March 2007 Moms & Babes....growing so fast!

[March2007Mommies]

March 2007 Mommies
32 Babies are here, including Two sets of Twins!


Team Blue (It's a boy!): 8
Mochi, Shimmerstar, dollface, kindermom, ladybug0525, marriedagoalie, whitlockan, happy1nuv

Team Pink (It's a girl!): 16
Brink x2, goldengbridge, ieducate, Nanner, Tandis x2, Betsyboop, Danalou, Buffy, mmm0708, peewee9196, Kanga, MommyInPA

Team Green (It's a surprise!): 8
Janey (Girl), lady1297 (Boy), Sherb (Girl), Orion (Boy), MrsKinnison (Boy), sneak (Boy), littlemia (girl), Miaclear (boy), Deelcie (girl)

Still awaiting word from:
GAmommy

~~~~~

If you are new here, congratulations! We hope you will consider joining us. We look forward to sharing this amazing journey together! Please posts all updates in RED.

Please list your stats in RED in your first post.

CC Name:
Me: Name, age
DH: Name, age
Married: Date
DC: Name
Birthdate: Date
Siblings: (Other kids & their birthdates)
Photo Albums: (Links to your online photo albums)


Good places to make photo albums: Flickr (http://www.flickr.com), Photobucket (http://photobucket.com/), Picasa Web Albums (https://www.google.com/accounts/ServiceLogin?hl=en_US&continue=http%3A%2F%2Fpicasaweb.google.com%2F&passive=true&service=lh2), Phanfare (http://www.phanfare.com/), Smugmug (http://www.smugmug.com/).


The threadmistresses are Lady1297, Janey, and Miaclear. Feel free to PM them if you have any questions/comments regarding the thread.


Our previous threads are here...
* March 2007 Mommies: First Trimester Fun!! (http://www.constantchatter.com/forum/showthread.php?t=21814)
* March 2007 Mamas - Trimester Two! (http://www.constantchatter.com/forum/showthread.php?t=24356)
* March 2007 Mamas: Third Trimester! (http://www.constantchatter.com/forum/showthread.php?t=27247)
* March 2007 Mamas: Babies Incoming! (http://www.constantchatter.com/forum/showthread.php?t=29957)

[March2007Mommies]

Mama Roster


Betsyboop
Me: Betsy, 28
DH: Dave, 31
Married: 10/18/03
DC: Amelia Claire
Birthdate: 3/4/07
Siblings:
Photo Albums:


Brink - TWINS!
Me: Tina - 36
DH: Dan - 37
Married: 6/26/04
DC: Katherine (Katie) Louise & Kristi Anne
Birthdate: 1/31/07
Siblings: Aimee Jean 9/25/05
Photo Albums:


Buffy
Me: Erin, 31
DH: Mitch, 32
Married: 10/06/01
DC: Morgan Alexis
Birthdate: 3/8/07
Siblings: Addison Elizabeth 1/23/03, Riley Grace 4/25/05
Photo Albums:


danalou
Me: Dana, 29
DH: Matt, 32
Married: 8/21/04
DC: Mackenzie Danielle
Birthdate: 3/12/07
Siblings:
Photo Albums:


deelcie
Me: Diana, 36
DH: Roberto, 45
Married: 10/12/02
DC: Reikke Meiling
Birthdate: 3/17/07
Siblings: Deacon Archer, 6/16/04


dollface
Me: Stacy, 35
DH: Damon, 38
Married: 6/15/02
DC: Davin Oliver
Birthdate: 3/7/07
Siblings: n/a
Photo Albums:


GAmommy
Me: Robin, 24
DH: Brian, 26
Married: 7/23/06
DC: Laci Rebecca
Birthdate:
Siblings: Christopher 5/18/04
Photo Albums:


goldengbridge
Me: Jen
DH: Miguel
Married: 9/6/03
DC: Ashlyn Michelle
Birthdate: 2/23/07
Siblings: Andrew 8/28/04, ^Jacob^ born sleeping on 4/3/06 at 18w 4d.
Photo Albums:


happy1nuv
Me: Rosa, 31
DH: Jeff, 32
Married: 9/21/02
DC: Joseph Charles
Birthdate: 3/23/07
Siblings: Dominic (nic) 5/18/05
Photo Albums:


ieducate
Me: Karen, 34
DH: Andrew, 35
Married: 8/1/04
DC: Julia Rose
Birthdate: 1/13/07
Siblings:
Photo Albums:


Janey
Me: Janey, 33
DH: B, 41
Married: 9/24/05
DC: K
Birthdate: 2/27/07
Siblings:
Photo Albums:


Kanga
Me: Liz
DH: Chad
Married: 12/11/04
DC: Camdyn Natalie
Birthdate: 03/11/07
Siblings: Daytona Bailey, 10/25/05 and 3 kitties
Photo Albums:


kindermom
Me: Noel, 32
DH: Sean, 35
Married: 5/04
DC: Henry
Birthdate: 3/9/07
Any other children: Madelyn, 8/05.
Photo Albums:


lady1297
Me: Rita, 28
DH: Joe, 29
Married: 12/27/02
DC: John Albert
Birthdate: 2/12/07
Siblings: Edward, a labrador retriever, Sophie, and two cats, Gizmo and Callie
Photo Albums:


ladybug0525
Me: Judie, 30
DH: Jason, 32
Married: 5/25/02
DC: Cooper Joseph
Birthdate: 3/14/07
Siblings: Jack
Photo Albums:


littlemia
Me: 30
DH: 30
Married: 4/26/03
DC: Claire Nicole
Birthdate: 3/21/07
Siblings: No, just Mia, our fiesty mini dachshund
Photo Albums:


MarriedaGoalie
Me: Tosha, 22
DH: Rob, 26
Married: 5/20/05
DC: Carter Thomas
Birthdate: 3/24/07
Siblings: Quentin, 9 (Stepson)
Photo Albums:


Miaclear
Me: Amy, 30
DH: Dirk, 31
Married: 9/18/04
DC: Aaron Fredric
Birthdate: 3/20/07
Siblings: Just fur babies. Luca our cat and Jackson our dog.


mmm0708
Me: Melissa, 27
DH: Neil, 30
Married: 3/3/04
DC: Caitlin Abigail
Birthdate: 3/23/07
Siblings: Dillon Hunter
Photo Albums:


Mochi
Me: Michelle, 34
DH: H, 35
Married: 7/01
DC: Niko
Birthdate: 2/25/07
Siblings: DS, "K" 2 years old
Photo Albums:


MrsKinnison
Me: Hillary, 32
DH: Chris, 35
Married: 11/27/04
DC: Ollie Christopher
Birthdate: 3/13/07
Siblings: 2 dogs, Maggie & Simon and 2 cats, Benjamin & Moses
Photo Albums:


MommyinPA
Me: Kristina, 31
DH: Chris, 34
Married: 6/24/01
DC: Kaia Michaela
Birthdate: 1/29/07
Siblings: SD DeAnna 1/94, Christopher 11/01, Cade 8/05
Photo Albums: Register at carepages.com (http://www.carepages.com/); then enter kaiabear at Visit A Carepage (http://www.carepages.com/ServeCarePage?).


Nanner
Me: Dana, 36
DH: Scott, 34
Married: 3/27/04
DC: Hannah Jeanne
Birthdate: 3/2/07
Siblings: Sam, 6/23/05
Photo Albums:


Orion
Me: Jess, 28
DH: Justin, 28
DC: Dalton Alistair
Birthdate: 3/13/07
Siblings: Sophie Madeline, 12/11/05
Photo Albums:


Pewee9196
Me: Elizabeth, 33
DH: David 31
Married: 3/9/01
DC: Isabella Carmyn
ADD: 3/24/07
Siblings: furbaby Seamus
Photo Albums:


Sherb
Me: Aimee, 27
DH: R, 32
Married: 9/18/04
DC: Madeline Ruby
Birthdate: 3/5/07
Siblings: Sherbert, a very cute dog & Blossom, a very crazy cat
Photo Albums:


Shimmerstar
Me: Rachel, 27
DH: Neil, 28
Married: 6/15/02
DC: Noah Harrison
ADD: 2/14/07
Siblings:
Photo Albums:


Sneak
me: 26
DH: 33
married: 4/4/04
DC: Tarrren Anders
Birthdate: 3/15/2007
Siblings: Jenalyn, 03/12/05
Photo Albums:


Tandis - TWINS!
Me: 30
DH: 32
Married: 4/26/03
DC: Veronica Judith & Audrey Diann
Birthdate: 3/5/07
Siblings:
Photo Albums:


whitlockan
Me: Amber, 24
Father: Jerry, 26
Married: 5/8/04
DC: Zachary Aiden
Birthdate: 3/24/07
Siblings: Shadow 9 years; Jester 1 year 5 months
Photo Albums:


Always in our hearts: Cherry, StacieLady, Tipsy

[March2007Mommies]

Babies By Birthdate


January
13 - ieducate - Julia Rose
29 - MommyInPA - Kaia Nicole
31 - Brink - Katherine (Katie) Louise & Kristi Anne


February
12 - Lady1297 - John Albert
14 - Shimmerstar - Noah Harrison
23 - Goldengbridge - Ashlynn Michelle
25 - Mochi - Niko
27 - Janey - K


March
2 - Nanner - Hannah Jeanne
4 - Sherb - Madeline Ruby
4 - Betsyboop - Amelia Claire
5 - Tandis - Veronica Judith & Audrey Diann
7 - Dollface - Davin Oliver
8 - buffy - Morgan Alexis
9 - Kindermom - Henry
11 - danalou - Mackenzie Danielle
11 - kanga - Camdyn Natalie
13 - orion - Dalton Alistair
13 - MrsKinnison - Ollie Christopher
14 - ladybug0525 - Cooper Joseph
15 - sneak - Tarren Anders
17 - deelcie - Reikke Meiling Fuentes
20 - miaclear - Aaron Fredric
21 - littlemia - Claire Nicole
23 - mmm0708 - Caitlin Abigail
23 - happy1nuv - Joseph Charles
24 - whitlockan - Zachary Aiden
24 - PeeWee - Isabella Carmyn
24 - MarriedAGollie - Carter Thomas

[March2007Mommies]

Open For Posting!!!

[Orion]

Yay...new thread! Don't have much time...ok...that is a lie but both kids are down for a nap, I have a hot cup of tea steeping, and I am almost at the end of the fifth Harry Potter book and would love to finish it before the kids wake up.

And just because I feel the need to share some Dalton news when posting here....WE HAVE OUR FIRST TOOTH! How is it my baby is growing up so fast?

[Brink]

Yeah for a new thread! Our newest news - the girls are both now sitting up. Kristi is a little steadier than Katie, but they are both finally sitting at 7 1/2 months. This getting used to the preemie "adjusted age" stuff is hard. Still not rolling over (ok, Kristi has done it twice, but that's it). I'm sure they will catch up to all your babies sooner or later. I'm not too worried but we have a developmental appointment on October 1st that I'm sure they are going to give me a bad time at. We'll see.

[Tandis]

Brink - Don't feel too bad. A has only rolled from her tummy to her back a handful of times, and has never done the other way. She could probably do it if she wanted to - she just chooses not to ;) Both are just now starting to sit, but it's not real steady and it's not for any length of time. So your girls aren't that far off. :)

[MrsKinnison]

Yay for the new thread!! I can not believe how time is just flying by...

Okay, need some solids advice... We HATED avacado! It was really quite funny just how much. He made the funniest faces and noises and I think even gagged. He actually did not close his mouth the entire time we tried I think for fear he might actually swallow some. I mashed it and mixed it with bm, and then even tried adding some rice cereal, but he wasn't having it. So my question is, do I have to try for a few days or is it okay just to try something else tomorrow? I think that "technically" he didn't actually eat any, but I'm just not sure how to apply the 5 day rule here??

[Orion]

MrsK: I am by no means an expert on solid food but in my opinion I don't think that you would have to wait to try a new food since avacado is known for not usually causing allergic reactions and because you said that he probably didn't swallow any. That being said though, I wouldn't give up on avacado because it is such a healthy food for babies to eat. I would wait a bit and than offer it again sometime in the future and see if he will eat it than.

By the way...I never did get to finish the Harry Potter book. The minute I pressed 'submit reply' both kids woke up at the same time...didn't even get to finish my tea! Guess it will be another late night! Good thing there are only seven books in the series...I need sleep! :o

[Orion]

DH isn't home from work yet and both kids are in bed and supper is in the oven so I am bored and thought that I would change my avatar...it is Dalton from a couple of weeks ago. I don't think that I have ever posted a picture of him so now you know what my little cutie looks like!

[kindermom]

Brink - DS was sitting steadily before he starting rolling consistently. He has been sitting for about a month or so. He just started rolling all over in the past 2 weeks.

Wow Orion - Dalton is getting so big.

While I love hanging out with them the older they get, it does make me miss my newborn. FWIW, my 2 year old is a hoot to play with. Last night we played hide and seek for a good 20 minutes. The entire time I was under a piece of fabric in the middle of the playroom. But she thought it was hysterical.

[betsyboop]

MrsK- Funny, Millie tried and hated avocado yesterday too:p It's the first thing that she has really disliked at all, which stinks since I'm trying to fatten her up. I don't know if you have tried other foods, but I tried mixing it in with some squash and she ate it that way. I just didn't want to waste the avocado, you know?

Orion- Dalton is a cutie!

[miaclear]

Tandis and Brink....my DS also can roll if he wants but most often refuses to. He's pretty good about back to tummy but has only done tummy to back a few times. I know he can do it and actually witnessed him rolling circles one day. His problem is that he doesn't know he can't have his arm out to the side so it's always in the way. The day he just rolled circles he had some link-a-doos in his hands out in front and away he went.

Foods....we just tried our first non rice cereal food last night. Carrots. DS was a little put off by them and only managed about eight bites before he called it quits. We're going to do carrots for three more days. I've heard 3-4 days on the allergy rule, never up to 5 though. What is everyone else doing?

[happy1nuv]

allergies - it's the second attempt at something that will cause a reaction if its going to, so i'd try something at least twice and then give it up (although i heard that it can take something like 10 tries before you like/get used to a new food) ... BUT, i'd still wait the 4 days before introducing a new food. Take it from someone who said - eh, its fine. no reaction in 2 days ...and introduced a bunch of non-allergenic foods, only to go back to square one and start all over... if there is a reaction - for any reason - you want to know what caused it the first time! :rolleyes:

Also...if you've tried bananas already..avacado and bananas are a YUMMY combination. If you're in a hurry to try "ice cream" freeze banana slices then puree in a blender with 1/2 an avacado... (ok, once they are a bit better at solids than runny ones...) But, nic LOVED (still does) this and its still a treat :)

tandis/brink - nic was NOT a preemie, but he rarely rolled. dr always said not to worry about it..since we saw him do it once - it wasn't that he couldn't, it was that he didnt want to!

[Orion]

[QUOTE=miaclear;
Foods....we just tried our first non rice cereal food last night. Carrots. DS was a little put off by them and only managed about eight bites before he called it quits. We're going to do carrots for three more days. I've heard 3-4 days on the allergy rule, never up to 5 though. What is everyone else doing?[/QUOTE]

Miaclear: I usually wait only about three, maybe four days, but that is because there is not a history of food allergies in either of our families. Plus, my DD has never had a reaction to food so I'm not too concerned about Dalton.

[MrsKinnison]

Unfortunately, avacodo was the first non-cereal food we've tried with the exception of the tiniest taste of banana. I was thinking of making sweet potatoes tonight and freezing some mixed with the avacado to try later so nothing goes to waste. That should work, right?

Orion, Dalton is gorgeous!!! I can't believe you've been hiding him from us :D

[Tandis]

Miaclear - Even though I don't have to, I usually go a full week before trying something new. However, that just because otherwise I would never remember how long we've been on something! Thursday is our day to change, so tonight we're starting carrots. :) Usually though, 3-5 days should be enough to know if there is going to be a problem.

[betsyboop]

Waiting on foods- We've been trying new foods every 3 days. I guess I'm not that cautious, but we don't have any food allergies in either of our families. So far the only reaction she's had is a little constipation which was to be expected with the rice.

Rolling, etc- I think I'm noticing that the bigger babies are the ones that don't like to roll that much and the smaller ones do. I wonder- Is it that the rolling burns lots of calories or that being bigger makes it harder to roll? Or a little of both??

We had our first Gymboree class just now. Millie was pretty tentative about the whole thing, so we'll see how the next few classes go. She was the youngest baby there since the age range is 6-12 months, so maybe she'll grow into some of the activities.

[danalou]

Food - We tried bananas and avocados as well with mixed success. The bananas were just too thick for her as I tried to give her a it hand mashed. The avocados seemed to go over better, but I thinned them with water. I have some store bought food for a reference to the consistance and that helped when I made my freezer cubes!!

6 Month Update - DD is now rolling back to front and finally front to back!! She is now 18 pounds and 27" long which is 95% tile for weight and over 100% for length. It appears that we are truly growing a weed as DH always jokes about how big she is these days. We get some many comments on how she looks like a Gerber baby. With that I leave you with a picture of our little one on her 6 month mark!!

http://farm2.static.flickr.com/1041/1373924728_feefe556af.jpg?v=0

[miaclear]

Dana....what a doll!

Betsy.... DS took a few classes to get used to Gymboree. I started him at three months though. But once he did he LOVED it. We just graduated to Level II as well and I think he'll like this class a whole lot more since it's more faced pace and interactive.

Allergies....thanks ladies. I think we'll be able to stick with the three day rule at least with Stage One foods. Aren't they supposed to be the least allergenic? There are no food allergies in either of our families.

[whitlockan]

allergies so we tried our first non cereal food on Tuesday I think. Squash the next day he had streaks of blood in his squishy solid poo.....I'm sort of scared to go for day 2 and well tonight would have been day 3, I guess I will try again.

Orion Dalton is so cute

Dana those are GREAT blue eyes, so cute!!

So I couldnt resist this, at "school" they do finger painting, they always send home his projects and rave about how much he loves it. They were so impressed he knows what to do with it, that its meant for the paper only and not the mouth etc.....so I was like what the heck we will have fun at home I went got the non-toxic kid paint they use and this was the end result after literally a few seconds...

*removed*

Our next stop was the bath tub after he decided mommy needed to be "colored" too..........never again in my house!

[danalou]

Whit - I love the paint idea, but I think I will take your advice and not do it at home!! Great picture by the way as it captures the moment!!

Tandis - Your giants are just too cute!! What size clothes are they into these days as DD is almost too long for the 6-9 month clothes.

[shimmerstar]

Here are a couple of my guy. He has been sticking his tongue out when he smiles.

http://farm2.static.flickr.com/1002/1350103157_583b65003e_m.jpg

Dh calls this one "nobody knows the trouble I've seen".
http://farm2.static.flickr.com/1071/1305248739_6fcbd29813_m.jpg

Daycare has done almost a complete 180 and they are so nice to me now. They must have just freaked out when he was sick that day. Since he started, he can now crawl just a little bit, sit for a long time, and has been "talking" up a storm!

[miaclear]

I had a meltdown this morning. Aaron's been waking three times a night for the last few weeks. I can handle two pretty easily but three times is just a little much. And to top it off I'm having my own issues getting to sleep. He'll go down at 9pm, I'll try to go to sleep at 10pm and usually toss and turn till midnight and get maybe a half hour or an hour before he wakes. Usually after he eats I have a bit more tossing and turning before I get myself back to sleep. Allowing me about six hours of int interrupted sleep a night if I'm lucky.

Well this morning was pretty typical of the above except he woke for the day at 7am (instead of 8:30). I had just fed him last at 6am so I knew he wasn't hungry...heck...he shouldn't be hungry those other three times either. Anyhow my DH got up with him, walked the dog, etc. I managed to fall back asleep untill 8:30. I get up and hear them playing and having fun in the nursery so I walk in excited to see my happy baby. But nope....the SECOND he sees me he starts screaming that he's hungry and wants to nurse. I started crying.

I think DH kinda understood where I was coming from. To top it off even more our cat has been crying at our door in the middle of the night too. It's enough to drive me up the wall.

Tooth number 3 came in so maybe this was all related to that. I hope for a better nights sleep tonight. Please God!

[betsyboop]

Oh man, Mia, that sounds rough:( I had a night like that a month or 2 ago where I just broke down crying after a particularly bad bunch of wakings. It's so tough when you're nursing because DH can only help out so much for those night wakings, you know? I feel like I've talked everyone's ears off about sleep training, but it really was a life saver for me (and for Millie- haha!). I know some people won't go there, but if you are interested, I can post some of the details of what worked for us.

Everyone's babies are SO cute! This age is just adorable!

Tandis- Just curious, but who's Veronica and who's Audrey?

Shimmer- Millie is into sticking her tongue out now too!

My mom, Millie, and I went shopping today while my dad and Dave went to a guitar show. I have finally decided to get some 3-6 month clothes for fall because she's just nowhere near growing into the next size up. I bought cheap-y stuff from Target and TJ Maxx but we also went to the new Nieman Marcus that just opened nearby this weekend. My mom actually bought Millie an outfit in the kids dept. How unfair is that- she gets a designer outfit before I do:o She also got her Halloween costume:
http://s7ondemand1.scene7.com/is/image/Gymboree/140024415?$240x305$
a couple of other outfits from Gymboree, and almost the entire brown velvet/leopard print line from BabyGap. It's fun shopping with Nana:p

[Kanga]

miaclear - I totally know what you mean about going from few wakings to too many. Cami was down to one at 4:30 or 5 and was up 3 or 4 times last night. (I lost count) and has been waking up 3 times for a week or so. I finally stayed awake enough last night to pay attention to her eating habits. She was definitely comfort nursing and not actually hungry. I think on dh's next day off, I'm passing night duty on to him. I'm hoping once she she's that's it's dh she'll realize she's not getting any milk. I tried the pacifier last night instead of nursing at 10:30 and she got M.A.D.

betsyboop -
How unfair is that- she gets a designer outfit before I do

*sigh* my wardrobe is so sad. 2 girls has been hard on the checkbook, and lets face it, itty bitty clothes are so much more fun to shop for.

[MarriedaGoalie]

Yay for a new thread!! :)

Carter had a rough night last night... he's definitely teething!! I hope it breaks through soon!!!

[Orion]

Sounds like a bunch of us are going through rough nights right now. Dalton has one tooth and has another one popping through and I think he is going through a growth spurt so I'm a bit sleep deprived as well (doesn't help that I have recently discovered the Harry Potter series and have been up until 1 or 2 am reading!).

So Dalton started to crawl the other day. I can't believe it. He still isn't very coordinated at it but he is getting better at it everyday.

Love the Halloween costumes everyone has been posting. We won't be doing Halloween this year because DH will be out to sea, we usually get over 1000 kids banging on our door and the kids go to bed at 6 pm so not a whole lot of time to take them out. I probably will get a couple of costumes for the kids though to dress them out during the day and take them around to all my SAH Mama friends but they are still to young to go trick or treating anyways.

So I have decided for this Christmas that we are having a 'Non Made In China' Christmas. So whatever we buy for our kids will not be made in China and I'm hoping to take it one step further and buy either locally or at least Made in Canada. I'm going to tell my Mom and my MIL/FIL about this as well and see if they would want to do it. I respect it if they don't but I am going to tell them to at least be careful of what they buy for the kids because of all the recent recalls.

DH, the kids and I were visiting our friends from down the street on Saturday and the subject of Christmas came up. They told us that although they do celebrate Christmas they don't celebrate Christmas with Santa Claus. They feel that they shouldn't lie to their kids about Santa being real, nor do they think it is fair to tell kids that Santa is the one that brings toys around each year when there are kids out there that don't get stuff from Santa because they come from a poor family. I totally can see where they are coming from but Christmas/Santa time are some of my most tresured memories as a child and I don't think me believing in Santa as a child scarred me for life (perhaps it is because I came from a family that was able to afford presents, turkey dinners and everything else that goes along with Christmas so maybe I am biased). What do you guys think about this and how are you going to handle Christmas?

[miaclear]

Sleeping...thanks ladies. I'm glad I'm not going through it alone. The following night DS woke at 1:30 (after a 11:30 waking). I had DH go in the room and calm him down which worked for a bit. He cried for 45 minutes straight after that! Till about 2:30 in the morning! It was a whining cry and not a full fledge scream so we ignored him. Last night he woke at 11:00 and I fed him...bad I know. But then he only woke once more at 4;30 so I was happy. He did get up for the day a half hour earlier. Betsy...I would love to hear what worked for you guys. For the most part DS has been a really good sleeper till now.

Halloween....I bought DS a monkey outfit from the Gap that I think was last years style? It was at the outlet store for $11. I also have a pumpkin outfit that I got at BRU last winter on clearance for $1.50. Doubtful we'll actually go out and about. I'll probably dress him up for Gymboree class that week.

Christmas....I am ALL about Santa! I think most people just see him as a guy who brings presents, or at least present him to their families that way. But I think that if you do it properly you can teach your kids about Christmas and Santa and all the magic of the season that they represent. I was never traumatized when I found out Santa wasn't real. I don't think too many kids are. Christmas was always more about family and giving than about Santa...but we still had him. My goal will be to not let Santa spoil our kids...but he'll for sure be coming to our house.

[kindermom]

Sleeping: DS went a few days waking several times at night. I attributed it to his 6-month growth spurt. What was awful was him waking as his sister screamed because of a nightmare. He was up for over an hour after that fiasco. She, OTOH, never woke thorugh the ordeal.

Halloween: I will take him out only because his sister is going out. He is a turle and his sister will be a brown bunny. I bought his costume at Childrens Place and I will make his sisters as I can not find one I like. In past years, I dressed DD up and had her on the porch to help hand out candy and get oohs and ahhs. In our community we get about 300-400 TOTers. Everyone sits on their porch talking to each other as we hand out the goodies.

Santa: We both grew up in Santa heavy houses. I agree that we were not scarred by the lie of Santa. But that said, we decided that Santa brings 1 present. The rest come from family.

[happy1nuv]

Santa - i dont see anything wrong with santa, but then... i still believe he's real. Ok, he doesn't visit my house and bring me stuff, but when i wrap presents for the boys and put them under the tree - well, then i AM santa. Not the santa you see on tv, not the santa at the mall - but i embody the spirit and magic of santa. And, if you can't believe in magic when you're litttle... well, i think thats kind of sad. (I'm phrasing this badly and will need to work on it when the kids are old enough to question, but - i've got lots of time...) ... :)

sleep - oh man, where did my happy sleepin baby go? He's sooo getting up at night now, and half the time i'm not sure if he's lonely, teething, hungry or what...

Bottles - so i met the girls for brunch yesterday... not my first time leaving joe, BUT it was the first time he REFUSED a bottle. Mom tried everything - two different nipples, nic's sippy cup.. he just would NOT take it. Poor thing! he cried himself to sleep in her arms cause he was hungry and then was happy til I made it home (my friends are all over the state, so we met in the m iddle...about an hour away) :(

[Kanga]

Santa - I'm glad this was brought up. I'm the only one in the family who doesn't want to do it. The IL's especially have made a big deal about how FIL can dress up as santa and bring in all the gifts to everybody, etc, etc. I don't really like the lieing aspect of it etiher, plus I want to be the one given credit for the gifts. Selfish I know, but I don't want them thanking some make-believe jolly fat guy when dh and I are the ones going to all the trouble of shopping, wrapping, etc. I DO want to do it in the sense that the girls can pretend to be Santa for kids who wouldn't get anything otherwise (give a toy to toys for tots or something) and teach them the giving aspect of it all. I dont want to have to deal with the dissapointment when they find out, even if short lived. So basically that's my long way of saying I want to teach the girls that Santa is a fun game some parents play, but he isn't real. I'll have to see how dh feels about it. I'm hoping dd2 will still be young enough to bypass the whole issue one more year.

[betsyboop]

Miaclear- For sleep training, we used the Ferber method. I forget the title of the book, but it's by Dr Ferber and is easy to find if you're so inclined. Basically, you put your baby to bed drowsy, but awake. The first night, you go in after 3 minutes for the first visit, then 5 and then every 7 minutes until the baby is asleep. During the visits, you can talk to or touch your baby, but you can't pick him/her up and the visit should only be for a minute or 2. You then repeat those same intervals for each night waking (it can get long- I read the entire first Harry Potter book while waiting for my visits the first night). Each night, the intervals get longer and longer until the 7th night which is something like 25min for the first visit, 27min for the second, and 30 for the remaining ones (if necessary). But normally the baby doesn't even need 7 nights to become trained- Millie was on the young side when we did it and took 1.5 hours to fall asleep the first night and then each night waking was like a half hour. But then it immediately shortened to 15-30min to fall asleep for about 2 weeks- and she only woke up one time per night starting on night 2. Now she just rolls over and falls asleep when we put her down and falls asleep until we go to bed at 11pm (the noise of us getting ready for bed wakes her). I nurse her at that point and then she sleeps until 8 or 8:30am. It's such a huge improvement from before- it used to take me 1-2 hours to nurse her to sleep and then she would wake up after about an hour of sleeping, then I'd have to nurse her for another hour and she'd sleep for an hour, etc all night long.

Christmas- First of all, I LOVE the way you described it, Happy1- I feel the same way. I've heard that theory about not telling your kids that Santa is real because it's like lying to them, but I just don't buy it. I've never heard anyone say they wished they didn't beleive in Santa as a kid or that they don't trust their parents because they lied about Santa. I grew up in a very Christmasy/pro-Santa family and Dave grew up just the opposite. His mom HATES Christmas (no one's sure why) and told Dave and his sisters from day 1 that there is no such thing as Santa. I have always felt badly for them because some of my fondest childhood memories revolve around Santa/Christmas (our Santa presents weren't wrapped- my parents just put them on a certain chair for each of us and we ran down the stairs towards a big pile of toys each Christmas morning screaming with excitement). Now that Dave is part of a family that loves Christmas, he has realized just how much he missed out on as a kid. So, to make a long story short, Millie will definitely believe in Santa for as long as possible. But we won't make ALL the presents a kid gets be from Santa, just some.

[betsyboop]

Orion- I forgot to say in my previous post that I am also banning chinese toys this Christmas. I already got rid of all of the quesitonable stuff she had and replaced it with european toys. I'm sure my ILs are going to hate me, but whatever. I feel a lot better knowing her toys are made of natural materials especially at this age when everything goes into her mouth.

[shimmerstar]

Santa-
Dh is against santa, and I'm not. I don't know anyone that was traumatized by finding out about santa. Our compromise is that we can play santa but if Noah asks, we have to say that Santa isn't real.

[kindermom]

Not to put a wrench in toy plans, but someone brought up a great point about toys made not in China to me. How do we know that the paint itself was not made in China? So while the tpy may be made in Germany, it was assmebled there. It does not mean all of the components are German as well.

What is a parent to do? I decided to check out toys. If there is wear, then it gets tossed. Otherwise, he is fine to chew away.

6 month WBV:
Height: 26 1/2"
Weight:18-11

He dropped from the 85th and 90th %iles down to the 50th! But the ped is not concerned so we will see.

[miaclear]

Betsy....I actually haver the Ferber and Weisbluth books. DS goes down for the night no problem. I nurse him to sleep but this is usually a 10-20 min process depending how hungry he is. Night time nurse sessions are usually 5-10 min. And I can put him down awake/drowsy without any issue (for the most part, sometimes he'll protest but we usually let him). I guess it's just the # of times he's getting up right now that's the issue. I also know that he doesn't need me to nurse him to fall back asleep because we've heard him wake up and fall asleep on his own. Maybe this is just a growth spurt? Last night he only woke twice...hallelujah!

Oh...and our Santa toys were always unwrapped too! I loved Christmas morning and seeing all the presents under the tree. Oooooo now I'm excited.

[betsyboop]

Miaclear- Oops, I wasn't clear in my post. I was suggesting using the Ferber method for the nighttime wakings, not for the initial falling to sleep. If he knows he won't be fed or picked up when he wakes, he'll stop yelling out. Although if you're nursing to sleep, he may be waking/yelling because he suddenly realizes he's not being held anymore and is upset/angry. He may need to go to bed awake. But anyway, you have the Ferber book, so I'm sure you know this all already:D

Chinese toys- I see you're point Kindermom, but I come from a manufacturing background and I guess I trust the incoming inspection to catch product discrepancies much more reliably in Europe/US/Canada than I do in China. Plus, European toys have much stricter standards than US toys (not sure where Canada falls in there). Obviously, you have to use your judgement as far as all this goes anyway. So far, I've found a couple of brands that I feel I can trust (Kathe Krause for plush toys and Haba for wooden toys) and I'm sticking with them for now.

[danalou]

I can always count on you gals to bring up great topics!! DH and I will need to decide on the Santa topic which we both grew up with. I really like the idea of one thing being fro Santa. The Chinese toy topic is another hot item that would be great to try and avoid!!

Want to drop off a few of DD's 6 month photos -

http://blog.charmingsnapshots.com/images/45489-41430/IMG_8415.jpg

http://blog.charmingsnapshots.com/images/45489-41430/IMG_8394.jpg

[miaclear]

Betsy...thanks again. As much as I hate that others have or are going through it it's nice to know we're not alone in it. As a bonus though last night DS was back to one waking! 15 min to eat and then he was fast asleep! I think in my Weisbluth book it said that after 9 months they should stop all night time feedings if BFing. I think. Either way....I can totally handle one feeding a night.

Over Seas Toys....is there a good website out there for European Toys? Considering most everything you buy at BRU, Target, Etc is likely to be Made i China. Aren't most European Toys more expensive? One thing I know for sure is that we are not allowing DS to play with any toys his grandma brings back from her many trips to Asia. I used to put them in the donation bin but now I think I'll just toss them.

[Kanga]

Toys - I think there was a wooden toy thread or something in parenting awhile back? Anyways, I know PBK has some wooden toys and puzzles. Certainly not cheap, and I'm not sure where they are made but might be worth checking out.

[happy1nuv]

Toys - I'm now against most made in china toys, but i'm ok with the melissa and doug stuff... I'm sure we'll be returning a LOT of stuff from christmas, because my family already thinks im weird and i dont really want the headache about this one. I am making a kaboodle wish list and will direct anyone that asks to it... but im not forewarning anyone that we're anti mic stuff..

spinoff santa question - i know i was really old when i "found out" that santa wasn't actually a jolly old fat man that lived at the north pole (can't remember the age) but i totally wasn't traumatized by it. Was anyone traumatized when they found out? Do you remember your ah-ha moment?

[buffy]

Santa ~ well we already started the Santa thing with DD1 so I guess we'll continue it. :D Usually Santa only brings one or two bigger gifts, the rest come from us and the rest of the family.

danalou ~ cute pics! Poor 3rd baby Morgan has only had one set of professional pictures taken so far. I'm hoping to do another set close to Christmas.

toys ~ www.oompa.com has a huge selection of wood toys and you can even sort by made in Europe. Best of all free shipping with purchase of $65 or more. :) I hate paying for shipping.

[buffy]

spinoff santa question ~ I was 8 when I found out - I think some friends in my 3rd grade class spilled the beans. I remember going home and asking my mom who told me there was no Santa and said "I suppose the Easter bunny isn't real either?!?!" and running to my room and crying for a while. I guess I got over it quickly though because I don't remember anything else. I do remember keeping up with the act that there was a Santa Claus for my brother though who was 4 at the time.

So upset, yes. Traumetized, no.

[shimmerstar]

I was 7 or 8 when I found out about santa. I woke up early on xmas and went into my parents bedroom. My dad was gone and I kept hearing stuff in the living room. I pretended to be asleep until he came back and they told us we could go out and get our stuff. We got a mini trampoline that year, and the box was on the porch. I figured santa wouldn't leave a box. I didn't tell for awhile, because I was scared I wouldn't get anymore presents!

Ugh, daycare keeps giving him motrin. I'm pretty sure he doesn't need it every day. But I don't want to tell them no more, because what if he is really hurting and needs it? I HATE daycare!

[kindermom]

....is there a good website out there for European Toys?

I like moolka.com (http://www.moolka.com/). They have a little bit of everything. Some of the prices are higher. I was looking at fake food prices. The nonchinese ones are a little higher than the better quality fake stuff I was looking at but not insanely more.

[betsyboop]

Like Buffy, I buy toys at oompa.com (http://www.oompa.com) because of the free shipping. The toys are a little expensive, but at this age they have so few toys anyway that I wasn't too worried about it. I think the little wooden thingys that she can grab/chew/wave around were all about $8-10 each and the one stuffed toy was $30.

Happy1- I can't remember how old I was when I finally acknowledged that Santa wasn't real, but I was pretty old. I think I knew deep down for a while, but didn't really come out and say it for years because I wanted to still believe. Plus, I was worried that I'd get fewer presents:p Anyway, I was definitely not traumatized.

[miaclear]

Ok...I checked out both of those websites and noticed there were items "Made in China", even though they were designed in Germany or Australia or wherever. Do you just make a conscious effort to look for the items that were NOT made in China? Buying toys should NOT be this hard.

[betsyboop]

Yeah, that's why I don't buy the plush toys from Haba- they're all made in China. I think all the wooden toys from Haba are made in Germany and so are the plush toys from Kathe Kruse. There are a couple of other brands as well, but I think those are the major ones.

[happy1nuv]

Why does toy shopping have to be so difficult...really... :)

[Janey]

Thanks Miaclear for starting the new thread. :) I'm having a hard time keeping up with the 'net lately, so if anybody wants to take my place as Threadmistress, please speak up... not a lot to do these days except create a new thread when there are 1,000 posts, but I hate to leave Miaclear all by herself. :/


Christmas - Both our extended families are freaked out about toys Made In China too. I doubt we'll get any. I started this thread a couple of weeks ago: Toys Not Made In China (http://www.constantchatter.com/forum/showthread.php?t=35860&) ... if you have additional links, add 'em in there! :)

Our big Christmas bombshell this year is that we've decided to go to MIL's for the second year in a row. We are going to stop going to MIL's eventually (it is important to us to have Christmas in our own home and establish our own traditions as a family), so I feel like we should give her a few good years before we make the change. And "K's First Christmas" will be special to her, so we're going to go with it. My parents have been surprisingly cool with this.


I'm loving all the pictures of everyone's babies. They sure are growing fast! Here's a recent picture of K:

[goldengbridge]

Janey- I have to know where you got that bow for K's hair! She's beautiful!

[Janey]

goldengbridge - I ordered 4 'Mini Grosgrain Clippies' from www.bloomingbows.com (green, yellow, pink, lavender) because her hair is long enough that it's in her eyes now, and I don't want to cut it. I think they're so much fun that now I'm looking into how to make my own. :D I have halloween ribbon and red ribbon, and have ordered some alligator clips, but the clips haven't come in the mail so I haven't been able to try making them yet. I'm glad you like it too!!

[betsyboop]

QOTD- What foods and how much of them does your baby eat per day? How many "meals"? I'm just wondering if I'm feeding her the right amount (I've gotten nervous about the food thing ever since her last weigh-in. And seriously, now looking at all the recent pictures of your babies, Millie is SO skinny:( ).

We feed her 2 stage 1 containers (2.5oz. each) with some cereal mixed in after her first nap each day. Then I usually also give her the mesh feeder stuffed with sweet potato at some point during the afternoon.

[Janey]

QOTD: How Much Solids?

I've been really lax about the solids. Yesterday we didn't have any, and the day before that she ate very little. When I do feed her solids, we do it once/day, and I feed her about half a size 1 jar mixed with about 2 TBS of cereal. Sometime she just isn't interested and says, "No thank you!" so I put it in the fridge and try an hour later and she'll take it. She does not like the cereal (I get a look like "WTF is this you just put in my mouth??"), but loves the purees. If I were just to feed her puree she'd eat a whole jar, but the ped says that the cereals are important because of Iron, so I try to get her to eat some.

As someone who has battled obesity her entire life, I wonder about shoving food down her throat when she obviously doesn't want it... but on the other hand, if she needs the iron, she needs the iron and maybe I should suck it up and try to get her to eat the dang cereal.

Anyway, solids confuse the crap out of me. I'll be interested to hear what you all are doing.

[Kanga]

betsyboop - We actually haven't even started solids yet. I wouldn't worry so much about sneaking more solids in, but try to sneak more bm/formula in as it has more calories per volume than any solids anyways. I don't know if you've seen it yet, but I know there is a thread somewhere in parenting on ideas for foods that are full of good fat. I will try to find it and bump it for you. (Avocado and olive oil is the only one I can think of right now, but i know there's tons more). Camdyn is on the small side too, about 20% for weight and a little over 50th % for height. Not even 15 pounds yet and we haven't even moved up the straps in her bucket seat yet. Do people in your and your dh's family tend to be on the smaller side? I'm assuming this is why Camdyn is pretty small. The tallest person on my dad's side isn't even 6', and the tallest female I would guess to be around 5'7". Poor kid doesn't stand a chance:p

Here's a pic for reference, and because who can resist a chance to show off their babies?;) Not nearly as chubby as some other babies, but they all can't be 100 percentile anyways

http://i103.photobucket.com/albums/m135/Liz_Adams/IMG_1194.jpg

danalou - somehow i missed your pics. Anyways, they're fabulous!

[happy1nuv]

betsy - we're starting solids on mon, but my super chunk went from really chunky to lean and long seemingly overnight. no clue what the ped will have to say about it, but just wanted to throw that out there...

janey - are you bf'ing? the iron she gets from you is much more absorbable than the fortified iron in cereals ... i'd increase your iron intake if you are really worried about it. (i ebf nic, and he never tested low for iron - he never had any cereal...and whenever ive been tested, i am always just this side of anemic) ...if you're ff -- isnt formula already fortified??? just my $0.02, but i wouldnt force feed... not the message i wanna send (theres obesity in my fam too)

[kindermom]

besty - DS eats the following:
4.5 ounces bm around 9:00
4.5 ounces bm around 12:00 with about 1/2 jar equiv of solids
4.5 ounces bm around 3:30
nurse at 5:30
about 1/2 jar equiv of solids
nurse at about 8:30
nurse at about 10:30

DD was in the 5th percentile for weight and was up to 5 ounce bottles at this stage. It is just genetics for the two of them.

I would also recommend high fat foods if you are that concerned. I tried it with DD and she never moved above the 5th percentile. She is just a thin little girl.

Our ped nurse suggested using diced bananas to teach DS how to eat finger foods. It mushes easily but sticks to the hands so it is easy to get in the mouth. DS has taken to eating bananas with help. His are slightly frozen to make it more comfortable on his gums.

Janey - where did you order the alligator clips? I have been looking for toddler friendly ones.

[buffy]

solids ~

No solids for us yet either. She tried them a couple weeks ago (my mom was here and wanted to try so I said what the heck) but did not like them AT ALL. :) Anyway, Morgan is pretty average weight - about 50-60%. My first DD was very chunky still at this age and didn't eat solids until 8 or 9 months. In fact my middle DD was the only one who took to solids and she was my skinniest baby. Not that I think solids had anything to do with it, but each baby is different.

I don't know what the deal with iron is but I've always had really good iron levels and none of my kids have ever had a problem either. All were BFed for over a year. No cereals or formula.

[miaclear]

Solids...we started solids a couple weeks ago. My Ped said that by his 9 month visit he wants him to be up to three meals a day and introduced to a sippy cup and eating large crackers (like the gerber graduate kind). So we started with one feeding a day at 7pm. DS has been taking about 1/2-3/4 of the container. He always gives me a face of "what are you doing to me" but until he stops opening his mouth up for more I keep giving it to him. I'm doing one feeding a day for a month, then two the next month, then three. So by the time his 9 month is here he'll be up to 3 a day. I gave him the sippy cup the other day and he loves it. Loves flailing it around and hitting himself on the head with it that is. He'll get the hang of it eventually. I'm not worried about the quantity of food he's getting at this point because I know 99.9% of his nutrition comes from BM, food at this point is just a learning process.

1st Word....I'm calling it. DS keeps saying hmmmaaumauuuumauuumauuu. Which is mama if you ask me ;)

Work....I don't think I posted here but after quiting work to be a SAHM I decided to see if I could earn some kind of income. After approaching my old boss I'm going back to work 10 hours a week. The best part is I make my own schedule so long as I do 10 hours each week. I can work days, nights, weekends, if I was wide awake at 3am I could go in if I wanted to. The building is only 2 miles from my house too so commuting isn't an issue. At the end of the year if all is working out he's going to work on getting me remote access so that I can work from home which would be even better! I'm pretty excited about it. But if it doesn't work out I have no issues with quiting. I'm only working for the vacation fund :D

Standing up/Pulling up....I think most of our kids are to this milestone. DS has been there for a few weeks but recently that's all he wants to do. He won't do it on furniture though, only if you hold your hands out to him. It's gotten to the point where we jokingly hide our hands from DS while we're playing so that he doesn't become so preoccupied with trying to grab them.

[betsyboop]

mia- Millie says mamamama and dadada all the time too. For mamamama, she repeatedly practices the motion of making an "m" sound for a couple of seconds before actually saying anything and sometimes she never even gets around to saying anything out loud. It's hilarious.

Solids- Whoa, maybe I'm giving her too much. She doesn't seem to have a limit to what she'll take and I once even gave her 3 containers in a sitting:o But she gobbles it up and seems to really love it, so I don't know. This is the tough part of breastfeeding- I have no idea how much she's getting each day or if the amount has gone down by much/a lot since she started solids.

Kanga- Unfortunately, avocado is the only food so far that she's refused to eat:rolleyes: I guess I'd say that I'm a smallish person and Dave is average, but we were not small babies. My mom looked up in each baby book for my parents, my sister and me to see what each of us weighed at 6 months and Millie is 2 lb lighter than the smallest of us. She's just 13lb 2oz. and in the 5th percentile. And Dave was also not small- he was so fat that he was put on skim milk at a year old. Camdyn is really cute, by the way:)

[littlemia]

Big babies- Um, some of your babies at 6 months are bigger than I think Claire will be at a year. Seriously, I will be shocked it she weighs 18lbs then. I'm hoping she gets to 17.

Betsy- I weighed Claire this morning and she only weighs 13lb4oz. She didn't double her birthweight by 6 months. I don't know that she'll do it by 7 months. We don't do solids yet and she probably only gets 25oz of breast milk a day. She just won't or can't eat more. I won't say I don't worry because I stress about the amount she eats most days but I've learned that I just have to lower my expectations for her eating. Forcing her to eat is only going to make it worse.

Danalou, Janey, Orion, and Kanga- Love the pictures!

Sleep- Claire hasn't been sleeping too well either. We've been cosleeping in order to get some rest. She's going through a big developemental spurt right now so hopefully things will get a little better when things settle down.

6 months old today! It seemed so far off those first few weeks, but not I know our babies will be a year old before we know it.

I definitely have a crazy baby. I swear this child is going to make me go gray. It's almost non-stop crawling, pulling up, and trying to climb when she's awake. Unfortunately her reflexes aren't fully developed so she doesn't catch herself when she falls and she hasn't figured out how to just sit down from standing. I'm constantly trying to prevent her from hurting herself too bad. In the last two days she's managed to get a bruise on her forehead and cheek.

Here's a few recent pictures:

http://farm2.static.flickr.com/1019/1415929152_3310d280a5.jpg?v=0

http://farm2.static.flickr.com/1080/1415161197_8db980b0e4.jpg?v=0

She likes to hang out in and crawl through the end table
http://farm2.static.flickr.com/1068/1415160757_19d1bc49e7.jpg?v=0

[goldengbridge]

Everyone's pics are SO cute! Here are Ash's 6 month pics.

http://i71.photobucket.com/albums/i125/prugh12/ashlyn6months.jpg

http://i71.photobucket.com/albums/i125/prugh12/closeupashlyn.jpg

Solids:Ashlyn eats one stage 1 container of fruit mixed with some oatmeal in the morning. She usually eats a stage 1 veggie for lunch and for dinner she eats another stage 1 fruit mixed with cereal and sometimes 1/2-1container of a veggie.
She's still nursing 8 times a day also. I have no idea how much shes getting when she nurses but I nurse her on demand whenever she wants.

SleepMY baby who used to sleep through the night has been getting up at night as well. I think shes teething too.

[Janey]

happy1nuv - Thanks for your response; you make me feel better. We're mostly breastfeeding. When she's super hungry and I don't have any milk (I still struggle with supply issues sometimes) she gets 4 oz. formula, but that only happens about 2x/week. In any case, she's 50th percentile for height/weight, so I figure we're doing alright with what we're doing. Maybe I'll add an iron supplement into my day. I take 9 fenugreek, 2 reglan, and a pre-natal every day... adding one more pill shouldn't be a big deal!

kindermom - I bought the alligator clips off of Ebay - they were just plain ones that I could attach the ribbon to myself. However, I have seen a TON of cute toddler-friendly hair clips on Etsy. I am loving Maya Papaya (http://www.etsy.com/shop.php?user_id=5119253), but if you do a general search for "toddler hair clips" you should get a ton of hits. I went with larger bows because I was concerned about K pulling them out of her hair and eating them... and of course yesterday I found her on her play mat eating one of her bows. :p

[MrsKinnison]

Once again I am so far behind! We have been packing and moving and actually had half our stuff at the old house and half at the new for a few days which was no fun. We are officially in the new house and spent our first night here last night :D I still have some unpacking to do, but we are getting there. Actually, I am quite impressed with how unpacked we are in just one day!

Santa ~ We will definately do Santa. I think it was Happy that talked about the magic of Santa, and that is exactly how we feel about it. I clearly remember when I found out Santa wasn't real... Can you believe I was in 5th grade??? The teacher actually blew it with the Norman Rockwell picture and I think about half the class still believed though we all pretended we didn't. It did not traumatize me in the least, and I very much enjoyed keeping the magic going for my brothers who were 5 and 7 years younger than me.

Sleeping ~ Add us to the list of good sleepers gone bad. Ollie used to sleep from 8:30 to 5 then back down until 8:30. Then he was waking at least 3 times to eat. I figured growth spurt, and after 3 weeks he finally returned to his old schedule. Unfortunatley, that only lasted a week. When he wakes up he is really crying and wants nothing to do with the paci, in fact it just makes him cry more, and he definately consumes a full meal. I didn't even think of it, but Little made a good point... Maybe this all has to do with new developments going on? Ollie has really started babble the last couple of days, with definate dadada, bababab, so maybe the two are related?? He's also discovered yelling is great fun ~ lol!

Solids ~ We do breakfast and dinner. I started with just dinner, but added breakfast within days because he just seemed to really want it. We just started over Memorial Day so he has only had rice, oatmeal, avacado (if you can even count it since he hated it so much) sweet potatoe, and bannanas. He prefers rice to oatmeal, but rice makes him gassy so I mix the 2 when he has cereal, eats bannanas but isn't too impressed, and LOVES sweet potatoe. He usually eats 2 cubes of sweet potatoe, and bannana is fresh so just a piece. I'm making carrots and peaches to try this week, and we will be going apple picking later in the week so I'll make apples next weekend. He loves to drink out of our glass, and we have been giving him a sippy a couple time a week. He grabs and and puts it right in his mouth, but has no clue he can actually drink from it. He also enjoys banging it off his head :D At least he has fun with it.

Question for those who make food: Any thoughts on the book 100 Babyfood Purees (I think thats what its called)? I had heard good things about Blender Babyfood, but they didn't have it in so I got this instead. Not sure if its worth ordering it and returning this one, or if this is just as good?

I love all the pics!!! I can not believe how big our babies are getting. I will try to post some of Ollie soon.

[MrsKinnison]

Oh, and I forgot about toys.... Some of you mentioned plush toys. Is there a concern about them too? I know the lead paint, but no paint on my plush toys so I'm just not sure. Between the store, real estate, selling our own house, and the move, I feel sort of like I've been living in a cave lately and have no idea what's happen in the outside world.

[danalou]

Sleeping: I hate to post about DD STTN as I don't want to curse it!! I have been trying different things, but I have increased her solid feedings to 2 a day as well as increasing the BM before bed. The combo seems to be doing the trick, but again lets not curse the 10-1/2 hours of straight sleep!! I will keep my fingers crossed that all the kids get back onto a regular sleep schedule.

Solids: As I mentioned I have just increased to 2 solids feedings a day. This is the first day that DC will be giving her one meal!! She has had rice, oatmeal (which she prefers), peas, sweet potatoes, avocado (which she hates right now), prunes, pears and peaches. I plan to try and introduce applesauce this weekend!! I have a bunch of apples from the orchard that I want to make into homemade applesauce.

MrsK: Both books are on my to order list for Amazon. I saw the Top 100 at BRU and it seemed like a decent book. Sorry I can help between the two, but I think either is a great choice!!

[whitlockan]

well I finally have some time to wander in here........

Z is 6 months today and his stats as of this morning:

16 lbs 11 oz - 45th %
26 long - 45th %
42.5 cm - 25th %

sleepWe too are not getting much sleep....and this is no fun....I also know its since he is going through so much development right now. Anyways we are on all 4 (arms and knees) rocking so the crawling is just any minute now, saying our words: mamama, dadadada, lalala and babba all randomly of course. Can somewhat get himself into the sitting position from laying down and of course were learning to pull himself up into the standing position, no wonder were not sleeping!! The Ped watched him get into position and rock and she was like go home and childproof NOW...hahaha got the outlet covers in, but I know there is no turning back hes gonna go.

Solids Ped said start him on 2 meals a day. So he gets all BM in the morning, around lunch he gets some solid (currently cereal) then his bottle of BM and then at night before bed give him cereal and some stuff mixed in then his bottle. I was suprised but she said give him food first he is always going to want to nurse so were good. So far we have got him on: oatmeal, carrots - he LOVES them, sweet peas - LOVES them, green beans - partial towards them and squash - partial as well. We started a few weeks before his 6 week visit but she was happy to know we just follow his lead and she told us to continue to do that, dont count the containers etc let him decide because you cant overfeed him. She also said see what he thinks of a sippy cup, only because he can hold a regular cup with two hands properly and is VERY interested in it.

Alright hes getting fussy.....oh shots they are no fun!

[happy1nuv]

foods - i've never heard of either of those books, so i can't help ya... the book i used with nic was Boost Your CHilds Immune System (http://www.amazon.com/Boost-Your-Childs-Immune-System/dp/1557046425) but then i switched to Disease Proof Your Child by Dr Fuhrman (the first is more specific baby-wise... the second is more about all kids, so the baby advice is more start with this, move to this (like, no ice cube tray tricks, etc.)
Was very happy with both.

Joe was 6 months yesterday. We'll start him on avacado today (unless i flake on it again... was just too much going on yesterday to start)

[betsyboop]

happy1- What is an ice cube try trick?

[MarriedaGoalie]

littlemia: Claire is absolutely beautiful!!!! Those eyes are gorgeous.....

We had Carter's 6 month pictures taken tonight. I should have them to post in about a week. I can't wait! They came out sooooo good!!!! I can't believe he's 6 months old already!! :(

[kindermom]

Baby Food Book Recs - We made all of DDs food and will do the same for DS. I did not use a book but rather made it all up as I went along. I have heard "Super Baby Food" (I think that is the title) recommended a lot however. I almost bought one with DD but got lazy and winged it instead.

Making food is not rocket science, to be honest, and I am not sure a book is necessary unless you want to get really creative. I just made sweet potatoes, butternut squash, and applesauce. The sweet potatoes and squash were roasted, peeled, and blended with a little filtered water. I just added enough water to get the immersion blender to mix it. The apples were peeled, boiled in filtered water, and pureed with some of the cooking water. I will add spices when H is a little bigger and will add it when I am cooking them that day. DD loved diced, steamed eggplant with garam masala.

As a hint, I have learned that the silicone mini-muffin pans make great food freezing tools. The flexible silicone means that the food pops right out.

DS has ended a week long awful sleeping stint. Last night was the first night in at least a week where he did not wake every hour from about midnight on and toss and turn when he was sleeping. I think he little tummy is having a hard time with solids. He has become excessively gasy and went days without pooing. When he finally went yesterday it was a poo explosion (i.e., 7 times in 24 hours). I think that is why he finally slept. I am hoping he did not inherit my DHs sensitve stomach!

[Orion]

[QUOTE=kindermom;1514793As a hint, I have learned that the silicone mini-muffin pans make great food freezing tools. The flexible silicone means that the food pops right out.[/QUOTE]

Ohhhh...great tip. I never thought of this. I use ice cube trays and I get so frustrated with them sometimes.

I don't have much time to post but just wanted to say that Dalton is now saying Mama! I love it. Sophie's first word was Dada so it was nice that Dalton's was Mama.

I think I've mentioned this before but I do a lot of updating about the kids (with pictures) on my live journal account. If any of you are over there and want to get updates on my kids my user name is Orionbelt.

[dollface]

Wow - everyone is getting so big around here! Remembering to last year at this time we were all starting to find out the sexes of our little ones and starting to plan nurseries :)

Davin had his 6 month appt. on Sept. 14th, here are his stats:

17 lbs. 13 oz - 50%tile
28" long - 90%tile

He is eating a ton of solids. I only feed him at breakfast and dinner though because I am just not ready to start carting around food while we are out & about during the day. He eats oatmeal, yogurt, peaches, pears, papayas, apples, cantaloupe, pasta - and every stage 2 mixed veggie/brown rice/meat combo that Earth's Best offers! He doesn't really care for bananas. I make all his fruit but just buy the stage 2 stuff. In addition he takes about 24 oz. of formula. I give him a sippy cup whenever he is in his highchair and knows what it's for, but mostly just chomps on the spout. No teeth yet but they have been *right there* for more then a month...pop through already!!

He is scooting all over the place, sitting up - but no real crawling. He babbles like crazy - nana, mama, dada, papa...but it's not directed towards anyone or anything, just babbling. We have also been working on signing and he will sometimes sign 'eat'. We go to a mommy group one day a week and *pre* pre-school one day a week.

Sleep - goes down by 7 p.m. and will wake up between 6-7 a.m. but I won't get him out of his crib til at least 7 a.m. so he usually just plays by himself til I come get him. He naps 2-3x a day anywhere from 1 hour - 1.5 hours.

I guess that's about it, besides a picture!
http://farm2.static.flickr.com/1153/1429328834_7788bb44c9.jpg

[happy1nuv]

betsey - ice cube trick was just making a bunch and freezing in ice cube trays/transferring to freezer bags...that kind of stuff (no new epiphanies, sorry)

[miaclear]

We are cart riding now! So far so good. It used to be that I'd push his stroller and carry him because he hated riding in it. So far he thinks riding in the cart is fun. not sure how long that will last.

http://farm2.static.flickr.com/1350/1439768222_1fadb3da7c.jpg?v=0

[shimmerstar]

All your babies are so cute! We are having sleep troubles here too and it sucks!
Last weekend, Noah started crawling, babbling, and playing peek-a-boo. He said "daddy" and grabbed dh's cheeks, but then said it like 100 more times. He also said "dada chicken" so I tease dh about it.

We love the swings!

http://farm2.static.flickr.com/1045/1428507809_31fdee9d23_m.jpg

And his very first tailgate. He tried to grab my SIL's beer. :p
http://farm2.static.flickr.com/1081/1399818876_f535c551e5.jpg?v=0

Dollface- Those eyes! Wow!

[danalou]

I am loving all the photos as I still can't believe our little ones are 6+ months old!! I will have to try the shopping cart cover as DD will not tolerate the carseat carrier much these days. We have been using the baby bjorn these days, but after an hour she gets heavy!!

[betsyboop]

Shimmer- I love the push-up picture! and Wow on the talking- Noah said "chicken" and "Daddy"??!! Millie says mama and dada and a few other things (nana, baba, etc), but not real words and she doesn't understand their meanings or anything.

Mia- I started putting Millie in the cart seat a couple weeks ago too. She loves it so far. Although, we don't have one of those cushions that you have- it's very cute:)

Dollface- Davin is such a beautiful baby- those eyes!

Some recent pictures:

http://i53.photobucket.com/albums/g56/bugs1234_2006/DSC_1131.jpg?t=1190815517

http://i53.photobucket.com/albums/g56/bugs1234_2006/DSC_1036.jpg?t=1190815572

I just think this is the craziest face!
http://i53.photobucket.com/albums/g56/bugs1234_2006/DSC_1004.jpg?t=1190815605

[MrsKinnison]

Kindermom ~ ROFLMAO at "making baby food is not rocket science." You are talking to a girl who set taco's on fire twice in the same night! A domestic diva I am not and it has only been in the last year that I haven't needed to use 3 phone-a-friends every time I went grocery shopping. I'm definately getting better and as long as I have a guide I can vary from there, but I just winging it is WAY out of my league :D

Keep the pictures coming!!! I love seeing how everyone is growing and changing. You can really see their little personalities in pictures now.

[ieducate]

Hello Ladies, I know it has been a long time since I posted. I wanted to stop in and say hello. I LOVE all the pictures you have all posted. I can't believe how big your little ones are. Julia is still on the small side, considering she was born in January. She is almost 15lbs and she is 24 inches long. She is very low on the growth chart for height, but her mom and dad are short too. :( Anyway, I am posting a few pictures of her taken a few days ago.

Food: Julia eats everything we give her. She LOVES vegetables and her favorite food is squash. She is only on fruits and vegetables, 3 times a day. Her breakfast and lunch are usually just one container of Level 2 foods, and her dinner is usually a Level 2 vegetable and a Level 1 fruit. She also continues to nurse about 5-6 times a day...sometimes more if she wakes up a lot during the night. (WHICH HAPPENS A LOT!!!).

Movement: Not much. She rolls over a lot, but she isn't really crawling yet. She can move around in her crib (and often gets from one end to the other within about an hour), but she isn't crawling per say. She is also not sitting up by herself yet. She can do it, but only for a few seconds. She just doesn't seem to have the balance yet. She loves to stand when someone holds her...that is what she prefers to do all day.

Talking: She babbles a lot, but nothing in the way of actual words yet...although her dad is convinced she has said dadda many times. :)

Teeth: She has two on the bottom...they are VERY sharp. She doesn't seem to be bothered by them anymore...although every once in a while she can't seem to find enough to bite on...including ME when I am nursing her. :(

Anyway, I hope you are all well. I really do love all the pictures. We are going to a pumpkin patch in two weeks and I hope to get some good pictures of that. I will post those when we get them.

http://i115.photobucket.com/albums/n311/ieducate/Julia%20Rose/forCC3.jpg http://i115.photobucket.com/albums/n311/ieducate/Julia%20Rose/forCC2.jpg
As you can see...we are still working on getting some more hair. :)

[Brink]

Ieducate - good to hear from you. Sounds like Julia is doing great. My girls are also not moving around much or talking. They have learned to sit up unsupported, but that's about it. Kristi has rolled over a couple of times, but Katie never has. They don't scootch and they certainly don't say mama/dada. Just thought I would post so you don't feel she is that far behind when compared to another preemie. I think our preemies just take longer than even their "adjusted age". Do you have to go for a preemie developmental appointment? We have ours next Monday. I'm sure they will tell us where are girls are for development and we will get all kinds of lectures about excercises we should be doing. I guess I'm just not too worried about it and figure they will do it when they are ready. Anyway, good to hear from you.

[shimmerstar]

betsyboop- Don't worry, he doesn't know what he's saying either. Except maybe with the daddy part. I love Millie's hat picture.

ieducate- look how big she's getting! Sounds like she's doing great!

[Kanga]

I just had to come here and say that I finally got a "mama" out of Cami! Well, really it sounded like "muuummuuummmmuuummmah" but I'm calling it! I'm not sure if she was unsing it in context or just babbling though.

[whitlockan]

everyone is so adorable!!!

ieducate she looks great and sounds like all is well.

we are finally using our first word in the right context...yes its mama!!!! If you set him down and he doesnt want that he flaps his arms and says mama mama. So cute!!

So we werent able to go to our family photographer right at 6 months will be going in late nov.so we took a shot at Picture People and they suprised me and did a pretty good job. A few of them:

*removed*

the only edits have been cropping so ignore the really bad job of that and the fact that I had to scan our orginals because there still not loaded yet

[betsyboop]

So the weirdest thing happened the other day. Mangoes were on sale at the grocery store, so I bought 1 to give to Millie to try. On Thursday, I blended it up and she really loved it. But, a couple hours later, she developed a mild rash on her neck, face and torso. I didn't think anything of it at first, but then I wondered if it was the mango. Dave took a picture of it when he got home that night and we figured it would go away by morning. When morning came, she still had the rash, so I decided to call the Dr. He said that the type of rash it is could either be from a virus or an allergic reaction to mango. We are to hold off on any more mango until she's 1 year old and then we have to give it to her again to see if she has the same reaction. I kind of think it'll be an allergy in the end and not a virus because she now has the rash on her little bum now that the mango is on it's way out. I'm usually the first one to roll my eyes when someone has a weird reaction/allregy, so it figures that my kid would have it happen to her:p Seriously, a mango allergy?? How weird is that?

(I looked online and apparently, it's not an unheard of allergy though- it's just not that common in the US because mango isn't that popular of a fruit here)

[kindermom]

Betsy - I have a coworker who is horribly allergic to mango. She swells up at even the smallest bit in food.

[MarriedaGoalie]

ieducate: Julia is just adorable!!! :D

Whit: Your little guy is adorable! What a beautiful family!

We had Carter's 6 month photos taken on Wednesday. I am just going to share a couple of my favorites on here, but if you want to check out all of them, they are in my journal. :)

http://images28.fotki.com/v1027/photos/1/1116680/5441999/P10-vi.jpg

http://images27.fotki.com/v1024/photos/1/1116680/5441999/P8-vi.jpg

http://images30.fotki.com/v472/photos/1/1116680/5441999/P1-vi.jpg

http://images29.fotki.com/v1034/photos/1/1116680/5441999/P20-vi.jpg

[Kanga]

Whit - I love that second one. The expression on their faces is priceless.

[happy1nuv]

whit - i love the black and white one!

[miaclear]

QOTD: I know it's only October but Christmas Cards have been on my mind. What is everyone planning on doing? I'm debating between doing my own picture or having pictures done. However we're signed up for a first year package with a photographer and the next one is at 8 months which is too late to get holiday cards ordered. I don't want to spend another $200 so I'm leaning on taking my own photos and using vistaprint.

Tooth #4 came in this weekend! And I've decided Aaron is a veggie lover. He ate a container of squash in about three min flat.

Whit...the B/W one is my favorite.

Mag... that chicken outfit is too cute.

[Orion]

QOTD: I've never really been into Christmas cards before so I probably won't start this year. I know, I'm a scrooge but I have a mini boycott with the greeting card industry because of all the holidays that they have created (in my opinion) that we need to buy cards for. If I want to send someone a card, it is homemade. Hey, everyone needs to have a little bit of protesting hippy in them! :)

I made Dalton some squash the other day and he just gobbled it up. I baked it in the oven with a wee bit of butter and than mashed it up and it was so good. So far he has had sweet potatoes, avacado, bananas, pears, and yogurt and he loves them all. I'm going grocery shopping tomorrow and I'm going to pick up some fresh veggies to make up for him. I think I'm going to get a few green beans (they are only good frozen for up to two months), carrots, and maybe peas. I use the book 'Super Baby Food' book and follow along with their suggestions on when to introduce what food. When Dalton turns 7 months I will introduce egg yolk, green beans, carrots and peas. We don't have a history of food allergies in our family and Sophie never had any allergies so I'm not worried about Dalton and egg yolks.

MAG: I checked out your journal for the pictures and they are great.
Ieducate: Julia is so cute!
Whit: Love the pictures!
betsyboop: I hope Millie is over the allergic reaction and is feeling better.
Kanga: Yay for getting a Mama!

[betsyboop]

kindermom- Do you happen to know if your coworker is allergic to anything besides mango? Just curious if it's linked to any other allergies.

Cute photos MAG and Whit!

Mia- An 8 month shot is too late for Christmas cards? Good grief, I need to get my act together, I guess! We don't do professional photos, so I have no advice as far as that goes.

I know I posted a while ago because someone had a shag rug like mine from Pottery Barn. I just wanted to let whoever it was know that we had to wrap ours up and get a new, non-shedding rug in it's place this past weekend. Millie had started grabbing tufts of it from various places around the house (it was impossible for me to keep up with the shedding:o ) and apparently stuck them in her mouth. We saw her gag and throw up on Sat and noticed something white on her tongue- it was a big clump of shag rug:( It scared the living crap out of us, so now we have a berber rug bound around the edges from Building 19 (http://www.building19.com/INDEX.htm). It was only $30, so not much to spend. If whoever it was is better at keeping up with the shedding than I was, then disregard this warning:p

[Kanga]

Gah, I still can't edit. ANyways, soprry MAG, I meant to direct my SO to you rather than Whit. Whit - Love your pictures too, I think the last one is my favorite.

Betsy - Aww, so sorry to hear about Millie's mango allergy. Poor thing! Hopefully she grows out of it, but at least it's a pretty mild allergic reaction and not something super common. I hope she's doing better by now.

miaclear - Wow, FOUR teeth? We don't even have one yet.

QOTD - I love sending out xmas cards, mostly because my social circle usually only sends them out to people from who they receive one from and I love getting them. Last year I made my own. I bought a black bed sheet from Target, put a cute outfit on Daytona, and let her go to town with candy canes, xmas lights (BAD idea! Long story short i was supposed to get LED lights but I didn't), ornaments, etc. Then i edited it in photoshop and had them printed as a regular 4x6 from shutterfly. They turned out really cute. I will probably do something similar this year, though I may have to photoshop the girls together since getting them in the same pic is nearly impossible.

I gave Cami some solids for the first time a couple weeks ago. So far she's had sweet potato puffs, avocado, carrot wagon wheels, graham crackers, zweiback toast, and whatever else Daytona has dropped on the floor and she's gotten. I spoon feed her some sweet potato but she was less than thrilled with that and would much rather feed herself. I think it's more fun for her that way, though i don't think she actually ends up eating much of it. Up next is peas or maybe squash. I'm excited to try out the mesh feeder with her so maybe we'll do squash next. Out of everything we've tried, graham crackers were her favorite, followed by sweet potato puffs. Avocado was teh only definite no. Too bad it's one of the healthiest:rolleyes:

[miaclear]

Betsy...I know! DS will be 8 months Nov 20th, but she usually requires two weeks to go through and touch up all the images. Which does put it really close for printing and everything. I'm sure if I tried to order some I could but I probably won't want to wait that long either.

I'm also the one with the rug! I've been picking up clumps here and there. Our rug is from Pier One and although it sheds most of it seems to stay in the TV room and not get all over the house, although I do find they like to gather by the door for some reason. I checked out the link you posted but unfortunately we don't have a Building 19 (too bad...looks fun). I might have to find something different though :( Or really get my floor cleaning game on.

Kanga...I sometimes wish we didn't have any! Although DS is not prone to biting while nursing it has happened and it's not fun. I think I'll be using DS as my inspiration for my pumpkin carving this year.

[buffy]

cute pictures everyone!! I need to take some current ones of Morgan, her scrapbook is going to be slacking compared to her sisters!

Christmas Cards ~ I used to make my own up until 2 years ago, then I just went the shutterfly route. I always take my own pictures because I send out about 100 cards and figure most people just look at the picture and end up throwing it away so I don't want to pay a ton for them. I've always had professional pictures taken in Christmas outfits and then just give those pictures to family.

teeth ~ we are still toothless over here!

betsy ~ yikes! DD1 choked on a clump of dog hair once which was scary enough. The nice thing about an inside dog is she'll clean up any food that gets dropped so I generally don't have to worry about that. The bad thing is the occasional hair clump shows up out of nowhere so I've got to keep my eye out.

Kanga ~ I can relate to photoshopping the pictures together! Last year I did a card with 3 separate photos (Addy, Riley and the dog) so I could get a decent picture of all of them. I'll probably have to do something similar this year.

[Orion]

Just changed my avatar with a picture that I captured today. Sophie snuggles with Dalton all the time but do you think I could ever capture it on camera! I finally did today so I had to use it as my avatar.

[MarriedaGoalie]

Christmas Cards: Ahhhh.... it's not that time already, is it?! That's so scary!!! I will definitely be doing a picture card with the whole family. Maybe just the boys? I'm not sure yet.

[shimmerstar]

Noah pretty much stopped spitting up a few months ago. This week he has been doing it a lot. He also has a dry cough and is a little congested. I thought he was teething but then the spitting up started. He seems to gag and then spit up, but it's not really throwing up. He seems like he's feeling okay.

Has this happened to anyone else? I don't think the doc is needed yet, but I'm starting to get concerned. Thanks!

[miaclear]

Shimmer...Aaron was/is a reflux baby. We put him on Axid about 3 months old and the Dr told us we could quit it about months. I was all set to but right about 6 months he started spitting up again, lots (because he eats a lot more). He got a little cough with it when it started up again but we decided to stick out the Axid another month. It's gotten a lot better in the last few weeks.

ETA: I've read that the sphincter muscle that stops the spit up can mature anywhere from six months to twelve months.

[betsyboop]

Interesting that it seems like most of the babies here (Millie included) have rejected avocado. For some reason I was under the impression that babies liked avocado normally:confused:

New tricks- Just curious what all the funny/cute things the babies are up to. Millie has really gotten into reaching up and touching/flicking the top of her head while nursing. It's so funny to watch because her arm is stretched all the way up and she can just barely reach the center of the back/top of her head:p She also has really gotten into giggling. Mostly at the most random times, but she loves when Daddy does "slow moving car, fast moving car, bumpy bumpy ride, dumptruck" while bouncing her on his lap. She even giggled when I was changing her diaper in her room and Dave was in our room getting dressed while saying the words.

Mia- You're lucky that your rug doesn't get to the rest of the house. We find it all over the place- even upstairs! I forgot to say Wow before about Aaron having 4 teeth already. We're still waiting for #1 over here.

Orion- Cute!

Shimmer- Millie still spits up a TON, so I don't really have any advice. I'm just eagerly awaiting the day her sphincter muscle develops!

[Orion]

I guess my baby is the exception...Dalton loves avacado...even more so than banana which I thought was weird. He prefers veggies over fruit...weird kid, I know!

[happy1nuv]

shimmer - a while ago, i stopped eating dairy (maybe a month or two?) and it seemed to help joe's spitting up big time. then, just this week it started up again. we started solids, so not sure if thats why... but i was seriously combing thru my diet to see where dairy had snuck in...

and....Joe is crawling!

[MarriedaGoalie]

My chunky baby loves everything! Ha go figure! We have not tried acavado, though.

[Tandis]

Fly-by post:

So we survived vacation! It was rough, considering that three hours into the 12-hour trip, A stuck my finger in her mouth and I felt the beginnings of her bottom two teeth (after her ped claimed that she was nowhere near teething!). Felt in V's mouth, and found the same two teeth. :rolleyes: So Sunday was A's day to be crabby due to her teeth popping through, and Monday was V's day (it got so bad I had to leave a restaurant three times due to screaming - my first experience with strangers giving me "the look"). Tuesday they were both upset but I think that might have been because of how windy it was there. Wednesday through Friday was nice, however their 10-month old cousin chose those days to be crabby, so pretty much every day we had a screaming/crying baby.

Fun times. Thank god we only go once a year.

[whitlockan]

not much time but i am not sure i am convinced i love this costume...

opinions please........
*removed*

[Orion]

OK Whit...you seriously just had me snort my tea all over the computer screen. That costume is too frickin cute! I love it!

[miaclear]

Tandis....your girls are adorable! I always wanted to be a twin (probably thanks to Sweet Valley High books). I bet they are going to be so much fun growing up...and maybe a little bit of trouble too ;) I love that first picture.

Whit....that costume is hilarious. The head looks like a punked out rocker mohawk. It's really cute though :D

Betsy.... I would probably look for another rug but my parents bought that one for us for xmas last year after I searched high and low for one. I'd probably get an evil eye if I replaced it so soon. Since it doesn't seem to shed as much as the Pottery Barn one (which is odd since I'm guessing that one was a lot more $$$) I'm going to stick it out and make sure I vaccum and sweep a lot! It'll be my motivation :rolleyes:

Teeth....ladies, we have four teeth already and DS is so fussy already and chewing on everything in sight again. I feel like he just doesn't get a break. They've all come in in such a short period of time. Is this normal? I had read that the bottom two will come in and about a month later the top two. We got four bottom in less than six weeks. :(

[shimmerstar]

THanks for all the help with spitting up. I think it's because he has a cold.

Teeth- I swear he has been working on teeth forever. We have two, but he's had them for almost two months!

New tricks- He's been crawling a little bit for a few weeks, but today I saw him take off across the room. Uh-oh. He wants to pull up on everything and has been jabbering all day long. He can feed himself finger foods and can drink fairly well from a sippy. He can also throw his sippy on the floor 15 times in a row. :rolleyes:

We stole someone's idea and let him fingerpaint this weekend.
http://farm2.static.flickr.com/1417/1465526622_a80edcb070_m.jpg

Whit, Tandis, and Mag, I love the pictures! So cute!

[MrsKinnison]

We had Ollies 6 month WBV on Friday (he was 6.5mos):

Weight: 16lbs 14ozs (35%tile)
Height: 27inches (74%tile)
Head: Still 25%tile

Teeth ~ none yet. I asked the ped if he saw any signs and he told me that I would long before he does. I think Ollie is going for it... Mommy will buy him a pony if he waits until he's one before teeth. I think I even told him if he got just bottom teeth he could still get a pony :D

Laughing ~ Ollie loves to laugh and has been laughing for months. Sometimes he gets downright silly and laughs at everything. I've even caught him giggling in his sleep. He's also quite the chatterbox.

Betsy ~ Ollie loves to rub his head and pull his hair while he's nursing.

New Tricks ~ Does not sleeping through the night count? LOL! Ollie chats away, sits for long periods of time, and will even sit and play with his toys for a good 30mins. He has made no signs of crawling and only scooches a little. I'm okay with that since I know that once he starts there is no stopping!

Food ~ Also not a fan of bannanas here which I thought was weird. Doesn't hate them like avacodos, but really not very interested in them. Sweet Potatoes are definately a fav with Apples coming in second. I made peaches for him to try tomorrow.

Whit ~ that costume is adorable!!

Tandis ~ I love that pic of the girls sunbathing!!

Mia ~ I just found all my SVH books when we moved! I loved those books and every friday night I would buy a new one with my allowance and I wouldn't get out of bed saturday morning until I had finished it.

Who was it that had the Airplane Mobile? Actually, was it Mia? I am looking for one for Ollies room. Our new house is less than 1/2 down the street for the airport (small airport) and the landing path takes them right over our house. I remember one of you having one that I really liked and think it would be perfect for Ollies room (the poor kid really has nothing besides curtains, furniture and books in his room).

Here is Ollie on Friday anxiously waiting for his yoga class to start
http://farm2.static.flickr.com/1322/1479939163_283916524d.jpg?v=0

And enjoying his labors of his apple picking ~ lol!
http://farm2.static.flickr.com/1078/1480798076_2962ec02dc.jpg?v=0

[miaclear]

MrsK....yep, we had the mobile. It's a Flensted Airplane Mobile. I bought it on Ebay but if you google it you'll come up with a ton of places to buy.

http://i15.ebayimg.com/04/i/07/9e/6f/bd_2.JPG

Solo Playing....MrsK, Aaron does that too...will gladly play with his toys by himself for 20-30 min at a time. And since he can only scooch on his bum or roll I feel pretty confident about leaving him alone. Granted I'll peek my head in the room to watch him every once in awhile.

Bananas....we had our first stab at this tonight and it was a hit. Finished the whole container. So far I haven't really found a food he doesn't like.

[Kanga]

whit - I LOVE that costume. Too fricken cute...I can't stop laughing.

mia - I totally forgot all about SVH until you mentioned it. My name is Elizabeth and my bff in school was named Jessica so we were obsessed with those books.

[MarriedaGoalie]

Whit- that outfit is so cute! I give it two thumbs up!

We got our first tooth today! It is on the bottom right! I've officially lost my baby! Ha

[danalou]

Tandis - Glad to hear you survived the vacation!! The picture of the girls on the beach are too cute.

Whit - Love the Halloween costume!!

Food - DD still hates avocado, but she really loves pears, peas and sweet potatoes!!

Teeth - Still no teeth in sight and I am beginning to wonder when that will happen!!

New Tricks - DD has started doing a "Bitter Beer Face" which just makes you laugh and then she starts to laugh. She has also begun to do a backwards scoot on the floor. I can't believe how animated she is become as it seems like just yesterday that she was my newborn and now she is becoming a little girl!!

[betsyboop]

Well, I gave birth exactly 7 months ago today and I got my first post baby period this morning. It was a good run, I guess- I went 15 months without it! Scary to think I could get pregnant again now though:eek:

Whit- That is a funny costume:D Why would a zebra have a mohawk??

Mia- Oh weird, our rug was a Christmas gift from my parents too.

Sweet Valley High- Oh how I loved those books- especially since my name is Elizabeth and my sister is Jessica.

MrsK- Ollie looks so grown up sitting there in his khakis and polo shirt! We went apple picking over the weekend too:D

Solo playing- Millie is doing this too- yay! She'll either sit with some toys or roll/shimmy around on the floor for pretty long stretches of time.

A picture of Millie and Dave at the orchard:
http://i53.photobucket.com/albums/g56/bugs1234_2006/DSC_1140.jpg?t=1191508840

[happy1nuv]

our lo's are sooo looking big these days...LOVIN the pics!

[MrsKinnison]

Sorry, this is a seriously dumb question but I honestly don't know...

How much solids do you feed? Ollie has been eating 3 cubes the past couple nights and I seriously think he would eat more if I gave it. Is 3 enough, or do I feed him until he doesn't want anymore??

Also, I thought I read that you should bf right after as then they can't tell if they are full. Is this true? How long should you wait? At night I like to make sure I top him off real good before bed :D

[miaclear]

MrsK....I've been offering one cube of food and sometimes DS doesn't eat all of it. Lately he's been eating all of it so I think we'll start offering a variety. I'm clueless about the whole solids thing too....but I do know that at this point what they are eating in solids is only extra as this is kind of a test period. So at least that means I'm not starving him. As for BFing...I've read that you should do it before. Cause if you do it after they may be full from the solids and since they're still getting 95% of their nutrition from BM/Formula you don't want them to skimp on that.

Ok....FOUR of our friends have announced their pregnancies. Due next May and June! It kinda gave me a little baby bug :o Fortunately I can quickly come to my senses because I do know that I want to wait till DS is at least a year old. At this point I couldn't imagine having to share my time. Plus I know at least one couple who plans on TTC about the same time we are next year so that'd be cool if we got to be pg together.

Developmental Milestones....DS is finally figuring out how to get his legs underneath him when he's on his tummy. Crawling could be just around the corner. If he doesn't walk first. His balance and leg strength is amazing!

[miaclear]

I want to get DS a walker, possibly for Christmas. I just saw this one at one step ahead and LOVE it. I like that it'll grow with him more than some of the others I've seen that incorporate toys on them. Plus it's a great storage place for toys. Just curious if anyone else has seen something similar. The $80 price tag is a bit much.

http://content.onestepahead.com/assets/images/ensemble/detail/13698_1.jpg

[Kanga]

miaclear - that is a super cute walk/wagon! Whatever you decide to go with, I'd definitely make sure it does 'double duty'. This is only based on one kid, so take it for what it's worth, but dd1 only used her walker for like maybe a month. Then she learned to walk and never really used the walker much after that. I think I've seen a few ride on toys that can also be walkers if you're looking for other ideas, though they're usually made of plastic if that's a concern.

MrsK - Cami eats maybe one ice cube's worth of food. BUT, we aren't consistent with it and have just begun. She may be eating more if we would have started earlier and done it on a consistent basis. If you're worried about over feeding, you might want to try a mesh feeder so Ollie can feed himself. Babies are less likely to overeat if they're able to feed themselves.

[kindermom]

Great pics ladies.
Whit - the zebra is the funniest costume I think I have seen in a long time. I love love love the mohawk mane.
Food - We feed H a cube or so. But then again, he is not super interested in purees. He is currently into Trader Joe's O's and roasted and mashed butternut squash. I personally would not feed my DC more than 2 cubes at a time. But ask your ped. That is what they are there for. They know your child better than us.
Milestones - We are cruising already. H was crawling at 207 days, 8 days ahead of his early-moving big sis. He is cruising 16 days ahead of her. I am such a data geek that I have everything in an Excel spreadsheet to calculate their ages! Our cousin's little girl is 16 days younger and is still not sitting on her own. She can roll but no sitting.

[miaclear]

Kanga...thanks for your thoughts. I posted in the parenting thread and got some good reviews and a link to a cheaper version over on baby center. Lots of the reviews are from moms of older babies 1-2 years who say their kids still love it to tote their toys around in. Or for mom/dad to push them in :) I think I'm going to go with it!

[happy1nuv]

mia - we have a plastic walker that doubles as a ride on. Nic (29 mos) STILL will occasionally use it as a walker. We also have a bunch of plastic wagons that he LOVES to roll around the house... BUT, he's big into anything like that... he has a lawn mower he loves to roll around... long way of saying i think thats a great idea and would be totally worth it!

mrsk - i haven't broken out the cubes yet, but joe will maybe eat a 1" piece of banana... of course today he ate like a tablespoon of broccoli and a 2" piece of banana and was totally into it. But, for the most part, he's not interested...

[miaclear]

Happy...thanks. I think it will be a great Christmas gift :)

Our first rejected food! It was peaches of all things! At first I thought he just wasn't hungry but then he continued to eat a whole container of peas. Boy loves his veggies! The way he ate it was new though. Take a bite, plug mouth with thumb, take a bite, plug mouth with thumb.

[shimmerstar]

Mia- Noah hates peaches too! It's the only thing. He will make this grossed-out, betrayed face and start gagging. If I offer him more, he won't open his mouth. You would think kids would love peaches, but they smelled gross to me, so maybe that's why.

[danalou]

Mia - DD isn't too into peaches either, but she loves pears. I think the peaches are a bit sore from what I can tell and she prefers the sweeter fruits like pears and prunes!!

[betsyboop]

Mia- How funny- Millie hates peas (that and avocado are the only things she won't eat) and loves peaches! Actually, sometimes I mix peas with peaches to get her to eat them. Millie does the same thing- take bite, plug in thumb, repeat. That wagon thing looks so cute- what a good idea for Christmas. The kid in the picture is standing with his feet in the weirdest position though- I don't get how he's supporting himself:confused:

MrsKI feed Millie 2 containers of food at a sitting (one sitting per day), so that's about a 1/2 cup or so. I asked the same question not long ago and it seemed like I was feeding way more than everyone else, but she really loves it so I'm just going with it for now. I nurse her right afterwards per my pediatrician's advice.

Kindermom- I love that you count your kids' ages in days:p Wow on the cruising!

Shimmer- Doesn't that grossed out/betrayed face accompanied by gagging just make you laugh? It really cracks me up when she does that:p

[danalou]

I had to show you gals the Halloween treat bag that I picked up for DD -

http://www.potterybarnkids.com/pkimgs/ab/images/products/200738/0017/img14l.jpg

Pottery Barn Kids has them half price with free shipping, so I couldn't pass it up at $7.99!! I got DD the pumpkin one and her little cousin the spider!!

[happy1nuv]

dana - score! we're gonna skip the trick or treat thing again, but if we werent id be so tempted...

[whitlockan]

food amount were eating a TON - I hope its not too much (someone tell me if it seems like a ton) He takes 2 stage 1 containers a day, and 6 tbsp total of cereal a day. We mix half a container of food with 2 tbsp of cereal 3 times a day. He will eat like a mad man. Although he will then follow up with 5 -6 oz of EBM after that instead of his normal 8 oz per bottle.

food intolerance/allergy so we did bananas and he was super fussy each time, then we moved to peaches and literally 20 min after he had them a red raised rash that went from his upper back up his neck and then around to his belly, so no more peaches but my question it seems to be fruit he cannot handle should we avoid it all together and wait until later? I'm nervous to introduce anymore for fear it made him feel yucky - we had a hard time getting him to get later that day. **but he HATED them as well**

kinder wow you have way to much time on your hands ;) haha j/k!!!

mia we are right there with you he LOVES his veggies - carrotts and peas to be exact! so rare

dana great buy!! I got the easter bunny treat bag similar to that with his name embroidered....they still have it up on their website you might want to suck it up ;). I also got the train stocking from last christmas but its down now......you can find some great buys if you stalk there website...HEHE.

Okay one last picture and I will stop....this is what we did this weekend, had to get my free 8x10....I absolutly love this costume now that he shows so much joy and love over/in it....
*removed*
**BTW Picture People do a fanastic job in our area....so cheap vs. what you get, great buy!

[miaclear]

Whit...if I didn't know better I would have thought your babe was modeling that costume for a magazine. What a cutie!

Question: When you mix cereal with a fruit do you make the cereal first (with BM, formula or H2O) and then mix it. Or do you mix it dry with the fruit?

[shimmerstar]

Food- I probably don't do it "right", but here's what we do. I make probably 1/3 cup of oatmeal and feed him a few bites. Then I mix in some veggie with it. When that's gone, we eat some fruit. I feed him 1/2 a container of Stage 2 fruit and 1/2 of a veggie one. I'm pretty sure he would eat more though. At daycare once they fed him 2 jars. I feed him twice a day on the weekends and he gets three meals on weekdays.

He still eats tons of formula for me, but not at school. Which I'm pretty okay with- he will eat if he's hungry enough and he's gaining weight fine. Last week he was 20 lbs, 2 oz.