd fallen forward onto his stomach. He put his knees under him and walked his hands backwards until he was sitting. One of his legs was bent back under him once he was sitting and I fully expected him to cry, but he figured it out and got the leg in front of him pretty quickly.

DH and I learned infant CPR in DS's swim class at the Y yesterday. I'm very happy they offered it as part of the class. We'd been wanting to learn ever since my brother had to do the heimlich on his DD a couple of months ago. (She'd swallowed a piece of a styrofoam cup his DS had thrown next to her carseat.)

[amwilson615]

I forgot to subscribe. Oops. I wondered why no one was posting. Well they were, I just wasn't getting notifications. hehehehehe.

[GardenGirl]

Loveys - my parents brought Carter back a flat puppy ( about 12x8) with satin paws and ears. He loves it. It has really halted the nursing to sleep habit we were forming. Now he can put himself to sleep about 60-70% of the time just by rubbing and holding it. Plus, he grabs it in the middle of the night and puts himself back to sleep. So we are down to only one night waking at 2. I can't figure out why he can put himself back to sleep all the other times except this one. Weird. Anyhow, I'm very happy he likes the lovey.

Vacation - we are flying out to Indy tomorrow afternoon to see DH's family. I wouldn't call it a "vacation" but we are travelling to somewhere out of state. I packed all.day.long - I'm exhausted. I don't think I forgot anything yet and my MIL will probably make a bunch of jokes about how much stuff I did bring, but oh well. I'm a little nervous about the flight because it's from 4:30-7 which is normally a what I like to call "High Needs" period (aka fussy), but that was the only flight that worked with DH's schedule and wasn't an arm and a leg. Wish us luck.

I think we are going to have to purchase a convertible car seat when we get back. I noticed the straps are getting a little low on his shoulders. He's barely 19 lbs and 27" but I think he must have a long torso because the straps don't hit quite right anymore. Almost 8 months isn't too bad.

Question - anyone still not have their first post partum cycle? I thought AF was right around the corner 7-10 days ago because I had spotting and cramps, but nothing. I told DH and he was surprisingly excited to hear my cycles were back (or so I though). I didn't say anything, but the way he said that sounded like that meant we were able to have another baby. I'm not ready - hence why I didn't say anything. Maybe in another 6 months, I don't want 2 under 2. Of course, I'd be blessed for another. But I think I'd rather wait.

Off to bed early, big day tomorrow.

[zhannushka]

Elenna - I've been meaning to sign up for the infant CPR class for weeks, but keep forgetting to do that. Now that you reminded me, I think I'll go online and sign up! :)

Amanda - Nice to see you in here! :) I was wondering where you were all this time... (haven't seen you in LJ either)

Tera - Have a safe and fun trip!!!

AF - For me, AF returned at 2 months PP, which was definitely too soon... :rolleyes: I know a girl who didn't get AF back for 9 months (she was BF as well).

Lovey - We don't have anything yet, but I do want him to have one, so - I'm on a mission to find something really cute. :)

My baby is sick for the first time. He's got a runny nose, he's coughing and sneezing. :( No fever though. He's a little more cranky than usual, but not completely horrible. He's been playing and eating just like every other day... I called the pedi this morning and she told me to give him 1/2 of the Triaminic strip twice today and 1.5 dozes of Tylenol Cold once (before bedtime) and to come see her tomorrow morning, just in case. We are supposed to go to my uncle's birthday party at their house on Sunday - I hope Yosik is feeling better by then, I would hate to miss it...

[mommydearest]

Garden It is so incredibly hot here in Indy right now...they had a half day of school for heat in IPS and have another one tomorrow. The heat index today was something like 110. But Sunday is supposed to be fabulous at only 83. Have fun while you are here! When Carter gets older, you HAVE to take him to the Children's Museum. We have the world's largest one here. It is totally cool. As soon as Abby can crawl, we are going since there is a baby room.

For convertible seats...We have a marathon and 2 boulevards and love them. They are stupid-proof to install with latch and really plush. Even her great grandpa can do it correctly, which is saying something. And, britax are the only ones that tether rear-facing. It really makes for a rock solid install. Albee baby usually has the best prices and selection of fabrics, as well as free shipping and no tax. The fabrics at BRU are often really ugly. Their boulevard fabric was really scratchy.

Sleepsack--We use one sometimes. It is so hot that I feel bad putting her in it some nights. I bought a cotton one, but even that is hot, though its better than the fleece.

Lovey I am trying to get her to attach to a Carters one that is a lion and velvet on one side, satin on the other. At grandmas, she has a gund one that is a frog. So far, she could really care less, but I always snuggle it up against her so eventually she'll figure it out.

AF returned at 7 weeks. But when I went on the shot, I spotted the first month and haven't had anything since. Though the shot has messed with my hormones so much that there hasn't really been a need for it...

[wagsgirl]

QOTD: No PP AF for me yet. Rogan was 7 months yesterday :) I'm not looking forward to her return. Since we're done with kiddos, when she comes back, it will be FOREVER. At least til menopause anyway ;)

Cribs: We've had ours lowered from day one. Rogan actually doesn't spend much time in it :rolleyes: He's been in our bed more often than not lately, because like ggclark's Lily, he has a double ear infection right now. But my one HUGE piece of advice, please lower your cribs sooner rather than later. I thought we were safe because DD, now 4, wasn't pulling up yet or anything, but one day she decided to start doing it at nap time and flipped right out of the crib onto the floor :eek: I've left it way down on the bottom setting ever since that day...even with newborns.

solids-2x a day. At lunch time and around 6:30/7. He does pretty well. Most of the time it's cereal mixed with half a thing of the #2 veggies. He's not a huge fan of the fruits. Although he takes prunes pretty well.

No huge news on this end. Just a new pic ;)
http://i4.photobucket.com/albums/y148/wagsgirl/8-20-2007-161.jpg?t=1187931074

[ggclark]

Wagsgirl- Is your baby teething right now? I think that is what caused the ear infections... have you experienced that?

Teeth- we have the bottom two and 2 more are on the way!!!!!! I can't believe my girl is getting so big

[zhannushka]

QOTD: Joseph has had a runny nose and some cough for the past 2 days, so I took him to his pedi today. Turns out he has an ear infection and slight fever (I took his temp at home yesterday and he didn't have a fever, but this morning he did.) However, he hasn't been cranky or crying or seemingly in pain - nothing. If it wasn't for the runny nose and some cough - I would never have known! Anyway - she prescribed some antibiotics to him, but told me to start out with just giving him Motrin twice a day and 1/2 of the Triaminic strip twice a day. She said that it looks like his body is fighting the infection pretty well without the antibiotics, so - I should only start giving them to him if he becomes really miserable (which he is not) or if the fever goes up (which it hasn't.) Does that sound like common practice to those of you whose babies have had ear infections before? TIA!

[wagsgirl]

Yup, Rogan is teething. He has the bottom two and on the top, tooth #3 broke today. And the 4th is coming in soon. I can see it's just about there. So, I'm sure with all the drool, that was his problem with the ear infections...

I've always given the antibiotics for ear infections. My kids never fought them on their own.

[ggclark]

It is the age of the ear infection... geez... 3 in this forum alone, in the last week... WOW...

[katmg]

zhanna- there is a lot of dispute these days on whether ear infections actually need to have antibiotic treatment. Many doctors are no longer giving antibiotics for them so that may be why your ped. wanted you to wait and see on them. There is some evidence that some EIs are caused by a virus.

[ggclark]

QOTD:
How much are your DC eating each day? I feel like Lily has a small appetite and I want to make sure she is getting the "norm" for her age at least.
She eats:

4 - 6 oz. bottles a day (but sometimes she only takes 5oz)
1 Fruit (stage 2 size) (she sometimes leaves a 1/4 of it)
1 Veggie (stage 2 size) and sometimes I mix it with cereal for dinner

Is that enough??? I sometimes feel like she eats so little, and her appetite hasn't increased in a while... I thought she would get hungrier as she went on??

[zhannushka]

QOTD:
How much are your DC eating each day? I feel like Lily has a small appetite and I want to make sure she is getting the "norm" for her age at least.
She eats:

4 - 6 oz. bottles a day (but sometimes she only takes 5oz)
1 Fruit (stage 2 size) (she sometimes leaves a 1/4 of it)
1 Veggie (stage 2 size) and sometimes I mix it with cereal for dinner

Is that enough??? I sometimes feel like she eats so little, and her appetite hasn't increased in a while... I thought she would get hungrier as she went on??

Breakfast - 8 oz bottle of formula with 1 teaspoon of oatmeal cereal mixed in

Lunch - 4 oz of yogurt and 6 oz bottle of EBM

Dinner - 8 oz of chicken soup pureed (chicken, potato, carrots, squash, zuccini, a bit of onion), 2.5 oz of fruit and 1.5 oz of freshly squeezed apple juice mixed with about 3 oz of water.

Before bed - 8 oz bottle of formula with 1 teaspoon of buckwheat cereal mixed in

[Elenna]

zhanna: I've, also, read that giving antibiotics right away for ear infections is in dispute. Some doctors are now taking the same attitude of your DS's dr.(Which I personally agree with.)

solids: DS doesn't eat, alot, either. And I thought that his appetite should increase now that he's more mobile.
Breakfast: a little bit less than 4 oz (two food cubes) of fruit/veggie with 2-3 tbl cereal mixed with 1-1.5oz breastmilk
Lunch: piece of fruit or teething biscuit in a mesh feeder (just started doing this to get DS used to eating solids three times a day)
Dinner: a little bit less than 4 oz (two food cubes) of fruit/veggie
He nurses on demand throughout the day. He wants to nurse every two hours. I'm not sure how much he gets at each nursing session. (I can't seem to be able to pump much anymore.)

af: AF started for me at 4 months pp.

[wagsgirl]

Solids-Twice a day, Rogan gets the same thing. 2-3Tbsp cereal mixed with half a stage 2 veggie. And also 1/2 a stage 2 fruit. Although, he doesn't always eat that. He's not a fan of fruits. Sometimes, for lunch, I won't mix cereal in, but I always mix it for dinner. I'm thinking soon, I might give him the whole veggie container. He nurses on demand all day. No bottles for him unless I'm out for the day/night. Which never happens ;) Usually every 2-3 hours, but goes 4 sometimes...Usually about 5 times a day.

[mommydearest]

Solids--

cheerios on the tray always to keep her occupied

most of stage 2 pears and some cereal for breakfast

jar of chicken, 1/2 jar of veggies, 1/2 jar of fruit for lunch

jar of chicken, jar of veggies, sometimes 1/2 jar of fruit for dinner. She also LOVES rice, so if we are out at a restaurant, I hand feed her one or two pieces at a time and she chows down.

I let her eat until she indicates she's done. Sometimes it depends on when we nursed last.

[Alegna]

solids ~ Megan eats 2-3 T of cereal and a stage 1 fruit for breakfast. Lunch is just a bottle at daycare. Dinner is a stage 2 veggie and some fruit. Usually another stage 1 or half a stage 2. Depends on what time she eats. She still nurses 4-6 times a day and gets two 5 oz bottles of EBM at daycare. I stocked up on the rest of the stage 2 gerber cubes from the sale at Target this week. Once we're through those Megan will have tried all the gerber cubes except the desserts. Personally, I consider fruit a dessert. She doesn't need apple cobbler.

af~ Not yet. I was pretty irregular before getting pregnant. My typical cycle would be between 60 and 90 days. I got an IUD in March so who knows if I'll ever see af again.

[Elenna]

Solids--

cheerios on the tray always to keep her occupied



Oh, yeah, I started doing this, too, a week ago. I break the cheerios in half and let DS have at them.

[Lucy Van Pelt]

I sent DH to the store last night to restock our baby food supply. He pretty much picked up one of everything. Unfortunately, this means, he got "Apple Strawberry and Banana", "Banana Orange Medley", and "Vanilla Custard Pudding". I am concerned about the first two because of the strawberries and citrus that I thought Katie isn't supposed to have right now and the pudding because it contains sugar. Am I just being overly neurotic? We have no history of allergies in either family and Katie hasn't' had a reaction to any of the stage 1 foods. Should I go ahead and feed these foods as well or should I return them? Can you return food to a grocery store? I've never had to before and I'm not sure they take things like this back...:o

[zhannushka]

I sent DH to the store last night to restock our baby food supply. He pretty much picked up one of everything. Unfortunately, this means, he got "Apple Strawberry and Banana", "Banana Orange Medley", and "Vanilla Custard Pudding". I am concerned about the first two because of the strawberries and citrus that I thought Katie isn't supposed to have right now and the pudding because it contains sugar. Am I just being overly neurotic? We have no history of allergies in either family and Katie hasn't' had a reaction to any of the stage 1 foods. Should I go ahead and feed these foods as well or should I return them? Can you return food to a grocery store? I've never had to before and I'm not sure they take things like this back...:o
I heard that you're not supposed to feed them Strawberries and Oranges (any citrus actually) until at least 1 year old... I do know a girl who's given strawberries to her 6 month old and he's OK, but - I wouldn't do it... I've returned unopened baby food to the store before (we bought a bunch of chicken jars, but DS refuses to eat them.)

[Winter Biscuit]

Am I just being overly neurotic? We have no history of allergies in either family and Katie hasn't' had a reaction to any of the stage 1 foods. Should I go ahead and feed these foods as well or should I return them? Can you return food to a grocery store? I've never had to before and I'm not sure they take things like this back...

I'm pretty sure you could return unopened baby food with a receipt. Whether you offer those items to Katie or not is a personal preference. I, too, am confused about all the baby foods that include things we aren't supposed to give until they're older, so I am personally just staying away from them. I probably wouldn't offer pudding at this age, but that's just me. I figure that Allison will get all the natural sugar she needs from BM and fruits.

AF -- no sign of her return, and that's fine with me! She didn't return until 10 months PP after I had DD#1. I'd be happy if she stays away just as long this time around. Like wagsgirl, I'm pretty sure we are done manufacturing babies so once AF comes back, she's here until menopause :eek:

Paci -- I forgot to mention, Allison has been able to put her paci back in her own mouth for about a month now. I assume that the other paci users in this thread can do the same, or will soon. She even turns it around if it's in upside down, until it's in the right way. She can even do it at naptime or in the middle of the night if she needs her paci. I thought that day would never come :) I've been limiting her paci to nap time and bedtime only. Now I look forward to the day when the binkie is gone FOREVER! :o


Here's our very rough feeding schedule as of today. Obviously, if I am home with her, all bottles of EBM are replaced with milk straight from the tap :)

6am - nurse upon waking
8am - cereal mixed w/ water
9am - 7-oz bottle EBM @ daycare
11am - Stage 2 veggie (whole jar) @ daycare
12pm - 7-oz bottle EBM @ daycare
3pm - 7-oz bottle EBM @ daycare (or nurse, if I pick her up before they give her the bottle)
4pm - Nurse
5pm - Stage 2 veggie (occasionally, I'll offer a Stage 2 fruit but we're primarily focusing on veggies. Like Alegna, I consider fruit a dessert)
6pm - Nurse
8pm - Nurse to sleep
Between midnight and 1am - wakes to nurse (sometimes she'll wake, sometimes she won't. This one still varies and is very unpredictable.)


I've thought about asking daycare to mix the morning cereal with the veggies (seems like it'd be a lot easier to mix them so they can kill 2 birds with 1 stone), but I want Allison to get the flouride from the water, since we have well water at home. If she didn't get the flouride from the water, I'd have to mess with flouride supplements (which I probalby would never remember to give her). So for now, I'm keeping them separate.


wagsgirl - LOVE the "mmm....boobies" shirt :D

zhanna - I agree with katmg that many doctors are playing the "wait and see" game with antibiotics when it comes to EI. That seems to be common practice among many peds these days. Dr. Greene offers one perspective on this issue: http://www.drgreene.com/21_768.html

[jmvan74]

AF: Not yet, but I don't think it will be much longer before she shows.

Solids: This is still a bit of a joke. He's only nursing 5-7 times a day now.:rolleyes: 2 times at night (usually midnight and 3:30).

1/2 jar stage 2 in the afternoon
stage 2 jar in the evening

Yup, that's it. He really has very little interest.

sippy cup: I've been working on this and brady now takes 1-3oz of formula a day from a sippy. I hope to get that up to about 4-6 oz and drop a nursing session.

pulling up; In addition to crawling, Brady is now pulling up on everything. I went in to feed him last night and he was hanging on to the crib rail for dear life! LOL!

[Alegna]

I was tell DH yesterday about how some of your babies were getting themselves into the sitting position all by themselves. We turn around to look at Megan on the floor and she does it!

So then of course I talked about sleeping through the night..... :) No luck with that one.

Citrus ~ I gave Megan the Bannana Orange Meledy for breakfast today. She didn't really seem to like it. The ingredients listed mango, pineapple and orange juice along with the bannanas. I figure since there are no allergies in our families and as long as I don't give it to her EVERY day she will be fine. I can honestly say I've never heard of anybody being allergic to oranges.

Oh well.

[zhannushka]

I can honestly say I've never heard of anybody being allergic to oranges.
I am! :) We think it's because my mom obsessed about oranges when she was pregnant with me - she ate them every single day. I get a rash every time I have orange juice (or oranges)... :rolleyes:

[katmg]

Alegna - I think the "issue" with oranges and citrus in general is that it can be acidic and give them diaper rash. Oh and mangoes are totally fine for them to have at this point. :)

Straw Cup - We weren't having much luck with a sippy cup so I found a straw cup and DD seems to really like it. It is not spill-proof (at all!) but if she can learn how to use a straw I'll be happy!

[Elenna]

I can honestly say I've never heard of anybody being allergic to oranges.



DH's Grandmother is allergic to oranges.

alegna: That's awesome that Megan sat up on her own. DS has only sat up himself once.

[mommydearest]

We haven't done oranges or strawberries, but DD's favorite is Hawaiian Delight. I spread it out so its about every 4 or 5 days, but she gobbles it down like there's no tomorrow. I know about the citrus thing, but she hasn't shown any reaction to it and loves it so much I'm going to keep letting her have it. She eats it with a full jar of chicken, so she has something to balance it out.

[Elenna]

mommydearest: What's in the Hawaiian Delight?

[mommydearest]

Elenna--

Here is an ingredients list:
http://www.epinions.com/kifm-review-6AF9-9E8BB3E-392C903E-prod1


A bunch of no-no things...

Water, nonfat milk, pineapple juice from concentrate, sugar, rice flour, corn starch, Citric acid, lemon juice from concentrate and Ascorbic acid

[jilly]

Hi all!
I just wanted to check in for a quick update! It's so great to see all these growing babies. I can't believe how quickly the time is flying!

Owen will be 8 mos on the 12th - I just can't believe it.

Motor Skills
He's been fighting sitting up because frankly, he'd rather stand. (no he can't do that on his own...yet). Most times, when I try to sit him down, he stiffens up like a board. Little booger! When I'm lying on the floor with him, he just fights to pull up on me. Het gets to about his knees.

He's army crawling all over the house, and is rocking back and forth. So I know the real thing won't be too far away.

This is all in stark contrast to DS #1, who was a Michelin Man with rolls upon rolls, and just sat contentedly wherever I put him for the longest time. O is definitely a mover and a shaker. :)

Solids
Three times a day for us. I think I he would probably eat more. But right now he gets a cereal/fruit mix in the AM, Veggie at lunch, and a variety for dinner (fruit/veggie, veggie, cereal)

Cup
He likes to chew on it!

Sleep
I had to put an end to the third nap. He'd take it about half the time, and is always tired in the afternoon, but I think it was messing with the schedule. Plus with a toddler, one more nap is such a pain.
So I'm trying a 9 and 1pm nap schedule, but it usually ends up more like 8:30 and 12pm because he's so tired. And he's out most nights between 6-6:30pm.
We're still waking up at night for a feeding. He eats pretty good at that time, so I guess he really needs it. I'll probably just keep it going until our next WBV and check with the dr. about it then.

AF
Nope. But I've only had one since July 2004. I BF DS #1 for a year, and a month after I still had no AF. I had to go on hormones to get a cycle started. We were getting ready to TTC soon, so I wanted to start charting my cycle for a few months...well we got preggo after one cycle.
So who knows who long it would've taken on its own. I won't be pushing it up this time around. ;)

I hope you all have a great holiday weekend!!!

:D

[jmvan74]

Sleep
I had to put an end to the third nap. He'd take it about half the time, and is always tired in the afternoon, but I think it was messing with the schedule. Plus with a toddler, one more nap is such a pain.
So I'm trying a 9 and 1pm nap schedule, but it usually ends up more like 8:30 and 12pm because he's so tired. And he's out most nights between 6-6:30pm.
:D


That is exactly what's happening with Brady and naps. I really want to get him on the 9am/ 1pm nap schedule. It would make life so much easier. baby steps...

[quest]

Cute pics of cute babies!!

I just have 2 words: teeth.ing. (okay, one word, but you get the idea ;))

When DD got teeth, she just...got them. She'd chew on toys and fingers for several days, and then little white teeth would appear. With DS, omg, the world is alerted that teeth are on.their.way. Poor baby, though...his top gums are so swollen! It even looks painful!

I'm hoping they pop through very soon, since the whole thing is throwing his sleep out the window...

[Alegna]

There is some type of bug going around at my daycare. Megans bottom is just raw. She pooped 3 times in 30 minutes! The 14 month old at daycare is the same way and one of the other little boys went home because he was throwing up.

Yikes! But I think we're on the upswing. She doesn't scream when you change her diaper anymore. And I think the redness is going down. But it's been a rough couple of days. It just hurts me to look at it.

I ordered Megan's Halloween costume today. She's going to be a monkey.

http://us.st11.yimg.com/us.st.yimg.com/I/brandsonsale-store_1964_12897386

I hope it looks good on her.

[ggclark]

That is exactly what's happening with Brady and naps. I really want to get him on the 9am/ 1pm nap schedule. It would make life so much easier. baby steps...


Hi all... this post couldn't come at a better time.. b/c we too just dropped that thrid nap. Lily is doing like a 8:30 to 10 and then a 1 to 2:30-3ish nap and it is SOOOOOOOOOO much better... how much did we hate the 3 naps!?!! The only thing, like you guys, we had to move bedtime up a bit... she is exhausted by 6ish and by 6:30ish she is in bed.... She sort of fell into that 2-3-4 thing we all talked about earlier in the posts... up 2 in the morning.. then up 3 hours til the next nap then 4 til bedtime.

One more sign that our babies are growing up!

PS... on TEETHING: here is a weird question-- Lily is getting her third tooth-- first were the bottom two.. ok.. well, the third tooth is not the top middle ones.. its the one on the side of the middle teeth. WHAT IS THAT ABOUT?! not the order that it is supposed to be.. is that OK? :eek:

[Elenna]

ggclark: I hope getting teeth out of order is fine. DS is showing signs of getting his bottom side teeth before his top ones.

mommydearest: The Hawaiian Delight sounds yummy! I can see why she gobbles it up.

alegna: Good to hear the bug is already passing.

vegetarian meals: Is anyone else raising their DC vegetarian? I've been looking at all the stage 3's and "My first soups" in the store to get ideas and it seems they all have meat in them. I'm kinda at a loss as to what to feed DC when it comes to that time (I'm thinking ahead here). I am making his own foods, but I buy store bought to introduce a food first (that way I don't waste food making a batch of food DS will never eat).

[zhannushka]

Angela - I love the monkey costume! - too cute! :) We decided that since DS will not know the difference yet this year, we won't be dressing him up for Halloween. Maybe next year...

Teething - Joseph has his 2 bottom teeth now, I think that he's about to start cutting the top ones, since he's constantly rubbing his top gum and is drooling all.the.time.

Teeth out of order - DH's cousin is a pediatric dentist - we had a teething conversation with him a few months ago and he specifically told us that while the majority of babies cut teeth in the order of bottom 2 - top 2 - bottom 2, it's not unusual for teeth to come in out of order (2 top first or 4 bottom first), so - that's nothing to worry about!

Cup - Joseph is just not getting the concept! I try to give it to him every day and try to get him to drink a little out of it, but he just plays with it and chews on it, he has no clue that he's supposed to drink out of it! :eek:

Sleep - We are still on 3 naps a day. It's working out fine so far, so - I am not changing a thing until it becomes a problem. He also STTN for about 12 hours now - I am loving it! :D

Solids - He is still on 2 meals a day, but I'm about to make it 3. For breakfast, I've been giving him an 8 oz bottle with some cereal mixed in. I think I'm going to start giving him some cereal with fruit + the bottle (no cereal in it). He also gets a yogurt for lunch and chicken vegetable soup + some fruit for dinner.

[katmg]

Elenna - We're not raising DD vegetarian but the book, Super Baby Food does have information on it. Basically, she just doesn't introduce meats to her kids but relies on combining beans/legumes and grains to form complete proteins. Since you're making your own food that book might be helpful.

[ggclark]

QOTD: When do you introduce meat-- baby food meat purees?? I was tempted to buy some at the store... the chicken dinner and stuff like that, but I didn't know what the deal was.. do you have to wait until 9 months or can I do it now, at 7.... anyone have the answer?

[gmooter]

I've already given Gabe meats. The Dr. said it was OK at his 6 month WBV!

[zhannushka]

QOTD: As per our pedi, we've been giving Joseph chicken since about 6.5 months old. She said to start with chicken for now, so - that's all he's had so far.

[mommydearest]

We do chicken at lunch and dinner and have since about 6.5 months. DD will eat turkey occasionally too. But she doesn't like beef much. I mix it with peas and some BM and then she'll eat it if every third bite is applesauce.

But...FYI the chicken and rice dinner is not just chicken and rice. It has tomatoes in it, which I figured out about halfway through dinner tonight. I read they shouldn't have them until a year, but she was liking the food, so I let her finish the jar. Why they are in a stage 2 food, I have no idea. DD hasn't had any reaction to them, but I probably won't buy them again.

[Alegna]

Got the best birthday present on Saturday. Megan started crawling! Of course the dog, who she was chasing, isn't too happy about it. ;)

Other than that DH got me a Roomba. All I have to say is I LOVE ROBOT VACUUMES! And it works out great now that Megan is mobile. I'll feel better thinking the floor is cleaner.

Mesh feeder ~ Megan doesn't like it one bit. She will throw it down and gag when you try to give it back to her. Before it even touches her lips! She did it with both watermelon and a grape. I tried to put it in her mouth with the grape last night and she gagged so hard she threw up. The mesh hadn't even made it to her gums yet.

I guess we'll stick with purees for a while longer. She is getting the hang of eating Gerber puffs off the tray. I bought a chicken dinner at the store for her. Haven't tried it yet. I'm kind of grossed out at the thought of pureed chicken.

Hope everybody is having a good holiday. We're having a bunch of people over from work about 6pm. We're going to light a bonfire and cook some hot dogs. It was supposed to be cooler this weekend but instead it almost 90 degrees. Oh well. Hopefully people will bring cold salads to eat with the dogs. :)

[mommydearest]

Alegna--Be warned...the chicken smells like cat food. It smells disgusting! But DD sure loves it anyway.

I bought myself a new stroller this weekend. We needed something small that can fit in a sedan trunk with a wheelchair. I got a Maclaren Triumph and I LOVE it. It has a great carry strap that you yank on to fold it and DD was really happy the whole time. It won't replace my P3 for long days out, but for quick trips, the thing is awesome. I went for the Chicco cheapo little stroller, but DH actually said..."I thought you really liked the pink one." Uh...I didn't give him more than about 30 seconds to change his mind before the thing was paid for and out the door. It is super cute and really convenient. I probably wouldn't have gotten it except that we are going to Disney and the carry strap and easy fold will be great for their buses and in the airport.

DH also installed a gate yesterday for DD. She is moving so much that I was worried about the top of the steps. She also went for her first electrical outlet, which happened to be the only one in the whole upstairs that wasn't covered. Figures. It had a night light in the upper plug and I think that is what she really wanted. But needless to say, every outlet in our house is now covered.

Hope everyone else is having a great Labor day!

[GardenGirl]

Home at last! We went to Indiana to visit the ILs last week, got home and turned around and went to Austin the next day for my grandparents 60th anniversary party. I'm pooped.

Kristin - thanks for the tip about the Childrens Museum, we didn't have time for it this trip, but will add it on the next one. The zoo was great though - SO much better than ours in Houston. I like Indy (ILs live in Carmel), but it's still hard to get used to what I call "Christmas Trees" everywhere!!

Carter is officially on the move - although he only goes backwards for now. He started about a week ago while we were out of town. He loves moving and can get pretty much where he wants to go. At first he was frustrated because he was going backwards, but then figured out that at least he was moving. Now I'm uberparanoid about clean carpets too Angela.

He is eating cheerios now, he doesn't like the taste of the puffs. It took a couple tries to figure out how to mash them but he's got the hang of it now.

I called the ped's office on Friday about meat - I was told to go ahead. So we went out and bought several choices. He didn't like the chicken at first, but then ate it just fine. I do have to give him some fruit with it though (follow it, not mix it). The nurse also said egg yolks are fine as well as diary now that he's 8 months. I'm holding off on the dairy until I can actually discuss it at our 9 month WBV. I think I recall waiting until 10 months, but I'm not positive. I figure there are tons of things for him to try/eat that I don't need any yogurt/cheese yet.

Halloween - I've been meaning to order him a costume but I just can't decide. I have given myself until the end of the week to complete this task, I'd better do it before everything is sold out.

I bought a new car seat before our drive to Austin. We got a Brtiax Boulevard and I love it. Although I haven't installed it in MY car yet - just my parents Suburban since they drove us up there. I got a super deal since I had a couple BRU coupons. I ended up saving $64 off the $299, so I was pretty proud. Carter is so much more comfortable in it, I can't believe I waited so long.

Carter made his first art project - we did a big plate for my grandparents anniversary. I put his handprints on the platter 12 times (60 fingers). It turned out cute and he did a relatively good job, it's still hard to keep his hands out all the way. So some of the prints are smuged, I just figure it gives it more personality - check it out.
http://i78.photobucket.com/albums/j99/terashelton/Plate001.jpg

Naps - Carter started dropping his 3rd nap about 2 weeks ago and fortunately started extending his naptime from one hour to about 2 hours so he's still napping almost 4 hours a day, it's just two times a day instead of 3. But what I didn't think about was moving up his bedtime. It was 7:00-7:30, but now he can't make it to 6:30. So even though DH won't get to see him much in the evenings, it is better for DS. Fortunately DH doesn't have to go in early, so we get lots of good morning time as a family.

Well, I need to get to bed early. In the past 11 days I've only spent one night in our bed. My back is killing me!

[ggclark]

GardenGirl- What a cute idea that plate is!!! I love it. Glad you are home and in your own bed :)

Halloween- I also need to order the costume THIS week! I think we decided to go with the hershey kiss... it's a cute costume and it will allow her to move around... sort of.

Crawling- SHE IS ON ALL FOURS!!!! she rocks and it is too cute. Not sure how long before DD realizes that she can go! I know it will complicate things around the house with safety and all, but I can't wait!!! I think it is the cutest thing.

Meat- I am going to go get some and try it this week... the dinners.... she is still so hungry after the 4 oz. of veggies that she could use something of more substance.

[Alegna]

Megan wouldn't crawl when Grandma came over to see her. :(

But if you sit her down in a room with a bowl of dog food or a pair of dirty old flip flops she's all over it :rolleyes:

Apparently she'll only crawl to gross, disgusting things.

Oh well.

[Elenna]

crawling: DS became really mobile this weekend. He's started crawling (but not on his knees, he does it straight legged). He only seems motivated to crawl to stuff he's not supposed to get into. Which means we really, really needed to baby proof NOW. We've spent the past couple of days constantly taking "no, no" things out of DS's hands and relocating him and the objects to safer areas.

babyproofing: Has everyone babyproofed, yet? I just started yesterday. So far I've only taken books off the lower levels of our bookcases (now boxed up and in our basement :(), moved breakable and "no,no" objects to higher areas (which I'm going to box up and put in our basement, too), and put in outlet covers.

teething: Well, it looked like DS was going to get his bottom side teeth next, but two days ago a top side tooth broke the surface without any warning. He doesn't have his top middle teeth, yet!

katmg: I have the Super Baby Foods book. I'm just worried about giving DS legumes. He's had allergic reactions each time I've tried to give him peas. I guess, if DS tolerates soy, we'll just use a lot of tofu for meat.

gardengirl: That plate is very clever and cute.

DS "ran" in a 5K race with DH on Labor Day. There were a lot of people running that race with jogging strollers. DH said DS cheered him on for a bit during the race by yelling "dada".

I learned valuable lessons that day. Don't put your coffee anywhere where your DC can reach it. I, unthinkingly, put my coffee on DS's jogging stroller tray while I put DS's socks on. Next thing I know DS gave a little wimper and I saw he'd dumped my coffee all down himself. Very luckily the coffee wasn't scalding hot anymore. It was warm enough, though, that it turned his skin red. It doesn't seem to have burned him. The redness faded pretty quickly. He was fine and happy again as soon as I changed him out of his coffee soaked clothes. I felt like a very bad mommy.

I also learned you have to put on the stroller breaks whenever you let go of the stroller. It was really crowded at the race and I'd let go of the stroller a moment to double wave (arms over my head) to DH to let him know where DS and I were. I turned around to see the stroller, with DS in it, was rolling away from me down the street (good thing the street was closed off for the race, so no cars were there). I wasn't a very good mommy that day.

[jmvan74]

Awww, Elenna, we all have our bad mommy moments. Glad Lee is okay.

Adorable plate, Tera!

Halloween: I think I'm just going to put him in a halloween onsie w/ some black sweats this year.

babyproofing; We've been baby proof b/c we have a toddler, but I had to go through all of Collin's toys and move chokables to his bedroom. It's very tiring to chase the boys around all day so Collin isn't giving Brady anything dangerous. *sigh* Brady has already choked on an apple peice and some cardboard. :( Honestly, it's a nightmare.


teething: No teeth yet, and that is FINE with me. ;) His bottom gums are pretty swollen, though.

crawling: We've moved from belly crawling to a hybrid of all fours and belly crawl. He instantly moves toward any object he shouldn't have or directly to the couch to pull up. Many bumps and falls over here. I seriously can not wait for him to be a proficient walker.

[gmooter]

teething Gabe's getting 3 teeth right now too! One of his top teeth is just about to poke through and the 2nd 2 bottom teeth are on their way too!

crawling Gabe gets up on all 4's, rocks and scoots his back legs forward and then does a belly flop. He doesn't get it that he needs to move his hands/arms too!

babyproofing Our house is all set since I have a 2 year old too!!

[ggclark]

teething[/b]: Well, it looked like DS was going to get his bottom side teeth next, but two days ago a top side tooth broke the surface without any warning. He doesn't have his top middle teeth, yet!.


Elenna.. .We have the SAME situation over here... teeth are sprouting up left and right with no warning but not the ones I expected. Lily has her two bottom, then the two fang like teeth popped out and then today the bottom side tooth broke through. I swear, she is getting all her teeth in a matter of 2 weeks time... it's insane over here. Major teething and some crankiness.... Seeing that you and I have the same scenerio, it must not be that uncommon after all.

On bad parenting moments: Don't worry Elenna... my DD rolled off the couch the other morning. DH was with her in the AM so I could sleep and he rested her on her boppy for a second (which used to work) and he turned around for a second and she rolled off onto the floor... I was sleeping in (not anymore) I heard the thump and ran out... she was sooooo crying. My DH was devasted and really shook up about it as was I. It is so hard... they are going to get hurt a million times, but it is never easy to see your baby upset.

Babyproofing- the most I have done so far is the outlet covers. I have to get the cabinet door clamp things and move a few things around.... and i should be all set (that is until DD discovers something while on the move)

[Alegna]

Bad mamma ~ My baby eats dog food. :rolleyes: What can I say? She's a lot quicker than I realized. Turned my back for a second and she's crawled over to the dog food and has a handfull. I fished one piece of kibble out of her mouth. I'm pretty sure she didn't actually swallow any.

Babyproofing ~ I put in some outlet covers. A friend gave them to me, they were left in her house when she moved in. We haven't actually bought anything yet. Going to have to check out that isle at the store next time we go.

[katmg]

Bad momma moment - Dude, y'all have nothing on me. I had to take DD to the doctor's about two months ago. She fell out of her highchair onto the chair I had been sitting in and bonked her head. She wasn't very wriggly at that point and I had unhooked her from the highchair and then turned to put her bowl on the counter. Well, she leaned forward and came tumbling out. I caught her before she hit the floor but she did bonk her head on the seat of the chair. Scared the beejesus out of me - she did it so fast!! Anyway, she is/was totally fine and the doctor's office was really nice about the whole thing. Told me that's how mothers get grey hair. :rolleyes: DD cried more when she got her shots than when she fell. Not me though!

Park - We went to the park yesterday and I put DD in the swing for the first time. She LOVED it! She was laughing and smiling and having the best time. Too bad I can't go to the park by my house by myself anymore - some pervert has been groping women joggers and teenage girls there. :rolleyes: Really pisses me off that I can't feel safe there and have to go somewhere - like the mall - where there are lots of people around. Boo.

[GardenGirl]

kat - Too bad I can't go to the park by my house by myself anymore - some pervert has been groping women joggers and teenage girls there. I saw that on the news last night. I have a friend who lives nearby and we used to walk that track all the time. DH makes me carry mace when I walk DS in our neighborhood. I just always forget it. Seeing the news report reminded me to put it on my keychain.

Bad Momma - I gave Carter his first black eye (technically the only one he's had). He was fine, but it killed me. DH went biking after work one night a few months ago and I thought I would give DS a bath by myself. Well he had just started to learning how to sit up and he tried to do it in the small baby bathtub. Well he leaned to far over and bonked his head right on the sugar jar next to the bathtub (I was washing him on the kitchen counter). I never did that again. Here's a picture with his black eye back a few days later. I swore to DH he had to come straight home after work after that. Of course, now I can do it but that was the first time I'd ever tried to give him a bath and put him to bed by myself. I felt so incompetant.
http://i78.photobucket.com/albums/j99/terashelton/6-15-07005.jpg

I thought I'd share a link to a video clip that the swim club I take DS too sent us. It shows the floating technique they use for babies. Normally when people hear I take DS to swim lessons they laugh and assume I'm teaching him the backstroke when in reality it's more of a water safety course. Here's the website http://www.childdrowningprevention.com/index.html

Naps - Carter is really doing well with the transition to two naps. Of course there are days when we struggle, but all-in-all it's working out well. We wake at about 6:30 or 7, he'll go down for a nap around 8:30 or 9. Sleep for two hours (thank you God), wake around 10:30 or 11 and then go back down at 1:30 and sleep until 3:30. Then bedtime is about 7, somedays earlier if he's cranky. Some days later if he slept well.

So now that naps are going well, I need the nights to get back to normal. I'm fine with a 4 or 5 am waking to nurse. Especially now that he's nursing less during the day and opting for 3 solid meals. But it's the 10, 12, 2 wakings that are killing me. What the heck happened. He has a stuffy nose, so maybe it's that he can't breathe. Plus he was sleeping in so many different places when we travelled the past few weeks. I'm hoping we can get back to the 5:00am night waking/feeding and that's it. We'll see how it goes.

[GardenGirl]

Also, thanks for the compliments on the plate ladies. We had so much fun doing it. I think we'll do something like that for some Christmas gifts.

[ggclark]

Naps- We are also transitioning from the 3 to 2 naps, but some days are better then others over here. She will nap at 8:30-10 and then 1-2:30... so it's tough in the evenings... when she goes to 3, or even 2:45, we can make it to 7, but the days she is up at 2:30, it's early to bed-- like 6:30 even. But, I am thinking that will eventually level out as she gets older... I HOPE! Also, she STTN, BUT is up for the morning at 5:30... so it's an early start... Anyway, it';s better then the 3 naps (1 hour each) by far!

Here are some pics... the first is my family :) and the second is Lily's 7 month picture ( we were late with the 6 month, but that's ok :) ) This is just one of the poses... I LOVED them all!!


http://i201.photobucket.com/albums/aa24/gmgigs/TheClarks-07.jpg


http://i201.photobucket.com/albums/aa24/gmgigs/LilyJuneClark-7monthprofessionalpic.jpg

[ggclark]

Sorry if those pics are HUGE.. I tried to resize... but I guess it didn't work! So.. sorry they are IN YOUR FACE..hahaha

[GardenGirl]

GGclark - the pics are way cute (and they weren't huge on my computer, so you must have fixed it).

We took DS up to the neighorhood park yesterday and put him in the swing. While they were filthy, he loved it. So much so, that my parents hung one in their backyard this afternoon for him to play. Here are a couple pics from this weekend - I'm sure like most babies, he loves the outdoors.
http://i78.photobucket.com/albums/j99/terashelton/DSC_0011.jpg

http://i78.photobucket.com/albums/j99/terashelton/9-9-07024.jpg

[Alegna]

I was just telling DH how we needed to get a swing. Especially now that the weather is cooling down.

I'm sure the pictures of Carter will convince him! What a cutie.

We spent some time outside this weekend watching the combines in the field. It's wierd how we go from feeling closed in by the corn to a wide open space in less than a day.

Megan being mobile is incredibly cute, but EXHAUSTING! She's really picked up some speed in the past three days. I spent the entire weekend chasing her down, redirecting her, and moving things out of her reach. We set up the Superyard around the tv and fireplace. So at least that is working to keep her from the wires, electronics and the sharp edges of the fireplace. And I can put stuff behind it now. Like my shoes. This girl is obsessed with shoes! I told DH we're going to be in trouble when she actually starts wearing them. :)

[mommydearest]

Abby loves the swings at the park, but we don't have any trees in our vinyl village big enough for swings yet. We got a new car for her, though. She loves it!

http://65.26.185.135:8080/albums/September/100_2580.sized.jpg

[Elenna]

mommydearest: That picture is sooo cute!

bad momma: It is so good to know I'm not alone in having bad momma momments.

swings: We took DS to the park and let him swing on the baby swings for the first time this weekend. He loved it. He even started swinging himself when we stopped pushing him.

puppets: Has anyone played with their DC with puppets? I wasn't sure what age to was ok to introduce puppets (if there is even an age limit), but I just found out DS loves puppets. At least he loves the dragon handpuppet MIL gave DS before he was born. We showed it to DS for the first time tonight (mainly to show him something new to distract him from the laptop's power cord he was determined to play with). DS just laughed and laughed. We've never seen him laugh so hard. We were mainly just having the puppet "eat" DS's blocks (like Cookie monster on Sesame Street), give DS kisses, roar, talk, etc.

[ggclark]

On toys: I LOVE that little car Mommydearest! I like Lily would love that. Also..the puppets reminded me... we were given (hand me down toy from family) a classic jack in the box and we thought DD would LOVE it.. we put it in front of her while she was sitting and she got excited.. THEN... POP... she got so scared.. cried... hahaa... it was kind of funny. About 3 hours later, we tried it again.. she did the same thing... She has never reacted that way with a toy... so funny how they react to things! (we put it away so not to scar her or give her bad memories... hahaha)

[mommydearest]

Hooray! We have our first tooth. It is sharp to the touch on the gum, though there isn't any white showing yet. There are several more to follow, too.

Abby loves the dog puppet we have. My mom starts it far away and then it "attacks" and tickles her. We started when she was itty bitty.

So my MIL is here visiting and she brought us 3 boxes of yard sale clothes. Most are very worn and stained, though there were a couple nice outfits. About a quarter of them were too small already and they all smell. I am washing and trying to salvage at least some to make her feel good, but they are all different sizes up to size 4. Now I feel guilty because it was very kind of her to buy them, but I wanted to buy Abby cute NEW clothes and there is absolutely NO NEED for me to buy her anything now up to at least 24 months. I washed the first load with a full scoop of Oxyclean and Tide, and it didn't help much. Blah.

[katmg]

mommydearest - I received a ton of hand-me-down clothes from friends, some of it going up to 3T. I have gone through it all and separated out anything that was stained or too small or really just not my style. I donated it to our local women's shelter along with other baby things I received as hand-me-downs that I either had or wasn't comfortable using. Perhaps you can salvage a few outfits and make a point to take a picture of your DD in them to send to MIL? Then quietly donate the rest once she has gone home.

[Winter Biscuit]

We got our first teeth, too. Tooth #1 broke through last Friday and is a sharp little sucker. The tooth is about half-way in. #2 broke through today and is about 1/2 the size of #1.

Allison has refused solids for me the last few days (but she will eat them at daycare). Not sure if her lack of interest is related to the 2nd tooth breaking through or if she has just decided to go on a food strike with me. If I get any food near her mouth, she does the whole shudder-wince-gag sequence that she used to do in the beginning when we first introduced solids. She hasn't done that drama in a few weeks -- when I break out the solids, she usually wiggles with glee because she loves her veggies. Now she's back to acting like I'm trying to poison her. She even does it with her favorite veggies again. :confused:

[quest]

DS is up to 4 teeth now (2 top, 2 bottom),with I think 2 more on the way. When he was cutting the first 2, he didn't want to deal with solids, either. In fact, the only thing he would eat was plain rice cereal. So that's what he had for a couple of days. What's funny is, now 90% of the time he'll get po'd if his fruits/veggies aren't mixed with cereal. Once in a while he'll take it plain, but usually when he realizes there isn't some cereal mixed in, he'll throw a fit. Then if you mix even just a tablespoon of cereal in it, he'll open his mouth like a baby bird. Sigh. Oh, well, at least he's eating.

Speaking of which...I'm not sure where his weight is...I'm guessing it has to be right around 20 lbs....but I'm really thinking of moving up to size 5 diapers :eek:. I was trying to stay in 4 thinking I was just being ridiculous (I hate when there are any red lines on his legs), but now it's just way too much work getting the diaper on just right. I think I'm going to test out a pack of size 5 and see if it makes life easier. 3 a.m. diaper changes are way less fun when you really have to *think* about it ;).

[zhannushka]

Love the pics! - Carter and Abby are both adorable! :D

Congrats on first teeth, WB! :)

Puppets - We have this duck puppet, which sings "Old McDonald had a farm" when you move his mouth with your fingers. Joseph loves it - he actually sings along with the duck. :D

Joseph still only has the bottom 2 teeth, no top teeth yet. He is officially pulling himself up to a standing position now! He has done it in his crib and now in his PnP as well.

[Elenna]

quest: Size 5 diapers?! Wow, big boy. We're still only in size 3s. Though I may move up to size 4s next time I buy diapers.

winter biscuit: Congats on your DD's first teeth.

mommydearest: Congats on your DD's first tooth.

[mommydearest]

Wow...size 5s! We are still on Swaddlers size 2s at daycare. DD is 17 lbs 4 oz. but the diapers fit just fine. She has twiggy legs.

[zhannushka]

diapers: Joseph is about 22 lbs now - we've been in size 5's for about a month... ;)

[amwilson615]

The babies are adorable, girls, and I enjoy reading along.

Had to comment on the Size 5 diaper discussion. Jaden weighs 25 lb, 9 oz and is in Size 4's. I have to think about putting them on and I feel like they are not fitting right. I got some 5's, though, and thought they fit too big around the leg holes, but just right around the tummy and bottom area. Argh. He doesn't leak or show discomfort in the 4's, I guess I will stay with them till we use them up.....

Two bottom teeth here and more coming. Sitting up for long periods of time like a champ. Up on all fours rocking. And, pulling up. Still loving cereal, veggies, and fruit.

Took him to the doc the other day for a cold and a rash. Well, the cold has gotten better and he didn't have any infections, so I was happy for that. (With all the ear infections going around, I got nervous when his cold held on). The rashes (one on face, one on tummy) turned out to be eczema, so now we're dealing with that.

[GardenGirl]

Diapers - we are going to finish the box of 3's we have and then move onto the fours. He is having some top leakage during the night, I don't wake him to change his diaper and he's fine at 5 when he wakes up to nurse. But somewhere between 5 and 7 the diaper can't take any more liquid.

Teeth - not a one in Carter's mouth. Though I suspect one any day now. His lower gums are very white and swollen. And he has some episodes of pain crying. But I'm not sure if that doesn't have something to do the head cold he has.

Sick - I'm pretty sure he caught a cold from the nasty germy airplane ride two weeks ago. He's been sick for 14 days now. This is ridiculous. He's not been all that fussy or crabby but he has a real snotty nose. I just called and made an appt for Monday morning. I've held off since there isn't much a doctor can do for a cold, but since it's been 2 weeks I want to make sure he hasn't developed an ear infection or anything.

Crawling - still no crawling (forwards at least), but he pulled up several times today and stands very sturdy. We may just skip the crawl, who knows. Part of me wants him to crawl and the other part is just content not having him mobile.

Playing - anyone's babies doing any stacking of blocks, measuring cups, putting on lids, etc type play? We aren't anywhere near that, but I was reading an article in Parents about fun games to play at his age and it said 8 month olds love putting lids on pots and putting smaller cups in larger ones. Right now he isn't really playing with the toys the way they are intended and I'm wondering if I should be encouraging that. I've just been encouraging his imagination, letting him play on his own and the way he wants to. I'm not concerned, but curious mostly.

Food - he is definitely enjoying more finger foods. He's figured out how to mash his gums and loves to do it. The only thing is, I can't feed him baby food and finger foods in the same sitting. He gets confused and then refuses the baby food. So we snack on cherrios, peas, toast, etc between meals.

Push walkers - anyone thinking about getting one of these or already have one? If so, any recommendations? I'm not sure if I want him to work on walking until he starts crawling. Thoughts on that?

AF - she finally arrived, at exactly 8 months. Though it only last 1.5 days. Weird. Not that I'm complaining.

[ggclark]

diapers- we are comfortably in a size 3... DD is probably about 18 lbs now ...She had a growth spurt and shot up, so she is now taller and thinner then before.. so all her clothes and diapers suddenly fit better all over..

teeth- we are teething like crazy-- when it rains it pours. Lily has 2 bottom, both sides-- top and bottom and I think we are cutting the top middle finally (our of sequence, but what can I do)... so she will have 8 teeth in a few weeks..

WinterBiscuit- If your DC is anything like Lily, the refusing to eat thing would be realated to the teething. Lily gets that way sometimes.. will stick her tongue out and spit at me when she eats. But it does pass..

Crawling- we are army crawling over here... so funny... that is all she seems to want to do though.. the walker, the exersaucer don't interest her right now, she wants to be on the floor just rolling and scooting...

Food- we are into cheerios, banana, puffs and we also tried cooked carrot. I am still scared about choking, so I have been resistant to try more, but I know I should

Push walkers- I was thinking of getting one of those 3 in 1 bikes, walkers deal... that way it can grow with her... any recommendations???

[Elenna]

playing: DS, also, doesn't use his toys like they're supposed to be used. He has some stacking bowls that he doesn't stack. He just bangs them together, talks into them, and chews on them. He also doesn't stack his blocks, but he absolutely loves the game "knock down the block wall before Mommy/Daddy can finish building it".

finger foods: I, too, worry about choking. DS has choked/gagged a tiny bit on his cheerio halves that I give him. He does pretty good with the puffs and the freeze dried bananas and mangos. I've given him chopped up very small pieces of banana to feed himself, but he can't even pick them up-I guess they're too slimy.

[GardenGirl]

Elenna - for bananas, I crush up some Cherrios and roll the banana pieces in them so he can pick them up. He loves them. I read that on the 6-12 month feeding thread I think. I'm getting more relaxed about the choking (not sure if relaxed is the right word to use though), because I'm more comfortable at the "finger sweep" and turning him upside down so the food falls out. He loves the zwieback toast, but I've found that he will hord it in his mouth like a chipmunk and then gag. So he no longer gets those. So for now it's squishy things, puffs, and Cherrios. I do want to expand his choices though, he's wanting to feed himself more and more. And the mesh feeder isn't satisfying his desire to pick up foods.

[jmvan74]

food: Not much here. Doesn't care to eat solids. I can barely get 2 "meals" a day in to him. As for finger foods....he seems to put everything in his mouth except for the foods I try to give him. He spits those out. :rolleyes:

teeth: Brady got his first 2 this past week. Bottom middle. First one broke through on Monday and the second one on Thursday. I hate nursing a baby with teeth, but I know I won't be able to wean him any time soon.

[Winter Biscuit]

I hate nursing a baby with teeth, but I know I won't be able to wean him any time soon.

I feel for you, because I'm in the same situation. It's only been a week since the first tooth broke through, but I have been able to feel that tooth scraping against my nipple when she nurses since the minute it poked through. Heck, that's how I knew the tooth had broken through -- I could feel it when she nursed. I have to make a conscious effort to relax when nursing her because I am on high alert in case of bite attempt. DD#1 bit me a few times in her 13 months of nursing (thankfully it was "only" a few times) and I will never forget how excruciatingly painful that was. Allison is absolutely not ready to wean, and I am not going to wean simply because she has teeth. That makes no sense to me. I'm just not looking forward to the inevitable let-me-chomp-down-on-mommy's-nipple-as-hard-as-I-can bites. Ouch.

[Elenna]

Winter Biscuit: Oh.my.gosh The biting the nipple thing is sooo painful. DS did that for a week before his top tooth appeared. Once it broke the surface he stopped biting. I had thought for sure our nursing relationship was over, because I couldn't take much more of it.

gardengirl: I tried coating the banana pieces with crushed cheerios, but the cheerio coating just got soggy and slippery, too. Maybe I didn't coat them enough.

[ggclark]

Help!

We are having some problems over here... Lily has started Seperation Anxiety or something like that lately and it is really wearing on us. DD (who was happy and content most all the time-- "the happiest baby" some would say) has suddenly developed this whinny, needing, clingy, please don't leave me thing. I am torn b/c part of me thinks it is legitimate but another part of me thinks she is testing us... and being bratty... I don't know... I don't want a cranky whinny baby but I don't want her scarred if I let her whine and ignore it.

Also, for the first time, lately, she cried her head off when I put her down for naps.... HYSTERICAL... so I thought that was SA.. but I have no idea how to handle it. Do you just let them cry or do you go to them

I am so frustrated b/c I don't know what has happened or changed.. where did my happy baby go??!

[mommydearest]

ggclark--We are having the same issues here. DD got her first two teeth this week, though. I am hoping it is related because it is driving me nuts. Bedtimes have gotten horrible. To top it off, my MIL was here all week and she "never ever let her babies cry" when they were going to bed. She was totally annoying about it. We usually just lie Abby down and she either goes straight to sleep or fusses a couple minutes, then sleeps. This week it is out and out hysterics. It didn't help that DH can't stand to hear her cry and would go in there and rock her again. So, since MIL and SIL went home tonight, I made it abundantly clear to DH NOT to go in there. She was hysterical for 10 minutes and then went to sleep.

I know the separation anxiety is part of the age. DD is fine a couple minutes after I leave, and is fine if she forgets that I am home. But if she catches sight of me, she freaks out. I'm ready for a new stage!

In other news, DD has gotten really good at crawling. Grandma's laptop computer cord is her new favorite thing to crawl for. Hundreds of dollars in toys and she likes the computer best. Go figure.

[mommydearest]

Its awful quiet around here...

[Elenna]

If everyone has been as busy as I have keeping up with their crawlers, then I'm not too surprised at how quiet it is in here.LOL.

Did I ever say how much I looked forward to DS crawling? Well, I take it back. I'm so exhausted constantly following DS around. Yesterday he discovered the cat food in the kitchen and the fireplace in the living room (we don't have a raised hearth). And now that he's discovered them he makes beelines toward them as soon as you put him down on the floor. I know he's exploring his world, but geesh can't he rest for one moment in his explorations. It is funny that as soon as I babyproof something (like the lamp cords) he discovers something else we need to babyproof.

I have no idea what to do about the cat food and the fireplace. I think our fireplace opening is big enough that I think a baby gate will fit so maybe that'll take care of that problem. I need to take measurements and see what'll fit. But I can't think of a solution about the cat food.

Now, I'm just waiting for him to discover the back bathroom with the cat litter box in it. I'm sure it'll happen as soon as I take care of the cat litter and the fireplace.:rolleyes:

[mommydearest]

We put the cat food on top of the dryer. It keeps it away from the dog too. Our litter box is a rubbermaid bin, so it is tall. It keeps her out for now, though it won't be long. I got one of the foam door cushions to keep DD from slamming the laundry room door on her fingers...and keeping the cat away from his litter box.

My problem is that she picks up dog hair and puts it in her mouth. We have a Rott/Lab mix, so no matter how much I vacuum, there is hair. It is driving me nuts.

[katmg]

I can't keep up with sweeping the dog hair. We don't have dust bunnies here, we have dust gorillas! I pretty much only give her free reign in her room. In the other rooms she mainly gets carried or is in her high chair or pack n play. We have brick floors in our kitchen/breakfast room so I don't want her little legs getting all scraped up in there. I let her roll around on the living room rug but not much on the hardwoods. In our bedroom she's usually on the bed. Once she is walking I'll give her more access to things, but for now she is content exploring her room. :o

We've had a busy week - something going on almost every day. Next week will probably be really quiet!

[zhannushka]

crawling - We don't let DS crawl on the floor at all. We have very little free floor space everywhere, there's not even any room for him to crawl unless it's under a dining room table or under a magazine table in the living room... :rolleyes: We have a huge PnP set up in the living room for him (it's not rectangular like the other ones, but square) - he crawls in there and also on our bed when we are playing with him. My dog is known to snap when he's bothered by something and I'm afraid that DS will pull his tail and get snapped at. Once he's walking - I'll let him explore more, but not just yet... He seems content with what he gets, so - it's all good for now! :)

[Winter Biscuit]

I think our fireplace opening is big enough that I think a baby gate will fit so maybe that'll take care of that problem. I need to take measurements and see what'll fit.

Elenna, you can also consider blocking off the fireplace with one of those superyard things. My friend did that, and it worked. As an added bonus, she kept their Christmas tree blocked off with the same Superyard so the baby couldn't get at it.

Speaking of Christmas -- for those of you that celebrate Christmas -- if you think chasing after a curious baby is exhausting now, just wait until your mobile darlings discover your Christmas tree (assuming you'll have one). :D Fortunately for us, our basement is finished so we can set up our tree down there and keep Allison away from it for the most part. (We also keep all of DD#1's smaller toys in the basement playroom, as many of them are choking hazards for Allison.) That way, Allison will have free reign of our main floor as well as the 2nd floor and can play anywhere on those 2 levels, and we can still have our tree in the lower level. But wow - I still remember the first year we had a tree when DD#1 was walking and toddling everywhere. She was so fascinated by the tree and all the hanging ornaments.

Forbidden items -- we don't have any pets so no pet food or litter boxes to worry about. But I do have a glass wine rack in my kitchen with about 15 bottles of wine on it. Allison makes a beeline for that every single time, she is completely fascinated with it. (Of course, don't they always want the very things that they're not supposed to have?!) When DD#1 was a baby, she was attracted to the wine rack too, but learned fairly quickly that it was off limits. We never needed to put it away or gate it off or anything, as DD#1 stayed away from it once she got over the initial fascination. With Allison, I have a feeling it's not going to be quite so easy. I'm thinking we might need to move the wine rack to the formal dining room, and then gate that room off. That is the only area of the house that I won't let Allison explore, and we gated it off when DD#1 was younger too. All of my good china and crystal is in there -- it's just no place for a baby or young toddler.

[Elenna]

winter biscuit: I briefly considered a superyard thing, but our living room is so small that it would take up too much valuable floor space. I found a baby gate that fits the opening perfectly.

X-mas: Oh, boy, I hadn't even thought about that. I think we'll put up our tree as late as possible.

katmg: I hear you about the pet hairs. I have to sweep and vacuum everyday (one of our cats has long hair and sheds like crazy).

So, of course, as soon as I gated off the fireplace DS found the back bathroom with the cat box in it. :rolleyes: DH and I decided we're going to have to block off the kitchen because that leads to the back bathroom and has the cat food in it (which we have no where else to put).

[katmg]

I love Christmas and was bummed that I didn't decorate as much last year being so huge and preggo. (And expecting DD to come before Xmas as my OB told me! :rolleyes:) Anyway, we normally put our tree in our front living room (which we don't use that much) so I'm hoping that we won't have too many issues with tree fascination but I doubt that I'll be putting up the fragile, German glass ornaments that I got for my wedding up like I normally do!

[mommydearest]

DD is not allowed in our living room/dining room on the floor, so that is where the tree will go. We put a gate across the kitchen/dining room door. This also keeps her away from the china cabinet and the stairs. So I'm not so worried about the tree.

My mom's friend back in the day got one of those huge old style square playpens and put their tree IN the playpen to keep their son away. It looked hilarious, but it kept the boy away from it.

[ggclark]

QOTD: What do you all do with your DC if you have tile or wood with the crawling? Lily is just learning to crawl.. and she isn't that good yet... she falls on her face ALOT. We limit her to the carpeted areas, which are only a room or two-- but I don't want to limit her development. The main areas of the house are tile and wood. So, what do I do? Do I just let her learn on the tile and hope she doesn't hurt herself? Didn't know if you all have this problem and what you do? In the meantime, she is pulling up on everything and wants to stand all the time. I hear it is not as great for them to start walking so soon.. so I know it would be better for her to have more floor time.

How much are all of your DC crawling at this point?

[zhannushka]

ggclark - I am sure that I'm in the minority here, but - DS is not allowed to crawl on the floor at all right now. He still falls on his face and since our condo is not child-proofed at all (it's so small that it would be near impossible to child-proof), we feel that it's safer for him this way. He crawls around his big PnP, on our bed and occasionally on the floor (on a blanket) - when I'm sitting there playing with him. I asked my pedi whether this would affect his development in any way and she said "absolutely not". FWIW - neither my sister and I, nor my DH were allowed to crawl on the floor when we were babies and we turned out fine. :p

[mommydearest]

Our first floor is on a slab. We didn't let DD sit down there without being right with her to catch her. But we let her crawl everywhere, including the wood floor and the tubes of the playground near our house. She used to do tummy time down there while I cooked and then learned to roll over, which naturally grew into crawling. She's pretty steady now. DD's starting to pull herself up, so it won't be long before she is cruising the furniture. I would be much more concerned about her on the bed because she is really fast and loves the edge. We only let her play on the bed with me on one side and DH on the other.

We don't leave her alone on the floor much--I do have a gate, but she loves cords. I put electrical outlet covers on the outlets just in case, but don't trust her for more than a couple seconds while I throw a load of wash in or pee where I can see her. Keeping her on a blanket would be pointless...she is FAST and can cross the room in about 4 seconds.

[Elenna]

QOTD: Wood floors: We have wood floors all over our first floor and tile in front of our fireplace. I let DS crawl all over the floors. He has face planted a few times while crawling, but it never seems to bother him. He just gets right back up and continues crawling. When he was learning to sit up we kept a boppy around him for the falling backwards. Though, there were a few times when we didn't put the boppy around him and he fell back and hit his head on the hard wood :((we'd be sitting next to him to catch him and we sometimes missed from being distracted by something else). I still feel bad about that.
All three of my sister's boys learned to crawl and walk on hard wood floors so I've never really worried about this.

cruising: DS is starting to cruise. We put big plastic bins in the office in front of cords, computers, and "no-no" stuff and they're lined up in a row. He cruised up and down the row last night. :D Also, he walks when we hold his hands so I'm thinking he'll start walking soon. (According to my mom I started walking when I was 9 months old.)

mommydearest: DS loves cords, too. I found an outlet cover at BRU that has a covered place to coil the cord so there is less temptation and no slack for playing with a cord. (Of course this only works for certain locations.)

Does anyone take their DC to storytimes at libraries or bookstores? I'm thinking of taking DS to a story time at our local Barnes and Noble, but I wonder if he might be too young.

[katmg]

Library time - We're going to check out the library time on Wednesday. The website says from 3 months to 15 months for the "infant" storytime. I think they sing some songs and read a story. I think DD will enjoy it more now than when she was younger. I'm hoping to make it part of our weekly routine.

[Winter Biscuit]

QOTD: What do you all do with your DC if you have tile or wood with the crawling? We have tile and wood floors on our main level, and carpet on the other 2 levels. The tile & wood hasn't been an issue for us. The hard floors don't seem to bother Allison at all. She face planted a few times in the beginning but, like Elenna's son, she'd just get right back up and continue. I may be a little more relaxed because this is my 2nd child, but I have the attitude that they're going to get a few bumps and bruises along the way; it's inevitable so I try not to worry too much. Don't get me wrong, I don't want my child to get all banged up - nobody does :) But I figure that it's just part of the learning curve, and how they learn about their world.

How much are all of your DC crawling at this point?
Allison pretty much crawls whenever she wants. She is allowed and encouraged to explore as much as she wants (within reason, of course! ;) Obviously some areas are off-limits like my wine rack and the formal dining room - but other than that, she has free reign). She crawls and scoots around quite a bit, other times she's content to sit and play with some toys until something else catches her eye or she wants to be picked up.

[mommydearest]

Library Since I work, there are no library times I can go to. But my mom took DD last week for the first time to Itsy Bitsy Infants. It is 20 minutes long and they read a touchy feely board book with one for each kid, have a bubble machine, sing a couple songs and play with some toys. Apparently of the 9 kids, DD was one of only two that were crawling yet (she was also the youngest). Mom told me that I have "THAT" child, you know, the one everyone whispers about because the other kids sat quietly and listened to the story, while Abby just wanted to crawl away and pull the little girl next to her's beautiful long hair. Mom said she was sitting with her legs wrapped around DD holding on to the back of her dress to keep her in one spot. Apparently she didn't actually touch the little girl next to her, but made her cry none the less when she reached for the pigtail. So, the people at the library won't soon forget her!

[zhannushka]

Library Since I work, there are no library times I can go to. But my mom took DD last week for the first time to Itsy Bitsy Infants. It is 20 minutes long and they read a touchy feely board book with one for each kid, have a bubble machine, sing a couple songs and play with some toys. Apparently of the 9 kids, DD was one of only two that were crawling yet (she was also the youngest). Mom told me that I have "THAT" child, you know, the one everyone whispers about because the other kids sat quietly and listened to the story, while Abby just wanted to crawl away and pull the little girl next to her's beautiful long hair. Mom said she was sitting with her legs wrapped around DD holding on to the back of her dress to keep her in one spot. Apparently she didn't actually touch the little girl next to her, but made her cry none the less when she reached for the pigtail. So, the people at the library won't soon forget her!
Haha, that made me laugh! :) We keep saying that DS will be a bully when he's older... He had a playdate with our friend's baby (they are 3 days apart) last week - he kept pulling the other little boy's legs and trying to yank a paci out of his mouth! :rolleyes: After about 1/2 hour, the other baby would cry every time Joseph tried to reach for him! :o

[Alegna]

Megan is a crawling maniac these days. She's even progressed into pulling herself up to the standing position here and there. Mostly on hard surfaces like the entertainment center or the coffee table. The nice cushy things like the couch or ottoman don't interest her.

At daycare the kids are not allowed in the kitchen. It's too hard for my provider to do anything without tripping over someone. Plus the bathroom and basement stairs are there. I like that idea and am not allowing Megan in the kitchen. Plus I won't have to worry about all the cabinets or the garbage can. She sits in the doorway and watches what's going on. But she has discovered the stairs in the living room. Going to have to put a gate up so she can't climb them.

I can't get Megan to eat bananas. If they are mixed into something she'll eat it but not plain. Tried a stage 3 dinner the other day. Chicken and noodles. Looked pretty yummy. Megan disagreed. She gagged and threw up with every bite. But yet she'll chomp on the puffs like there's no tomorrow. Oh well. Stage 2 food for a while longer.

[ggclark]

What to do!!!??

Lily has been blowing raspberries when she eats... constantly... she is so into it lately.. and I say no and she does it again and laughs. I don't know if she understands me or not....in the meantime she is spitting her solids out and won't eat much. She just sits there blowing these raspberries like crazy. I just keep saying no and I hope it will set it soon.... or this phase will end.

[zhannushka]

What to do!!!??

Lily has been blowing raspberries when she eats... constantly... she is so into it lately.. and I say no and she does it again and laughs. I don't know if she understands me or not....in the meantime she is spitting her solids out and won't eat much. She just sits there blowing these raspberries like crazy. I just keep saying no and I hope it will set it soon.... or this phase will end.
With DS, this was just a phase... Whenever he learns to do something really well, he just wants to keep practicing it all.the.time. So, for about a week he was blowing raspberries, then - screaming in this high pitch voice, now - it's standing up in his PnP and throwing all his toys out on the floor... :p

[katmg]

DD loves to blow raspberries. I agree with zhanna though - most of the time the stuff that drives me nuts is just a passing phase - as long as I ignore it. (Like when she started barking like the dog to get our attention! :eek:) Since DH has encouraged the raspberry blowing :rolleyes:, that one has stuck around more. In fact, just today as I was trying to wipe her face and hands after eating she blew raspberries at me, as if to say, "Momma, I don't want my face wiped!" I blew some back at her and she started laughing at me. Guess she wasn't expecting that one!

[mommydearest]

DD's newest phase for me is pinching my boob and the back of my arm while she is nursing. She was always a pincher, but not so hard. I have about 15 little bruises on the back of my left arm and one bigger one. I have tried saying NO firmly, but it isn't helping. If I have long sleeves on, she doesn't do it. But it was 93 here today, so sleeves weren't an option. I'd gladly take the raspberries!!! She seems to be over the phase.

[jmvan74]

Hardwood: Brady crawls wherever he wants. If he falls on the hardwood, so be it. Like Winter Biscuit, this is my second so I'm pretty laid back about a lot of things that freaked me out the first time. Brady is also cruising and has even started climbing. He climbed up in to Collin's chair (pb kids) and then proceeded to stand up and then fall backwards out of it. :rolleyes: Luckily, it was in one of the only carpeted rooms. I am completely drained from chasing him around.

[GardenGirl]

While this is my first child, I'm of the mindset that he's going to get banged up and I can do my best to prevent the major blows and keep him out of danger, I'm not going to beat myself up about a few boinks on the head.

He is still crawling backwards, he can't seem to figure out how to go forward. I just hate watching him get so frustrated going backwards. He rocks on all 4s forever and then pushes backwards and whines. It's frustrating for me because I still have to chase him around the house PLUS he's fussing at the same time. I'd much rather chase a happy/quiet baby around the house if I'm going to have chase one at all :)

We finally have a tooth. I knew it was coming soon, he's been uncomfortable the last 2 weeks and the past few days he's really been in pain. Then on Monday he had a little drop or two of blood in his drool. So I knew it wouldn't be long. Yesterday morning I did a check and could see and feel it. Of course there isn't much to see yet, but there's something there. He has slept so much better since then. He took two great naps, STTN and is hitting 1.5 hours of his nap this morning. Halleluiah!

We went to our local library for storytime and I liked it and didn't like it at the same time. There were over 50 babies (and 50 moms) there and the children's librarian sang a hello song to every.single.baby - it was ridiculous. It took 20 minutes. But once we got into it was nice. It wasn't actually storytime really, it was more of interactive song time. She leads songs and does puppets. I loved hearing all my old kindergarten songs again - it gave me more repertoire instead of the same old songs I'd been seeing to DS. I'm going to check out a different location next time (one that has a limited number of attendees - you actually get tickets) and see if that helps.

I have a dairy question - what age is common practice for dairy introduction. I called my ped at 8 months and the nurse said to start dairy and meat. I've given him cottage cheese a few times and he loves it, especially since he can self feed it. I don't notice any side effects yet, but I was thinking I thought I'd read 9 or 10 months, so as to not effect the flora in the intestines. Comments on that?

I have a question related to Christmas and Birthdays? Though I should probably pose it to the the Nov/Dec thread since most of our babies in here are mid to late Jan babies. If you are going to have your DC birthday party at your house are you going to leave your holiday decorations up or take them down. I'm torn, but leaning towards taking them down. I LOVE how my house looks at Christmas. I'm a huge Christmas freak, and did it all last year even though I was 9 months preggo. But I want to decorate for DS's party as well. Anyone else mulling that over?

Hey, I haven't seen too many photos lately of everyone's babies - I'd love a refresher if you have time. I just posted some of DS the other day, so I'll refrain (especially since I feel I post them too much).

I'm joining my local YMCA today. Gotta start exercising some more. And I finally feel comfortable (well at least semi-comfortable) leaving DS with someone besides DH or my mom. They have a great kids/baby area and they seperate the big room by infants and toddlers so I don't have to worry about DS getting ran over. My mom is joining too so the buddy system should keep us going. One of the main motivators is they have 2 outdoor heated pools that are open year round until 9pm. One of them is beach front entry with a splash pad. So DH can take DS swimming after work for some "guy time." DS loves the water, so how can I deny him some warm water!!

Kat - I was going to recommend the Tot Spot at the Childrens Museum to you . It's great. They have tons of toys and mirrors and it's free for kids under 2 and $5 for adults. Or free for your family if you get a one year $50 membership. They also have a "Toddler Take Over" from 10:15-11 on Wednesday for 12-18 month olds which looks interesting for when they get older.

[magdesilver]

Haven't been here in a while!! Life is super busy these days!
Ethan is doing great. He is crawling all over, pulling up and starting to cruise. He does fall backwards a few times a day, sometimes assisted by his big sis :rolleyes:. We have concrete floors in most of our main living area (with area rugs) and sometimes he does fall on that, but he's okay. He is waking 1-2 times/night to eat still but I'm going to give it another month or so to start cutting out feeds in the hopes he will do it on his own.
I joined a gym this week and so far he's done okay in the kid's room there. I have only gone so far when DD is at MDO so they haven't been in there together yet but I might try that on Friday when she is home.
Sounds like we have an active group of little ones!!

[Elenna]

blowing raspberries: DS went through this phase, too. I dealt with it by giving him less food on his spoon so there was less to blow out.

storytime: I went to the Barnes and Noble story time. DS was the youngest there, but he enjoyed looking at the other kids and he actually listened a while to the person reading. I just found out the downtown library here has a storytime for very young kids so I'll take DS there next time.

I joined a Stroller Derby at my YMCA. It goes for 6 weeks and meets 5 days a week. Three days a week we meet at the park with our strollers, one day is mommy and baby yoga, and one day is lunch for the mommys while the babies are in the nursery. Yesterday was the first day at the park and it was rough. We did walking lunges, jogged a bit, and lifted light weights. Today was the yoga and that was a lot of fun. DS kept crawling over to the stereo and trying to punch buttons. DS was the only one crawling around during the yoga so I was the only one doing yoga without their baby. I felt a bit left out;). I'm soooo sore. I didn't realize how out of shape I'd gotten.

WOW, DS just cruised from the couch to our coffee table!!:eek: He'd pulled up on the couch, but he just turned around, grabbed the coffee table with one hand and "walked" over to it.

Here's a picture of DS in a baby swing at the park.
http://farm2.static.flickr.com/1423/1434672804_6b37201eee.jpg?v=0

[katmg]

GG - Thanks for the advice on the Children's museum. I'll have to check that out! I'm interested which library you went to - 50 moms!! I went to the one in Spring Branch this morning and there were about 10 moms total. And actually, I think about half of them were nannies.

StorytimeIt was just okay to me. I sing most of the songs that we sang already and it just seemed kinda short to me - only about 20 minutes total including play time. I have a friend who has a 5 month old that I may invite to go with me next time. Then we can go to the park next door afterwards.

Xmas/B-day - I've been thinking about this lately too! With DD's birthday so close to christmas and new year's it's going to be an issue. I got a cute b-day party decorating idea from a magazine article about a new year's party. So I think I'll definitely be taking down the Christmas stuff for that. We're not doing a huge b-day party though - just family. (probably 8 or 9 people total) Christmas tends to be a huge gift giving occassion for my family so we'll probably do a big xmas and a small b-day.

dairy - I'm waiting until after the 9 mo. appt. for dairy, meat, lentils, wheat, etc. I'm sure my doctor will think I'm a loon for waiting on most of that stuff but I just want to see what she says first. I had read that things like yogurt and cheese were broken down more than milk and that is why it is okay to give those things earlier.

Pictures? You wanted pictures? ;) Here are a couple recent ones, including one getting ready to blow some raspberries!

http://i108.photobucket.com/albums/n33/katgalpin/Charlotte/CharlotteSeptember010.jpg

http://i108.photobucket.com/albums/n33/katgalpin/Charlotte/CharlotteSeptember034.jpg

http://i108.photobucket.com/albums/n33/katgalpin/Charlotte/CharlotteSeptember051.jpg

[zhannushka]

Elenna and kat - Adorable babies!!! :D

Dairy - Joseph has been eating yogurt since he was 6 months old as per our pedi. We are leaving to go on vacation next week (we are going to France) and our pedi said that if I plan on giving him French formula, she'd rather me just give him milk. :eek: Anyway - I'm taking Good Start with me and definitely not giving him milk yet, but I thought that this comment was odd... (then again - my pedi is very unconventional, I really shouldn't expect anything less from her! :p)

Here's one of the newest pictures of Joseph hanging out in his crib:

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v196/zhannushka/9thmonth002-1.jpg

[jmvan74]

Adorable babes!

Margaret: I'm still up at least 2 times a night, too. :( We are going to try eliminating one starting this weekend. It's too much for me.

This was about a month ago. He finally got a haircut this past weekend. :p
http://i16.photobucket.com/albums/b44/zoecat52/Sept07016.jpg

[mommydearest]

Here is one last night of DD. She discovered the gate on the stairs and was head-butting it right after this was taken. It was hilarious.

http://photos-752.ll.facebook.com/photos-ll-sctm/v125/138/42/632484752/n632484752_144452_6128.jpg

[gmooter]

Gabe just chilling out:
http://images.costcophotocenter.com/232323232%7Ffp%3B7%3Dot%3E2327%3D3%3A5%3D54%3C%3DX ROQDF%3E23239%3B%3A54748%3Aot1lsi

[jmvan74]

I am loving the pictures. :D They are making me grin from ear to ear!!

[GardenGirl]

Me too! I should have asked earlier!

[Lucy Van Pelt]

Oh man - I am loving all the new pictures. We have some cute babies!!

[zhannushka]

We have some cute babies!!
ITA! :D I'm loving it - keep them coming!!! :)

[amwilson615]

Lovin' the pics ladies!! Our babies are so adorable.

Crawling--Not quite there yet. A lot of squirming and scooting, but no crawling. He'll get up and rock, but go nowhere.

Teeth--Got the two bottom front teeth. First one came while we were on vacation in August and second one the following week.

Foods--Not doing any dairy as of yet. Basic single ingredient foods with a few mixtures, only of items he's had before.

Not sure of anything else, but wanted to drop off pics of my guy, as well.

http://i48.photobucket.com/albums/f214/amwilson615/Myrtle%20Beach%202007/8-26-07034.jpg

http://i48.photobucket.com/albums/f214/amwilson615/Myrtle%20Beach%202007/8-26-07030.jpg

http://i48.photobucket.com/albums/f214/amwilson615/Myrtle%20Beach%202007/8-26-07130.jpg

http://i48.photobucket.com/albums/f214/amwilson615/Myrtle%20Beach%202007/8-26-07096.jpg

[amwilson615]

Sorry the pics are huge. I don't know how to make them smaller.:o

[zhannushka]

Amanda - Jaden is too cute!!! :D I love his full head of hear - wow! :)

Your pics are in photobucket, right? If you want to make them smaller, just click on the pic in your photobucket album and then "resize". It will give you options of the sizes you want. HTH. :)

[GardenGirl]

Amanda - Jaden is SO adorable. You need to most pics of him more often. I just love his smile and those cheeks!

I've been busy downloading video off our camera and pulling out clips to email out of town family. Dang it takes forever to download, split the clip, then upload to photobucket. I'm about to fall asleep at my computer! I may post one of him doing his latest "trick." He loves ceiling fans, so now when you say "Carter, where's the fan?" He'll look up at the ceiling for the fan. It's so cute.

Ginger - didn't you take Katie to Sears a while back and have her photo taken and they were going to use it in their advertising? Or am I imagining things? Anyhow, I got an email last week from them and I swear the pic looks like Katie. Is this her?
http://i78.photobucket.com/albums/j99/terashelton/sears.jpg

I guess I'll post a pic of Carter (even though like I said, I feel like I'm always posting pics of him). This is from this weekend when he rode in his bike trailer for the first time. The helmet looks huge, but it actually fits quite snug. This was after we unbuckled him (my gosh, there are lots of straps in that thing) and he didn't want to get out.
http://i78.photobucket.com/albums/j99/terashelton/9-23-07013.jpg

[zhannushka]

Tera - Carter looks SO "cool" in that pic! :D

[wine_o_girlie]

Hey January mommies, long time no "talk". What a super fun day to come by this thread! I am loving all of the babies!! Wow, I cannot believe how much hair some of your kids have. Griff is jealous. :)

Here's my monkey doing his favorite new thing - standing in the crib (we dropped it all the way the evening this pic was taken)

http://thegarnerfamily.smugmug.com/photos/198310933-M.jpg
http://thegarnerfamily.smugmug.com/photos/198314141-M.jpg
http://thegarnerfamily.smugmug.com/photos/198312801-M.jpg

Here he is thoroughly enjoying his first kugel for Rosh Hashanah (I guess that means we are moving forward with dairy!)

http://thegarnerfamily.smugmug.com/photos/198305256-M.jpg

He likes to crawl right through things - like people, exercausers, etc. The boy has never heard of "going around" something - he goes right through it!

http://thegarnerfamily.smugmug.com/photos/198301525-M.jpg

-cont-

[thechick79]

My goodness, this thread is full of CUTE babies! Love the pics.
GardenGirl - where did you get your swing? Carter looks so happy in it!

Here is my Lydia:
http://i78.photobucket.com/albums/j100/thechick79/lydia/aug07/aug07_2562.jpg

It's harder to get her to smile for the camera these days. She's always so busy.

[Lucy Van Pelt]

Ginger - didn't you take Katie to Sears a while back and have her photo taken and they were going to use it in their advertising? Or am I imagining things? Anyhow, I got an email last week from them and I swear the pic looks like Katie. Is this her?


Nope - she "modeled" for JC Penneys, not Sears. It was for a special sitting so just some local display advertising.

[wine_o_girlie]

Here's Griff getting in trouble in the pantry -

http://thegarnerfamily.smugmug.com/photos/198290498-M.jpg

Happy Boy!

http://thegarnerfamily.smugmug.com/photos/198300752-M.jpg

Cracking up...

http://thegarnerfamily.smugmug.com/photos/198297135-M.jpg

Summer's over, sniff, sniff, last weekend at the beach -

http://thegarnerfamily.smugmug.com/photos/198307489-M.jpg


Sorry for the massive picture dump.

We are having SO MUCH fun with our little guy these days. I love, love, love this age. Griff is now giving high fives and waving hi and bye. He is so interactive now. He is cruising like crazy and I fear he will be walking within a month. Okay, not fear, but it is a bit scary to think about him walking and being such a big boy.

QOTD: Fess up, who's started planning the first birthday party?

My answer: ME! :o My husband would kill me if he knew. We are agreed that we are doing a monkey theme because we call him Monkey all the time. I ordered some favors today from the Amazon book sale - Curious George books! I am so excited. I am going to order invites and cupcake flags from Gaddie and Tood in this theme -

http://www.gaddieandtood.com/sitebuilder/images/bananas2-450x292.jpg

I am SO excited, it's sick. We are going to have a smallish party but I am looking forward to it. I was looking at the First Birthday Party thread today and loving so many ideas. Anyone else being nutty like me?

[robyn]

I haven't been around in forever but I'm glad I stopped by and got to see all the adorable babies! Everyone is so cute and I love hearing about all the latest activities and advancements.

The big news around here is that DS is going to be a big brother!! We had planned on waiting about 6 months to TTC, but I guess life had other plans for us. ;) It was a bit of a shock at first ... they'll be 16 months apart and it makes me tired just to think about it, but now that we've had some time to settle into the idea we are super excited. It's so weird how different I feel (mentally) this pregnancy. I'm so focused on DS and all that I often forget I'm even pregnant. I think I'm almost 7 weeks, but I was still nursing when we conceived (still am) and so I'm not entirely sure about my cycles and when the EDD is. I'll find out more when I go to the doctor in mid-October.

In the meantime, L is crawling, pulling up everywhere, cruising a tiny bit and sleeping very well. I am so grateful that he dropped the last overnight feeding on his own as I was preparing myself for a battle over that. Still no waving hi or bye or clapping, which bums me out. Please tell me that some of the other babies are not doing that either!

I am totally paranoid about autism. I know I need to stop obsessing, but I just can't. I read about all these "clues" and I start to see them in my son. That's why the not waving and clapping is freaking me out. And about a month ago he was saying "mamamama" all the time, but he hasn't said it in at least 2 weeks. He does say "dadadada" but he's dropped the other babble "words" he was saying before. I read that losing words is a big red flag for autism, but I'm not sure if that applies to babble as well. I've been consumed by this ever since DS was a few weeks old and wasn't big on eye contact. Now he makes eye contact all the time and smiles constantly so I'd like to think everything is okay, but I still get worried. I know, I know ... I'm nuts. The funny part is, all everyone can talk about these days is the the Jenny McCarthy appearance on Oprah, and I didn't even see that. I'm getting this all from my own self-inflicted craziness.

Anyway, here are a few of the recent pics I have ...

Getting geared up for Halloween. :)
http://i20.photobucket.com/albums/b210/robynld/DSC_0023-5.jpg

Checking out Emeril ...
http://i20.photobucket.com/albums/b210/robynld/DSC_0038-3.jpg

http://i20.photobucket.com/albums/b210/robynld/DSC_0011-1.jpg

[zhannushka]

robyn - Congratulations!!! :D Have a Happy and Healthy pregnancy!!! :)

[katmg]

robyn - I hear you on the autism thing. It is so, so hard not to obsess. I vacillate between obsessing over autism and obsessing over developmental delays. :rolleyes: I saw a show on early identification of autism and I feel like I'm always looking for clues. You're definitely not alone. Congratulations on baby #2!

All the baby pictures are so, so cute!

[jmvan74]

More adorable babies! Love it! I need to upload more recent pics today.

Congrats Robyn! 2 under 2 is exhausting, but when I see my boys making each other laugh it makes it all worth it. ;)

I don't usually worry about Autism, but every other developmental delay is always on my mind. So far Brady seems like a happy, healthy little man.

wine-o: I hear you on the "fear" of walking soon. Brady cruises and climbs on EVERYTHING. He actually let go and turned to take a step before falling yesterday. NO FEAR! Acckkk.


Halloween: I bought Brady a turtle costume from TCP. It should be interesting. LOL!

[GardenGirl]

Autism - I think it about it alot, but I tell myself to put it out of my mind. I purposefully didn't watch the Oprah show because I didn't want to obsess about all the eary signs and such. Well the next day or so she was on GMA and I caught a little of it. I go between wanting to be informed and then not wanting to even think/talk about it. Probably because there so many unknows about it that you can drive yourself crazy.

Carter doesn't wave or clap. Most of the babies in our Little Gym class are 7-10 months and only about 15% can wave/clap at this time. I do look forward to that though, it's adorable. We work on it a little everyday, I clap everytime he does something "good", like catching the ball I roll to him, and then he rolls it back. He has finally opened his hands and let me clap for him. He used to keep his hands in a fist when I clapped, so we are getting somewhere. We don't practice waving, I should probably do that :)

Words - he started putting syllables together back in the middle of June which was exciting. He says Dada all.the.time but still doesn't associate it with DH. He was saying Mamamamama a little about 1.5-2 months ago and I rarely, I mean rarely, here it. It's mostly Da, Pa, Ta, Ba, and a few Ga's.

Birthday - I keep meaning to read the thread, but it's daunting since it's sooo long. Wine-o, you definitely aren't nuts for thinking about it.

Halloween - Carter is going to be a rooster (appropriate since he gets up at the crack of dawn and squaks at us to come get him, hehehe). Here's a snap shot when I tried it on him. I have the matching orange tights in case it's cold here in Texas (highly doubtful though). We have a couple parties/carnival type things we could go to, so I'll have ample opportunity to get some good shots. I think some of the mom's on my cul-de-sac are thinking about having a little block party and taking our babies to a couple houses for trick-or-treating. We'll see.
http://i78.photobucket.com/albums/j99/terashelton/9-13-07013.jpg

http://i78.photobucket.com/albums/j99/terashelton/9-13-07002.jpg

ETA - Congrats Robyn, I forgot to say that at the beginning. Not sure when we'll actively TTC, I guess we are playing the "we'll see what happens game." I am 17 months apart from my brother and I love it. We were very close growing up and still are. We only got on each others nerves in highschool when all my friends wanted to date him :) So part of my would like DS to have a sibling that close BUT I don't honestly think I could handle giving any more of myself right now. I know lots of people that can do it, but I'm not there yet. Good luck and have a great 9 months. Are you going to find out the sex this time (or at least try:))

[Elenna]

Loving all the pictures!

gardengirl: That picture of Carter with the bike helmet is just soo cute!

robyn: I'm totally with you on being paranoid about autism. So is every mom in my Stroller Derby group. The DH of one of the moms in my Stroller Derby group is a child psychologist. She said that ever since that Oprah story with Jenny McCarthy they've been bombarded with calls from worried parents.
Congratulations on your pregnancy!

clapping, waving, etc: Is anyone's DC doing this? DS doesn't clap, wave or any of that stuff. We do pattycake with him everyday and he loves it, but he won't clap on his own. We wave hi and bye all the time, too, but again he won't do it on his own.

Ever since DS cruised from the couch to the coffee table he's been trying it every chance he gets. Unfortunately, he hasn't been successful a couple of times and really bit it. He bonked his head on the edge of the lower shelf of the coffee table. It left a bump and there's a bruise there. I've been soooo paranoid about him having a brain injury ever since (though he's been acting fine, it is just me being paranoid). I've also been all over him ready to catch him every time he's tried since.

[zhannushka]

clapping/waving: DS has been clapping for about 1.5 months now. I didn't teach him to do it (I rarely ever clap myself when I'm with him) - I have no idea where he got it from! He started doing it around the same time he learned how to sit up on his own. He does not wave at all.

[Elenna]

halloween: Here's DS in his costume. It's the dragon costume from Old Navy.
http://farm2.static.flickr.com/1372/1434672786_654384dc12.jpg?v=0
http://farm2.static.flickr.com/1383/1433770909_15cf04de2a.jpg?v=0

[katmg]

Clapping - I just started clapping with Charlotte. She loves it when I clap or when I clap her hands but she doesn't do it herself. I wave her hands to say good-bye sometimes but again, she doesn't do it on her own. One thing that she picked up really quickly was turning on/off the lights. When I'm holding her, I show her how to turn on or off the light and now she LOVES doing. I'm amazed that she can do it using just one finger too! She's been doing high-fives for awhile now.

Halloween Did I post this already? I'm sewing DD a lamb costume. I'm such a glutton for punishment. Luckily, I started early and I'm about halfway done. I'll certainly be done in time for Halloween but this costume is going to be huge on her! Oops.

[gmooter]

robyn, congrats! My 2 are 17 months apart! It's a lot of work but everyone says I'll love it in the end!

clapping Gabe's been clapping for a while now.

halloween I think Gabe will be a bumblebee, Grace is going to be a ladybug. I also have a duck costume that would fit him. I think the bug theme is cute although Gabe won't stop saying "duck" now!

[ggclark]

I love the pictures... such adorable babies ;)
I will have to upload some new ones of Lily this weekend... so our pictures are coming soon.

Congrats on the new baby Robyn!!! You know, we were ALMOST going to start trying again, but decided to hold off just a bit.. but I definitely have baby fever and want another soon!

Clapping/waving- we try and we show her, but she hasn't picked it up yet... When we wave, she stares and her hands kind of move like she really wants to do it.. it's so funny... she studies the person waving sooo seriously.

Halloween- DD is going to be a Hershey Kiss... it's really a cute costume.

Birthday-- Yes, I have already thought of it as well. We originally said we would skip the big party and do something small with just family.. but now that it is approaching, I do want to do something special.. and have a party after all. I have some ideas...but nothing nailed down yet.

Words- Lily is really chatty... she says alot of baba, dada, mama, woowoo, yeaaa, yaya, tete and a few more. She is constantly babbling away..it's so fun to play the mimic game with her now-- when I am driving, I make one of those sounds and she copies me.

Pulling up- We are pulling up and standing every chance we get. DD doesn't even want to lay on the floor and sit and play if there is a chance she can pull herself up on something I swear, she may skip crawling--she does her own version of an army crawl, but hasn't perfected it at all.. I think she will walk before long.

[robyn]

Thanks for all the congrats on the pregnancy! :)

I'm so glad now that I asked about the clapping and waving. It's a big relief to hear that a lot of the babies here are not doing it. All in time, right? :D

Hope everyone has a great weekend.

[zhannushka]

QOTD: Is my child the only one who's not saying anything yet? He does babble and makes some syllables sounds like "gee", "goo", "daa", "dee", etc., but no "dada", "mama" or anything like that... Now I'm a little worried... :o

[ggclark]

I would not worry.. they all develop at their own pace. I know we all share, which is great, but I dont think you should get nervous at all! Some are crawling, others aren't, some wave, others aren't...It sounds like your little guy is right on track.
I often worry about stuff too... and my DH gets so frustrated with me. We decided not to read anymore books, etc b/c they make me so crazy ;)-- Just like Robyn said with the autism... we are our own worst enemy with all this :)

[ggclark]

Here is Lily... some recent pictures!

http://i201.photobucket.com/albums/aa24/gmgigs/Lilysittingupinbed.jpg
Sitting up in her bed

http://i201.photobucket.com/albums/aa24/gmgigs/Lilytryingtostand.jpg
Trying to pull up

http://i201.photobucket.com/albums/aa24/gmgigs/Lilyinswing.jpg
first time on the swing

[zhannushka]

Thanks ggclark! :) You're absolutely right - I also decided that I won't be reading anymore books or watching anymore programs if I want my peace of mind! :rolleyes:

Lily is adorable! :D

[GardenGirl]

Speaking of reading books, I haven't picked up my "Week by Week" since week 26. It got to where I was so frustrated reading things that were "supposed" to be going on, all the time knowing full well that would be highly unlikely. I might pick it up again soon just in case there are some good games, but I no longer look at milestone charts.

Carter caught some gastro-virus and the poor kid has tons of diarrhea. I just thought all the dirty diapers and looser stools was from the teething (I feel bad I didn't think otherwise). Then on Wednesday he vomitted. So I called the ped and she said there has been a lot of a gastro virus going around and he probably caught it. She said to up the fluids, increase rice/bananas if he can tolerate it and expect it to last 10 days. She said if he cant keep anything down for a day, then to bring him in so she can monitor his hydration, but there isn't much else you can do. He hasn't vomitted again and doesn't seem fussy, but the poop is ridiculous. I know this has been going on longer than 10 days, but I'm not sure how long since I was attributing it to teething. We have our 9 month WBV a week from Monday, so if he is still having multiple loose dirty diapers, that will be on the top of my list of questions.

Just to reiterate - I LOVE ALL THE PHOTOS! I just adore looking at baby pictures.

[mommydearest]

Robyn Congrats!!!!

Development My good friend's daughter is 5 months older than Abby, so we can see a lot of things between the two girls. Some things her daughter did earlier, but she was a really late crawler (11 months) and Abby was doing it at 7. But 2 months later, her daughter is almost walking, whereas Abby has zero interested in it. You just can't compare kids or you get paranoid.

Birthday--I was at the party store this week for a shower and my mom's birthday, and picked up a couple adorable pink 1st b-day things. DD has her party hat, a plate/bowl set with silverware (at least we can use it afterward), a high chair decorating kit, and candles. It was too fun. DD loves to swim and my school has an indoor pool with fountains and a water slide, so I want to rent the pool for her birthday. But the school is 30 minutes from us and 45 minutes from most of the guests. So, we're still thinking about it.

Gastro virus We had one here last week. It just kept going and going. I finally ordered liners for my cloth diapers because it was getting ridiculously gross. We bought some Cruisers for a couple days when it was the worst. She is doing better, but the poop is still not back to the solid toddler stuff we used to have.

Autism We have a lot of autistic kids in my school. Honestly, it is very manageable and if you have a severe kid, you'd know it by now. What I have found is that in teaching autistic kids, you have to be clear on directions, go one step at a time, be consistent, and give them cues as to what comes next. In short--good parenting and teaching!

For higher functioning on the spectrum, you just can't worry about it now. I have several students that weren't diagnosed until middle school, and one was a high schooler. I am convinced that it is the new ADHD...we know something is odd and want to give it a label, but are over diagnosing. I personally wouldn't want my kid labeled as anything because that follows them forever. My good friend's 3 year old was tested recently, and she is a special ed teacher herself. The testing was very difficult because on some things, he scored as autistic, on some things he scored as normal, and on some things, you can attribute the behavior to him being 3. But they did the workup and he has a therapist that comes to his preschool each week. This paperwork and IEP is going to follow him throughout his school years, even if he doesn't end up having true autism. He also has "my parents got divorced this year and are competing for my love" spoiled brat syndrome. This is my personal explanation for a LOT of the behavior.

Halloween I bought DD the pink octopus from babystyle. http://www.babystyle.com/images/product/22840_MID_l.jpg

Words Mama and dada and babbling. Grandma is working on duck when they feed the ducks every day, and I'm working on doggy, but none are sticking.

Pulling up DD did it once when she wanted something and bashed her head, and now she has no interest. I have several walk behind toys and she won't even hold on to the bar, let alone walk with them.

Clapping--not here. She started waving this week, though.

[Lucy Van Pelt]

Katie is also wearing the pink octopus costume from Baby Style.

[Winter Biscuit]

Here's a few recent pictures of my bald beauty! I think we win the award for the least amount of hair! :D

Here's our little cheerleader at a MSU tailgate in early September:
http://farm2.static.flickr.com/1105/1469013772_ed37d85098_m.jpg

Allison is officially crawling, although she constantly tries to get up on her feet as if she wants to walk. It's hilarious because she ends up hopping/limping around like a little monkey. Like this:
http://farm2.static.flickr.com/1056/1468159577_29cbdfbbf1.jpg?v=0

Getting in my face:
http://farm2.static.flickr.com/1336/1468158723_8ade0b755b.jpg?v=0

Here's proof that we really need to babyproof. (And before anyone freaks out - I was standing right there and grabbed her before she could pull any bottles off the wine rack. That's why the picture is a little blurry - no time to focus with my camera ;))
http://farm2.static.flickr.com/1227/1468164305_8129053ff6.jpg?v=0

[zhannushka]

WB - What a cutie! :) Joseph does the same hopping/limping thing! - DH calls him a froggie. :p

[Lucy Van Pelt]

Alison is so cute!!!

Katie is army crawling right now. We did some babyproofing, but still have more to do. She found the guitars so we moved them behind the couch and she found them AGAIN so I need to move them somewhere else. She also found the fireplace tools when I wasn't looking. She knocked them over, but they didn't hit her (Thank God)! They fell to the side and crashed on the brick and scared the crap outta her AND me.

[gmooter]

Winter Biscuit, I'm a SPARTAN too!!! I graduated in 1996. My niece is up there now and I can't wait to go visit her.

[Winter Biscuit]

Winter Biscuit, I'm a SPARTAN too!!! I graduated in 1996. My niece is up there now and I can't wait to go visit her.


What a small world! I graduated from MSU in 1996 too! :) DH was a '93 grad. I bet if we went through the list of everyone we knew from our college days, we'd come across some mutual names. Go Green! :D

[ggclark]

QOTD: What's considered "early walking"? Lily is now standing and like someone else said about their DC, Lily is SO BRAVE it is scary. She will take steps...literally let go and try and fall at this point, but I don't think it will be long and she will be walking. So, does anyone know what is in the normal range for walking? She has no interest in crawling... at all....

BTW, DD does that same crab walk! So funny!:D

[katmg]

Early Walking - I'm pretty sure my mom said that my brother and I were walking at 9 months. My DD is nowhere near that but I've seen pics of us at the same age and we were certainly standing unsupported and looked like we were walking.

[GardenGirl]

I was an early walker at 9 months as well. Carter might walk in the next month or so. He stands very well and uses just a finger or two to hold on to objects (wall, couch, coffee table). He lets go and stands by himself for really short periods of time. I wouldn't say he actually "stands alone" yet, KWIM? But he hasn't crawled yet either. Still pushes backwards, he hasn't figured out he needs to move his hands forward. But he's figured out he needs to move his hands then his feet when he "walks" against the furniture. Oh well. I'll ask the ped on Monday at his 9 month WBV what she thinks of walking before crawling. I've heard mixed comments on that. Some experts say that learning to crawl is very important in gross motor skills and has an effect later in life with other tasks (can't remember what). But then others say walking first is fine. We'll see.

I think we are working on tooth #2. Another QOTD - how soon after tooth #1 did tooth #2 show? He cut #1 a week ago exactly. The past 2 days he hasn't been himself. He's not his normal content, happy baby and his sleep is off again. He was up for the day at 4:45 this morning because he was so exhausted yesterday and went to bed at 6:15. I really forced a schedule on him today. I kept him up as long as possible this morning and didn't let him nap until 8 (though he wanted to go back down at 6:30). Then I kept him up as long as could for bedtime to make sure he'd sleep past 5 tomorrow. He was asleep at 7:30. We'll see if it works.

I think he's over the gastrovirus thing he had. Thank goodness! That was some stinky green poop.

Off to read 3 months worth of magazines, I need some "me time"

[mommydearest]

We got tooth number 2 the same week as number one...about 2 days later. Those buggers are getting huge, too!

Has anyone had a supply decrease lately? I used to be able to pump 12 oz easy and usually more at work. These days, I am getting only 10 or so, which isn't enough for daycare. Abby doesn't want to nurse for more than 2 or 3 minutes on each side on the weekends, and I was lazy about pumping to make up for it this weekend. Now I am pumping and getting drastically less. I got some fenugreek and started it tonight, so hopefully it will help. But we still have 4 months to go to 12 months, and I really don't want to break into the freezer stash yet--trying to hold off til 10 months so I can cut out a pumping session at work. Help!!!

[jmvan74]

walking: I was an early walker, 9 months, too. Collin was walking freely at 10 months. I don't think Brady will be far behind. As for normal...anywhere from 9 months to 15 months. I don't think it becomes a concern until closer to 18 months.

walking before crawling: As long as the child learns to crawl as well as walk, it doesn't matter. The muscles and coordination needed for crawling are important for a lot of future tasks. Too early to think in specifics.

teeth: My kids teeth in pairs, so when one tooth comes in the next one is up with in a day or two. :rolleyes: It makes for pretty fast teething, but lots of crankiness!

[Winter Biscuit]

Early walking -- DD#1 could climb all the way up our stairs (to get to 2nd floor) without stopping at 7 months and walked at 8 months. She wasn't just taking a few steps or cruising along furniture -- she was walking strongly (e.g. 20-30 steps before falling, then she'd get right back up and go again). She was running by 9 months. :eek: In fact, I vividly remember taking her in for her 9-month portraits, and she kept running off the platform - we could NOT get her to sit or stand in one spot. We finally did get her to stay still long enough to snap a few pictures, but she insisted on standing for the pictures :rolleyes: Thankfully, Allison shows no signs of following in her sister's footsteps in the Early Walking department. I'm exhausted enough chasing after a crawler. I'm not ready to have another short person running through my house, dashing upstairs, etc. ;)

Teething -- Tooth #2 poked through exactly one week after Tooth #1.

Supply decrease -- Yep, add me to the club, I've experienced a significant decrease in pumping output, and Allison no longer seems satisfied when she nurses on my left side. I can barely get anything out of my left side when pumping, and that side is also noticeably smaller than my right side. I look very lopsided. Somehow, I have managed to pump just enough for Allison to eat the next day; however, I am barely getting by. I also have been sending 5-6oz bottles instead of the 7-oz bottles I used to send. FWIW, I went through a supply decrease around this same time with DD#1 and managed to continue nursing/pumping until 13 months. My freezer stash is down to about 50oz so I'm just hoping I can squeak by and hit my goal of 12 months, and avoid formula altogether. I am already drinking tons of water and eating oatmeal daily. I might try fenugreek (it didn't help at all when I tried it with DD#1). I had a beer last night and was much fuller this morning than usual, so maybe it's time to add a nightly beer to my routine. ;)

[Elenna]

early walking: I was an early walker at 9 months, too! Interesting how many of us there are in this group. DS walks very well when you hold onto his hands, he's cruising between furniture, and is starting to let go of his supports for a second or two before sitting down or grabbing the support again. But I don't expect him to be walking for at least another month.

supply: My pumping output drastically decreased after 4months. DS is still satisfied with nursing and gaining weight so I'm not worried. I haven't noticed any more decreases since then. I hope to continue until 12 months and possibly longer.

teeth: Except for the lone side top tooth, DS's teeth have come in in pairs within a day or two of each other. DS now has 5 teeth: two bottom, two middle top, and one side top.

[Alegna]

I'll have to load some pictures when I get home tonight. Everybody is so cute!

walking ~ Megan is pulling up a lot and will try to let go. She'll walk when you hold her hands but hasn't figured out how to do it with the walking toys. I'm sure it won't be long.

Teeth ~ still just the bottom two over here. There was about a weeks worth of time between #1 and #2.


Supply~ I used to get 10 oz now I'm down to 8. Lefty is way less than righty. But I've always been lopsided. I usually send 4 oz in a sippy and another two 3 oz bottles. One bottle comes home unused. I used to send 2 5 oz bottles. I figure she's eating solids so she doesn't need as much in her bottles. Plus she still nurses at least 4 times a day. She's seems happy with what she's getting. I've actually changed my pumping schedule this week. I'm hoping it doesn't effect my supply. We'll see how it goes.

[jmvan74]

supply: I have no idea. I don't pump. I feel like there has been a decrease, but I have no physical evidence. Brady just doesn't seem to be taking as much. He is finally increasing his solids a bit and I have substituted one daytime nursing session for a sippy of formula. Hooray! I plan on gradually adding more formula. I would like to be down to 2 nursing sessions by the time he's a year old.

[GardenGirl]

I don't pump either, but wouldn't be surprised if my supply has decreased. I'm no longer engorged in the mornings and have noticed I don't have the "full feeling" very often. We are down to 5 nursing sessions, but sometimes it's 6 if he fell asleep nursing and I don't think he's had enough so I'll nurse him when he wakes up. He nurses when he wakes in the morning around 5:45 or 6 (most times he goes back to sleep for another 45 minutes or so), before his nap at 9, before his nap at 1:30, after his nap around 3:30, and at bedtime. He has 3 solid meals at 8, 12:30 and 6 and sometimes a little snack around 4:30 or 5. The snack is always a finger food, so it's more of entertainment for him and gets him to dinner at 6. We have a pretty good schedule going on and I must confess it is by nothing I've done - he kinda did it all himself. I consider myself quite lucky. Yes there are days when I wish he'd sleep longer in the morning. BUT then he'd be going to bed later andd I really like the time that DH and I get to spend together. Even if most nights it's catching up on Tivo shows and magazines.

We are going on a family outing to Dewberry Farms (http://www.dewberryfarm.com)on Saturday. They have a large pumpkin patch and many other things to do. I want to get DS's pictures in the pumpkins. They have hayrides, pig races and that sort of thing too. But I'm mainly going for the pumpkin pictures :) When he's older DS will have a good time.

I've been working hard on printing all the pictures I have on my computer and putting them in albums. Snapfish has lots of my money!! I always enjoyed looking back at old pictures in albums with all my family when the came to visit and reminiscing. And I just don't get the warm fuzzies sitting around a computer watching slide shows. So my newest project is printing them out, sorting them by date and putting them in albums. It will all be worth it, but right now it's overwhelming.

Halloween - the the pink octopus babies - Carter was almost the blue octopus but since it is rarely cool in Texas at Halloween, I went with something that the head part wasn't as bulky. It was adorable though!

[wine_o_girlie]

QOTD: Hey y'all, I had a question I hope you can help me with - are your babies really interested in self-feeding? If so, what in the world are you feeding them?

Griff has suddenly decided that as of 2 days ago he won't eat baby food or basically anything from a spoon. He will only eat food if he can pick it up himself and put it in his mouth. This is very difficult considering he has no teeth. His pincher grasp is great but still, it's a hard balance between something being soft enough for him to chew but not too soft for him to pick up. :confused: This has really thrown me for a loop and came out of nowhere - dinner time has been very stressful in my house this week trying to figure out what the heck to feed him.

Here's what we have tried so far this week:

Bananas - too slimy/mushy for him to effectively pick up
Peas - no salt added from a can - worked very well, he loved them
Cheese - slice of American (:o) cause I was afraid other cheese would be too hard to chew
Cheerios and Puffs - he's a pro and has been for 2+ months but they don't really seem to have much nutritional value, you know?
Egg noodles - worked very well, he loved them
Broccoli - I just steamed it very well, worked pretty well but a little soft to pick up
Pancake - whole wheat mix, worked very well, he loved it

One idea that I tried last night but haven't fed him yet is broccoli pancakes. :eek: My husband was aghast. But, I think it makes sense. The broccoli was leftover from an earlier attempt and it was a little tough for him to self fed it because it was so soft. He was really good at picking up the pancakes so I figured, why not combine the two? :o I chopped up the steamed broccoli really small and added it to the pancake batter. My FIL is keeping him today so we'll see how that goes. I hope it works - I can envision getting a lot of veggies into him that way (spinach, aspargus tips, pureed sweet potatoes and butternut squash, etc.) plus they can be individually frozen for convenience.

I also bought a can of no salt added green beans and carrots but haven't tried them yet. I saw that Gerber has some jars of cut up veggies in their Toddler line but the ingredients were "green beans, water, and SALT". WTF? Why are they putting salt in baby food? :mad: The Green Giant no salt added cans had less sodium than the Gerber ones and they were cheaper and had more in them. I did buy a jar of the Gerber apple chunks because I didn't see anything like that in "adult" cans that didn't have added sugar but haven't tried them yet.

Okay, what are your little ones self-feeding? I need ideas! Thanks ladies! :)

[Winter Biscuit]

Wine_o -- have you tried rolling the bananas in crushed Cheerios or something like that? I haven't tried doing this myself, but heard it can make it easier for those little fingers to pick the slimy banana pieces up. Just a thought.

Re: finger foods, Allison gets a lot of biter biscuits and Cheerios. My god, she just LOVES them. She's only been interested in self-feeding for a few weeks now so I view it as mostly practice and entertainment. Thus, we haven't moved on to other things yet. She can spend a good 30 minutes chowing on a biter biscuit -- it allows me the time to actually cook a meal.

I can't really remember what finger foods we gave DD#1 although I do remember putting a dollop of mashed potatoes or mashed sweet potatoes on her high chair tray, and letting her go to town. I also found this list on the internet: http://parenting.ivillage.com/baby/bnutrition/0,,3bj2,00.html

[gmooter]

Anyone else have a gagger/puker? Gabe won't eat anything close to a solid without puking everywhere. I even gave him half of a Gerber puff and he gagged and puked everywhere!!! I guess it will just take time. It's so weird since DD was on all finger/solid foods by almost 10 months. She wanted nothing to do with baby food after that point!

[mommydearest]

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uEkoyZKSpw8
Abby finally has some hair! DH put it in a mohawk tonight while she was in the tub. He was so proud!

Finger foods-

Tonight we tried an Uncrustables grilled cheese sandwich torn into small bits. She LOVED it. She also likes the Gerber Graduates chicken and veggie ravioli in chicken broth (though I drain off all the broth and cut them in half or quarters). We also do the baby freeze dried apples, sweet potato puffs, cheerios, American cheese, rice, and biter biscuits. I got the wagon wheels, but they were too big and she tries to put the whole thing in her mouth.

Next time I'm at the store I'm going to get some of the gerber graduates carrots and other diced foods.

We also started the Yo Baby pear and peach yogurt. She gets really excited when she sees me get it out of the fridge.

[Alegna]

Finger foods ~ Megan is a puker. She'll eat puffs and wagon wheels. But give her a stage 3 chicken noodle dinner and she'll gag and throw it all back up. I've tried giving her bits of potato when we are out to eat. She usually gags on them too. But she will eat the stage 3 single ingredients. Not sure what is making her gag. Her pincher grasp is great. And she'll try to feed herself with the spoon. I'm just not sure what to do with her these days. I got a book off half.com. I'm going to read through it this weekend and hopefully come up with some ideas.

[Elenna]

fingerfoods: DS loves Gerber puffs, o-shaped cereal, freeze dried bananas and mangos, and little bits of fresh banana and cantelope. I'm still pretty afraid of choking so I haven't expanded much beyond that.

discipline: DS thinks it is funny when I tell him "no". For example, yesterday he kept pulling up on the coffee table and trying to scrape his teeth on the edge. I kept telling him "No, don't bite the table" and then sit him down. But he kept repeating it. This went on and on for about half an hour. He started smiling at me after a while of doing it. I think he thought it was a game. He's been doing this with other stuff too (cat food, laptop cords, etc). I say "NO, cords are a no-no, catfood is a no-no, etc" and remove him from the object/location, but he makes a beeline right back and tries it again. This goes on over and over again for quite a while with DS eventually smiling or laughing. Do you think he might, possibly, be also getting the message of "no"? I don't know what else to do to get the message across (I will not slap or spank).

[mommydearest]

Re: Discipline--I think at this age, you can just remove them from the situation. Go in another room or remove the forbidden object. We are trying not to say "NO" all the time and use Danger instead so no isn't her first real word beyond momma and dada. But she really doesn't get it yet.

[katmg]

Re: Discipline--I think at this age, you can just remove them from the situation. Go in another room or remove the forbidden object. We are trying not to say "NO" all the time and use Danger instead so no isn't her first real word beyond momma and dada. But she really doesn't get it yet.

Yup, that's what we're doing. Too funny that this came up since I was just having the convo. on LJ this morning. I've been using "Gentle" instead of "No" on some things - like pulling my hair, petting the dog, grabbing my face/arms, etc. She seems to be getting it somewhat as she'll release her hands when I say it.

I also think that she totally understands that there are some things that I don't want her to get into. Like the basket where I keep her clean diapers. If I leave the room for 2 seconds (to pee!) she is over to the basket, dumping it over and playing with the diapers. And when I come back in, she looks up me with this little smirk on her face. Guilty! I just need to find a new place to store them that isn't so enticing. Unfortunately, it is right by a side table with all kinds of cords off of it so I'll need to baby proof the cords when I move the diapers.

Finger foods- With all this discussion on finger foods (here and in the Nov./Dec. thread) I have been feeling guilty for holding her back on this. Yesterday I gave her a big chunk of banana that she gnawed on and slices of kiwi. She LOVED the kiwi slices. She holds onto it with her fist and the sucks off little pieces of the green part. Those little kiwi seeds were all over her face and hands!

[Elenna]

mommydearest: I guess what we're doing is the only thing to do right now. I can use "danger" for the cords, but I don't know what to use for biting the coffee table.

katmg: I like the idea of saying "Gentle" instead of "no" for those situations.
You're so much braver than I am giving your DD a big chunk of banana.

[katmg]

katmg: I like the idea of saying "Gentle" instead of "no" for those situations.
You're so much braver than I am giving your DD a big chunk of banana.

Thanks! The banana was long enough that even if she sucked it in, there was still enough there that I could grab it and pull it out. :o Luckily, with only one tooth partially in, she can't really gum off huge chunks yet.

[quest]

finger foods - I, too, think I'm way behind with this! He loves puffs, and I recently was brave enough to give him 1/2 cheerios (he did fine), so today I tried tiny pieces of pear (pre-packaged, so it's softer) and peas, and those were a hit, too! Although, he was getting mad at the peas, because he'd go to pick them up and they'd flatten, making it harder for him to get them in his mouth.

By the way, I've read a few comments about biter biscuits and being careful with them...I honestly think they've changed the way they make them because I have video of DD WITH teeth gnawing on them for several minutes, but DS had one before he had ANY teeth and got a big chunk off within several seconds. I don't know what's different but I really do think they're easier to bite off now (or else we're all mommas to some strong babies!).

There was a thread in the Infants forum about 'aggression' in a 9-month-old and omg, I can so relate to this! Although I'm not really considering it aggression, more just DS finding out that he has a temper and he can use it! He does this to get attention, when you're not paying attention to him, when he wants something, and basically any other time things aren't perfectly hunky-dory. His face gets red his mouth opens wide and he growls/screams! A lot of the time he stiffens his arms/legs, too. I have to say It.Is.So.Cute! Because after he has a 'fit' he'll stop for a second to see if you've noticed before doing it again. SO.FUNNY.

He does 2 (what I think are) cute things. If I (so far he'll only do it for me) am holding him and say to him 'kisses, kisses, kisses' he'll plant his open, chubby mouth on my cheek. (And most of the time blow raspberries, but I digress.) I thought it was just a fluke but now I really think he's giving me kisses!

And if you tell him 'say no-no-no...' and shake your head, he'll shake his head at you. I'm sure I won't think it's as cute when he's telling me that of his own free will, but for now it's sweet ;).

[amwilson615]

Anyone else have a gagger/puker? Gabe won't eat anything close to a solid without puking everywhere. I even gave him half of a Gerber puff and he gagged and puked everywhere!!! I guess it will just take time.

YES!!!! Jaden does the same exact thing. He will not/cannot eat anything close to solid. We've tried Sweet Potato Puffs, green beans, cheerios, potatoes, and cheese puffs--no dice. Gag and vomit--like clockwork.

And, thanks ladies, for your comments on the pics of my little guy. :D

I'm so lovin all the pics of the babies.............keep them coming, everyone.

Jaden still isn't crawling. He scoots all over the place and gets into crawling position and rocks and rocks--but we're not mobile yet. FH said that he crawled a tiny bit the other day, but I have yet to see it. :rolleyes: He had his 9 month WBV the other day. He weighs 26 lbs 1 oz, is 30 inches long, and his head measures 18.5 inches. His eczema is not improving on his face, so we're continuing efforts in that area.
Avery had her 5 year old WCC the same day as he, and both my kids are in the mid to high 90 percentiles. I think it's safe to say, that I will be the shortest in my family.......:o

Halloween costume:

I was fine with Avery's old pumpkin costume, but James chose this:

http://images.buycostumes.com/mgen/merchandiser/19820.jpg?is=350,350,0xffffff

Think that's it for now. I enjoy reading along, and hope you are all enjoying fall.

[ggclark]

cute things DD does- she kisses also.. on the mouth though, open mouth.. it's so funny.. you say, give mama a kiss.. and she opens her mouth and goes to your mouth... hehehe She also started pointing... with her little pointer finger, she touches things with that finger rather then the whole hand.

gagging- yes, DD gags with textures...For example, she loves carrot baby food but when she tries the diced up pieces of cooked carrot, she gags like crazy. It is all texture with her... The stage 3 foods are the worst for gagging... I tried a few meals recently and she gagged and wouldn't eat them. I even made pastina (that baby pasta- stars- that are so mushy..I grew up on the stuff), she gagged and wanted no part of it.

finger foods- We do the puffs- we have tried sweet potatoes and apple cinnamon and both are hits! She also loves cheerios.

QOTD: When do the finger foods take the place of baby food? We are still on stage 2 jars.... Is it around 12 months? Will you all just move right into finger foods earlier if they are ready? Will you do stage 3?

crawling- we are crawling!!! DD has graduated from the scoot/ army crawl to a full on crawl...however, she is very cautious... it's hilarious. We have tile and wood through out the house, but big area rugs in the main areas by the tv, bedrooms, etc. Lily will crawl to the edge of the carpet and sit.. and look at the tile and turn around and go back... she won't venture off the carpet.If I put her on the tile, she just sits. She will not crawl on the tile. I guess I should be thankful.. hahahaha

[mommydearest]

QOTD: When do the finger foods take the place of baby food? We are still on stage 2 jars.... Is it around 12 months? Will you all just move right into finger foods earlier if they are ready? Will you do stage 3?


No, we won't do stage 3. She eats yogurt, ravioli, rice, banana, diced carrots, diced peaches, grilled cheese, puffs, and just about anything else you put in front of her now. I just got some peas and canned green beans to try. I am sick of buying expensive jarred food. We will keep doing jarred meat for a while, but definitely will be moving away from the purees soon. When we went out this week, she got food off the kiddie menu. It was so nice not to worry about it! I got this mat today for going out-- http://www.toysrus.com/product/index.jsp?productId=2373450. I had tried to use a napkin last time--yeah right!

[Elenna]

mommydearest: What food did you order off the kiddie menu? I, too, tried a napkin last time we fed DS while out. Not the right thing to use.

stage3 foods: I did buy a couple jars of Stage 3 foods to see what the texture was. We just started them yesterday. DS doesn't seem to have noticed the difference. Now I just need to figure out how to make something similiar without completely pureeing it with my blender. I tried to make apples that way, yesterday, and wound up completely pureeing them.:rolleyes:

pointing: DS has been touching things with his pointy fingers for a week now. I've been saying the object that he touches that way, but I didn't know it constituted "pointing". Very cool if it does.

quest: DS did the same thing with a biter biscuit. Freaked me out. I don't give them to him anymore except in mesh feeders.

cute things: DS dances if you sing or if he hears music with a nice beat. It is very cute to see. He bobbs his head and wiggles.
Another cute thing is he feeds me?/shows me objects he's playing with. He'll hold the object up and try to stick it in my mouth. Sometimes I oblige and open my mouth and mouth it saying "yeah, mmmm, mmm, thank you".

[GardenGirl]

Kristin - we have the same mat, I love it. I was going to get some disposable ones, but by the time you buy 2 packs of 10, it's the same price as the mat. Plus, it has the little crumb catcher at the bottom where I can "recycle" food since he isn't perfect at always getting things in his mouth.

Stage 3 - we tried a couple stage 3 soups from EB. They were a little confusing to DS. Right now he can't mix purees and finger foods, at least in the same bite. He tries to suck/slurp the chunks and will gag. But if I give him just finger foods he's fine. Though while he was getting that first tooth the last 2 weeks, he's been eating funny. He thrusts his tongue back and forth and and pushes the food out of his mouth. It's like he's learning all over again. He didn't even do that when he first started solids at 6 months. I think he just likes rubbing his tongue over his new tooth. He's starting to stop it though.

We have our 9 month WBV visit this afternoon. I'm curious how much he's grown. I have a scale and I'm tempted to pull it out this morning, but DH and I always have a contest to see who get the closest when guessing how much he weighs at the doc. I would be cheating if I pulled it out. I keep forgetting I have it.

I'm going to ask her opinion on the cold medicine warning from the FDA. Plus I realized the other day that I don't know DS's blood type, so I want to make sure to ask that. Not sure what else is on my list of questions, I need to look over that. I keep a list by the phone and right things down when I think of them.

Carter cruised all around his exersaucer this morning and reached over to the Jumperoo next to it (about a foot away), grabbed on to it and cruised around it. He was a little surprised that the Jumperoo wasn't stable like the saucer and looked up at me like "what the heck." He has really good balance so he quickly gained control. I went to get the video camera and he wouldn't do it again. He did that to me the first time he went around the coffee table. Maybe after his nap this morning he'll be refreshed and want to show it to me again.

Still no crawling though. He stiffens his legs and goes onto his belly. He is rolling around alot though. He didn't rollover at all until 7 months. He just didn't care too I guess. He did sit up early at 5.25 months, he's all over the place with hitting his "milestones." I'm not worried about him reaching them, I just see the frustration in his face when he can't crawl. I might ask her about the walking/crawling first thing and see what she thinks about it.

Foods - don't noodles have egg whites in them. Are their noodles without whites in them. I'd like to give DS some pasta as a finger food, but since he isn't 10 months and can't have egg whites I'm not sure how to give it to him. I wish all the fruit wasn't so slimy, he has a hard time getting them in his mouth. I roll bananas in cherrios and that helps, but no other fruit works well like that. Veggies work okay, we do green beans, peas, carrots and lima beans but he won't eat alot of those. He loves cheese though. He can tell when I get it out of the fridge, he gets so excited. He chows down it.

[gmooter]

Babies R Us also has disposable placemats called TableToppers. They stick to the table and then you just peel them off and toss them when you're done. I think they have the Sesame Steet characters on them.

[GardenGirl]

Noodles - I just got back from the grocery and saw that Egg Noodles are only yolks. So I picked some up. We'll see how he likes 'em!

[GardenGirl]

Wow, he loves the noodles. Plus they are sticky so he has no problems picking them up.

His WBV went great. They pricked his finger to do a blood count and all looks good, his iron levels look perfect. He didn't even wince. DH was distracting him and he just looked at the nurse like "whatcha doin over there?" She couldn't find the note in his chart about his blood type, but told me she'd look and get back with me. He is 19 lb 10 oz and 29" tall. He's in 40% of weight, 75% for height and 25% for head. His head has always hovered around 25%. At 6 months he was in the 50% for weight and height. I attribute the weight drop to 3 weeks of diarrhea. It's no big deal though, I just noticed it. We decided to give him the flu shot tpday, he didn't receive any other vaccines. Since we stay pretty busy with playdates, gym, swim and the YMCA, he's in contact with lots of babies. Plus the vaccine doesn't contain thimerosal and is a killed vaccine. The flu was pretty bad here last year and I don't want him to catch it. I go for my shot next week. He didn't cry with this shot either, I was shocked. She said he might have a sore leg, but other than that no other major side effects. For kids under 9, they have to have 2 doses, so we go back in a month for his booster.

I asked her her opinion on the walking then crawling data. She isn't worried at all. She says that's old school info and has been debunked and refuted. as long as he is standing, cruising and walking she isn't worried. She said his arm strength is fine, and that maybe it will just take learning to walk first for him to learn to crawl.

I had to share this quick video of Carter playing with his book this morning. He looks so cute "reading" his book. It took me a couple tries to get any video because whenever he sees the camera he stops what he's doing and stares at it and tries to grab it.
http://i78.photobucket.com/albums/j99/terashelton/th_carterreadinghires.jpg (http://s78.photobucket.com/albums/j99/terashelton/?action=view&current=carterreadinghires.flv)

Hey Zhanna, when was the last time you took a picture of Joseph next to his "Monthly Bunny." I'd love to see how much he's grown. Has anyone else done something like that? I'd love to see them. I didn't do one, and now I'm wishing I had. Well, that's what #2s for right?!

Off to read the hundreds of pages in the "First Birthday" thread. I really need to start thinking of ideas.

[mommydearest]

Meds--Abby has a cold. I called the ped and asked if there was anything I could do, but she said absolutely no medication under 1 year old. Her suggestion was to get a vaporizer, but since we have a 200 gallon aquarium downstairs and 2 more smaller tanks upstairs, it is very humid in here anyway. Usually we are about 55%. I don't want to add any more moisture to the air.

Kiddie menu--We ordered DD a grilled cheese with rice as a side dish Thursday at a restaurant we go to a lot. Sunday, I got her cheese ravioli with no sauce at Fazolis. She inhaled it! They used to have wheat pasta, which is why I agreed to go there, but apparently they don't anymore. Today, MIL and SIL babysat while I was at work and took her to a Chinese buffet while they were out. I had no control over what they fed her and they didn't ask since I left baby food (which made me slightly annoyed). They owned up to giving her broccoli, cantaloupe, rice, noodles, peas, and carrots. She hadn't had noodles, broccoli or cantaloupe before, but so far there has been no reaction thankfully. But MIL is known to be a "just a little taste won't hurt her" kind of person, so I have no idea what else she ate. While I'm grateful they came to take care of her while my regular daycare was out of town, I'll be happy when they go home tomorrow.

Flu shot--I wasn't going to get her one, but my grandma is very weak and her doctor requested that everyone who is in close contact with g'ma get a flu shot. DD is there every day while I am at work. Since DD isn't getting any other vaccines at the 9 month WBV and it is a killed vaccine, I am going to get her one.

Pulling up--DD now pulls up to her knees. It is so cute! She fell so many times trying to get to her feet that she won't go to them anymore. She just crawls around on her knees.

[jmvan74]

I've been taking the monthly picture with a lamb and a book. Here's Brady's 1 month picture and his 8 month picture.


He looks so different to me. :D


finger foods: I need to try those noodles! We've added yogurt to the mix and Brady loves it. We do puff and cheerios. I gave him some of my pancake this weekend, too. He liked it.

[jmvan74]

Kristen: Have you given her Saline drops for congestion?

[GardenGirl]

Julie - the egg noodles are a HUGE hit over here; I wish I would have found them earlier.

What a cute comparison of Brady. I looked back at some of Carter's 1 month photos and I don't think he looks similar either. It was at about 10 weeks or so that he started to look like he does now, just obviously younger. I think it's the weight. DS was a scrawny little one, so once he put some weight on his face, I can compare him better now.

I think we may have a puree free dinner tonight, it looks like it so far. He's had several egg noodles, a handful of cheese crumbles, a handful of diced green beans that I steamed for dinner yesterday with some garlic powder and onion, and then I gave him some chicken I had left over from the deli isle that I use for buffalo chicken pizza. It's easy to tear and it's moist, he has no trouble eating it. Oh, and a couple pieces of bananas. My gosh, my baby is growing up!!

Saline drops - those worked well for us. I just had to get Carter to sit still long enough for me to get near his nose!

[katmg]

jmvan - I wish I had thought to do the pictures in the same place every month. Brady is too cute! It's amazing how fast they change!

Here's Charlotte at 1 month:

http://i108.photobucket.com/albums/n33/katgalpin/Charlotte/Charlotte020407001.jpg

Here she is at 8 months old:

http://i108.photobucket.com/albums/n33/katgalpin/Charlotte/CharlotteSeptember010.jpg

[wine_o_girlie]

Thanks guys for all of the food recommendations! Griff is finally back to eating a bit of purees but mostly he is all about self-feeding. We are having big success this week with chicken, blueberries, grapes, steamed broccoli and green beans, and noodles. The boy loves him some noodles!

I love seeing all of the baby progression pics - wow, what a difference 8 months makes! Here's a few of Griff's progression:

1 month, 2 months, 5 months, and 8 months

http://thegarnerfamily.smugmug.com/photos/131622101-M.jpg
http://thegarnerfamily.smugmug.com/photos/137438177-M.jpg
http://thegarnerfamily.smugmug.com/photos/167537079-M.jpg
http://thegarnerfamily.smugmug.com/photos/198315719-M.jpg

[wine_o_girlie]

Oh yeah, I forgot to add, the monthly progression shots are getting more and more challenging. Here's how most photos these days turn out:

http://thegarnerfamily.smugmug.com/photos/198316728-M.jpg

[Elenna]

Those progression shots are wonderful to see. I wish I'd thought to do progression pictures.

I'm going to have to try some egg noodles for DS.

[Alegna]

We've tried some stage 3 foods. She is learning to chew them instead of gagging. She does great with puffs and she had her first piece of toast the other day. I tried bananas today and they were too slimey for her to pick up. I even did the cherrio dust trick. I gave her some noodles from my chili mac at Steak N Shake the other night and she liked them. She ate some rice when we went out for Chinese too. I would have given her some veggies but we got it spicy.

I need to get one of those placemats for when we go out. And a mat for under the highchair at home. For some crazy reason our dining room has carpet! :rolleyes:

I first heard about taking the progression pictures from an episode of A Baby Story on TLC. I didn't use a stuffed animal on mine. Just the chair. I forgot about it until 6 weeks though... so no 1 month shot. :(

6weeks
http://i62.photobucket.com/albums/h83/baby01_2007/IMG_3200.jpg
3 months - she wouldn't stop screaming without the blanket under her
http://i62.photobucket.com/albums/h83/baby01_2007/IMG_3601.jpg
5 months
http://i62.photobucket.com/albums/h83/baby01_2007/IMG_4009.jpg
9 months
http://i62.photobucket.com/albums/h83/baby01_2007/IMG_4564.jpg

All of them are on her photobucket site. The link is in my signature.

[ggclark]

Boy, I need to catch up. I have had a busy week and haven't been able to log on.

I love the progression pictures and didn't think of that. I did take pics each month and have an album with a section for each month, but that is not nearly as cute as these pictures!

Noodles- I will have to try that as well. Do you put some butter or salt or anything on them or just plain? I tried pastina once-- those little stars-- and didn't put anything in them and DD hated them. I am thinkng she would like it with a little flavor... so... Q: Do you use seasonings on your DC food?

Finger food- We tried diced carrots and small green beans. I bought the gerber graduates and she really liked them. They are slippery though, so she had a hard time getting them in (not as easy at the puffs) but what I did was give her a toddler spoon and I showed her how to do it and WITH LOTS OF HELP she was eating with the spoon and having a ball!!


GardenGirl- is the blood count test standard at 9 months? We haven't been for our WBV and was wondering if they do that or if you requested it for something...

Clothes-- I don't know about you all, but I am starting (well, have been, but it's getting more fun now) to really have fun with DD's clothes. I bought her some skirts and jeans and she got her first pair of shoes!!!!! We went with the pedipeds... She likes having them on and they look adorable. These babies are getting so big... she looks like a little toddler in her big girl outfits and shoes! I love it.