July/August 2007 Mommies~Our babies are growing up!

[karlatta]

Kym - The only thing worse than cleaning your own germs is cleaning someone else's. I'm sorry! I hope you guys get into your new place this weekend!

Asha - Yay for good sleep!

And yay to all the other little ones who are figuring new things out. It's so much fun to watch them learn, isn't it?

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Earlier this week I caught DD crawling UP THE STAIRS. Completely took me by surprise, and I'm a little bit sad because now I can't leave her unattended for even a second downstairs. (I often leave her playing in the living room while I run upstairs to grab laundry, put DS to bed, etc.) I really don't know what I'm going to do now - we can't gate our stairs because of how they're in the house, so maybe I'll just have to hope that she learns really quickly how to go up and down safely? I have no idea. (I had a hard time with DS and the stairs too, but at least then he was my only baby, so my attention wasn't as divided as it is now.)

Oh, and DD officially has her first black eye. I feel like such an awesome mom. :rolleyes: She was playing around pulling up on the coffee table and sitting back down and lost her balance and hit her eye on one of the table legs. She didn't really get upset, so it must not have hurt too badly (or she inherited my incredibly high pain tolerance), but now it's a nice purple bruise. Most excellent. Hey, at least it coordinates with the giant bruise on her forehead from where her brother threw his MagnaDoodle at her. :rolleyes: Things are fun at my house.

[Asha]

jimmysgirl - i so understand. when we moved a couple months ago, i would have to get up at 4 in the morning so i could clean and pack for a few hours before dh headed off to work. there was no way i could pack or clean anything bc back then dd rarely napped or slept on her own. did the owner have to put money in escrow. in ny, the previous owners have to keep money in escrow, so if they don't leave the house as it should be you could tap into that money. if so, you may want to consider hiring a cleaning service since they didn't leave the house clean.

karlatta - you certainly have your hands full now. a little rough and tumble never hurt anyone.

[RobynScott]

Hi Mommas! Sorry it's been a while since I posted here - I do follow along though. Everyone's babies are doing such fun things!

Kym - yay for closing on the house but sorry about the dirt. I have to ditto Asha on the escrow question - our house contract said the sellers had to leave the house in "broom-clean" condition - sorry yours didn't, but I hope you're comfortably in the house now.

karlatta - you do have your hands full! If you can't gate the stairs. would you consider getting one of those really large playyard gates so you'd have a place to keep DD (and all her toys) contained for a few minutes? We finally took the bassinet portion out of Seth's pack and play (he was standing up on it - yikes!) - so now I can put him in the pack and play with toys for a few minutes when I am getting things ready in the morning (or whenever).

It's so fun to read about all of the things the babies are doing! Seth has been fill-on crawling since the end of February (7.5 months) and he started pulling up around the same time as well. Still no cruising, but he likes to get into a standing position. The best is when I pick him up from daycare - if he sees me (or yesterday, his back was to me but he heard my voice) - he turns around with a big smile and crawls over to me - it's awesome!

Verbally - I still don't feel like he "talks" very much - definitely way more into the motor skills, but we do get some gagaga - and maybe even dadada.

He also uses me as a jungle gym (and his DC teachers) and I love it! No teeth yet - my boobs thank him - but I have a suspicion that teething may be waking him at night so that's not great. He had been doing pretty well on sleep for a while but is back to getting up and crying. We were just at the doc for an earcheck so I know he's not sick, not sure why he's getting up - we've had to let him CIO and he will go back to sleep. Sometimes, I need to go in and after holding him for a minute or two he'll go back down (with tears that end after 30 seconds) so I think some of it may have to do with seeing me / separation anxiety. I'm trying to help that by getting him interested in a lovie (just a small stuffed monkey rattle - we'll see!)

Also, he's a little peanut - only 15 pounds 6 ounces at 8 months - 3% on the growth chart - but as long as he continues that way and doesn't drop, that should be ok. I'm attributing it to the fact that he was sick so many times between 5 months and 8 months, and the fact that he has been really mobile for most of that time. He's still in some 3-6 month clothes - but for anything that's one piece, could probably wear 12 month for length (but regular 9 month pants would probably fall off him, *lol*) Anyobody else have a little peanut?

That's about it with us. Work is keeping me (and Scott) very busy right now so it's been a bit of a crazy time- but we're loving it. I can't believe last year at this time we weren't even in the third trimester yet - and now we've got kiddos moving all over the place - crazy stuff!

[karlatta]

Robyn - We do have a PNP that I use, so DD has somewhere to go. And I put the ottoman in front of the staircase so she can't get to the stairs (until she figures out how to move the ottoman out of the way, which shouldn't happen for a couple of months or so). So we've got solutions - but none are as easy as just leaving her in the living room and knowing she'll be safe. :)

Anybody else have a little peanut? - My DS was a peanut (and still is!). He measured 3-5% up until he was 18 months old. Now he measures 10%. I think DD will outgrown him within the year. He's only 8 pounds more than she is now.

[lovelifeandlivelove]

Kym - Congrats on the house. I would hire a cleaning service too, that is gross!
Karlatta - I am so afraid of DD getting a black eye because she always is falling and one of these days...
Asha - I heard the same about bilingual children, we are only hearing a little here. For awhile DD would say mum, ma-ma and variations then she stopped and moved to da-da and variations. She has stopped blowing raspberries too and now is working on clicking her tongue. It is strange how she stopped doing the things she already figured out though.
Here - DD came down with a runny nose again last Thursday (no fever, just the runny nose) so on Sunday we are sleeping and she wakes up coughing a lot. She settled down but seemed to be having a hard time with deep breathing. So I call the urgent care hotline for my Drs. and we bring her in for a visit. So it is concluded that she has asthma and needs a neubulizer twice a day. :( :(
QOTD: Teeth - How many does everyone's DC have so far? DD has her bottom two and seems to be getting the next bottom two.

[Katie&Micah]

QOTD: Teeth - How many does everyone's DC have so far?
Maddy has the top 2 and 1 of the bottom teeth has just popped through.

[karlatta]

QOTD: Teeth - How many does everyone's DC have so far?
DD has her two bottom teeth. I don't think she's working on any others right now.

[granada]

QOTD: Teeth - How many does everyone's DC have so far?
DS has the two bottom, two top and the side teeth on the top and bottom are breaking through now. :eek: Phew!

[pride&prejudice]

Teeth~ DD has the bottom 4 teeth. I think 2 more on the bottom and the 4 on the top are slowly starting to work in! Yeah for some reason my baby won't do one at a time, she does them in groups of 2 and 4. :rolleyes:

[Lisa]

Teeth~ DD has the bottom 4 teeth. I think 2 more on the bottom and the 4 on the top are slowly starting to work in! Yeah for some reason my baby won't do one at a time, she does them in groups of 2 and 4. :rolleyes:

that was my DS#1 he had all his baby teeth in at 11 months

[RobynScott]

QOTD: Teeth - How many does everyone's DC have so far?

NONE! It looks like he may be working on the bottom two, but nothing.

Also, DS is definitely starting to throw tantrums - I think it's kind of funny, but I was telling DH this morning that we need to not always give in when he starts or we are going to have a hard time ahead of us.

This morning, he screamed when I put him in his crib to play while we were getting ready - but as soon as he realized he was staying, he played with his toys and was fine. It's too early for tantrums!

[alliannie]

QOTD: Teeth - How many does everyone's DC have so far?

Zero! I don't think we are teething either. Someday maybe:p.

DS is learning to climb too. He know climbs into his diaper laundry basket and sits and plays in it. It is so cute. He also climbed OVER the walker today when I had it blocking off the doorway. Yikes!!

[littlecindy]

QOTD: Teeth - How many does everyone's DC have so far?

still just the bottom two he got at 4.5 months. swear he's been working on the top two for WEEKS!

[jimmysgirl424]

QOTD: Teeth - How many does everyone's DC have so far?

Bottom two are all the way broken through. We just noticed some craters in her upper front gums, so she's working on them now. They look painful. :(


Well ladies, things are still nutty around our house. Moving was a nightmare. Everyone who promised to help backed out and it ended up being me and DH and my crazy-as$ stepfather with his moving truck. My mom watched DD. We had very little packed and were trying to pack as we went. (long story, but boils down to we just didn't have the time and DH was insistent that we move regardless). We are in the house, but I am still cleaning it. I just finished the kitchen cabinetry and it was just as bad as the bathroom! Ugh!! Food, grease, dirt, you name it. Top of the fridge was BLACK!! :eek: So anyway, we still have some stuff at the old apartment that we need to get out by this weekend. Meanwhile, looks like a bomb went off in the new house, living out of boxes and ordering takeout every night because our kitchen isn't unpacked yet thanks to all of the cleaning I had to do. Couldn't even put our refrigerated items away till I wiped out the inside of it! Oh yeah, did I mention that aforementioned crazy-as$ stepfather did 80+ mph down the beltway with the contents of our apartment in his truck? DH couldn't keep up with him in our vehicle!! So guess what? Every.single.piece.of furniture that we own was damaged/dented in the move, without exception. And then he insisted on unloading our california king mattress himself, wouldn't wait for DH to help him. So he dragged it across our friggin' lawn and sidewalk. :rolleyes::mad: Now the mattress has dirt all over it. {sigh} Oh yeah, and he tracked grease from his stupid furniture dolly all over our BRAND NEW carpet!! I'm still ready to cry thinking about it. This has been a nightmare, seriously. Sorry, guess I'm venting here.

A few of you asked about money in escrow to cover the cost of cleaning the house. Bascially, we got a killer deal to begin with. To sum it up; we offered seller full asking price, but asked him to pay all closing costs AND our down payment for us. He took the deal. :p And gave us $16,000 in closing costs and down payment money. We paid nothing out of pocket. And got a little money back at settlement towards some repairs on the house. Nothing left for the cleaning however, so its on my elbow grease to get it done.

And now, back to your regularly scheduled programming!

[bensgirl1222]

QOTD: Teeth - How many does everyone's DC have so far? 4...2 top and 2 bottom

[gator97]

Hi everyone! I have been reading along diligently but most of my computer time is when I'm nursing and one handed typing isn't too much fun. I've enjoyed reading how everyone is doing! DD doesn't nap much but we are improving on that so hopefully I'll have more computer time soon.

She's crawling all over the place and starting to climb. It's funny to read about the tantrums b/c she does the same thing if you take something away from her.

QOTD: Teeth - How many does everyone's DC have so far?
DD has 8 teeth- 4 on top and 4 on bottom. She's been teething non-stop since 3.5 months. I think we are finally getting a break- which is probably why we are sleeping better.

so, hopefully I'll be posting more--the last few days, naps have been great so I'm looking forward to having more time!

[Katie&Micah]

This is such a crazy time in baby land! Lots of new skills. Madeline is now obsessed with us helping her walk around. I don't know if you all remember, but she started standing at 2 months and would freak out if you wouldn't help her stand. She never wanted to sit in your lap or lay down, the kid wanted to stand. The same thing is going on with walking. She will walk around the house for 10 or 15 minutes at a time and throws an absolute fit if you try and stop before that. My poor back! I've been recruiting anyone who comes over to help walk her around. I think we're definitely going to skip crawling. She has no desire to be on her stomach and has started scooting herself around on her butt while in a sitting position. So that's what's new with us. I hope Maddy either loses interest with this walking stuff or figures out how to do it on her own soon! Honestly I would prefer that she loses interest because I have yet to babyproof.

[Asha]

k&m - our dd loves to walk around with us too. she would do it all day if we had the energy to keep up with her. she has been "chasing" the cat this way for about a month now.

gator - that's a lot of teeth!!!

teeth - two on the bottom. the ped said she is teething her top two teeth. i am convinced dd teethed her bottom two for at least two months, so i hope she doesn't have to suffer so long with the top two.

[Ellyn]

Ahhh...teething. :p DD has 2 bottom, and working hard on the two top and the other 2 bottom. And not sleeping well at night either.

She is napping great. We've switched her to her tummy for nap time and she's been sleeping so much better. I ordered a humidifier filter for our cool mist one and I'm hoping that'll help her at night - she wakes up and won't take the paci and will only calm down if I nurse her. I don't think she's hungry since she falls asleep again, but geez, going to work AND getting up every couple hours is really starting to wear on me this week. :( Doesn't help that AF is here this week. :rolleyes:

We go 2 hours away to the ped. and the ENT at the bigger hospital to get Winona's trachea checked tomorrow. They will scope her (stick the tube through her nose, and into her trachea) to check on her malacia (where her trachea collapses when she breathes). I think she's gotten WAY quieter and much better, so I hope she's outgrowing it. It won't be fun holding her down for the tests - I may let the nurse do it.

[lovelifeandlivelove]

Katie - My MIL gave me a great tip on helping DD "walk" around our house (I use it very little as she walks along the furniture, the walls and crawls between the rest) Use a long blanket around the front of her and up under her armpits. If that doesn't make sense I will try to take a picture of me trying it on Lilli.
Wow, some of your DC have LOTS of teeth!
Ellyn - hope the drs went good.

DD has been a maniac walking along the furniture and pulling everything out of anywhere (mostly clothes and toys). And today I caught her trying to stack her single book so she could climb on the narrow edge to get in further into the ottoman storage (where her toys are in the living room). She has gotten herself stuck under the dining room chair and the coffee table. She didn't realize that she crawled in and then sat up and could just lay back down to crawl back out. LOL I took off work early last week to baby proof our bedroom and some of the rest of the house. I still need to put safety latches on all the doors. Yikes! I cannot believe that 9 months is already around the corner.

[Ellyn]

Good news at the drs! (Finally...it feels good getting good news) :) Winona didn't have to be scoped - the ENT came in and took one listen to her and said he didn't think it was necessary - it was obvious she had made HUGE improvements! And the ped. there (the dr. was her ped. in the hospital when she was 2 wks old) thought she looked great and was thriving and her flat spot went away (so no more torticolis and no helmet needed). We're so happy to be done at that clinic - it was a long drive, but Winona did great...it helped that we hit nap time both on the way there and back.

[RobynScott]

Congrats Ellyn! Great news!

[pride&prejudice]

ellyn~ great news!

katie~ Although they create controversy (not getting into my view on it), that's why we got DD a walker. My mom watches her during the day and with her being 66, there is no way I can expect her to "walk" with her all the time. When we do "walk" with her, most of the time we use the towel tick to save our backs a little. :)

lovelife~ DD did that the other day with the side table in the living room. She rolled herself into this tight space and the couch was blocking her, and she was pissed she couldn't get out. :) Meanie mom made her stay there for awhile and try to figure it out. She got about half way out before I had to help her the rest of the way.

gator~ Hope the napping gets better!


Things are just crazy around here. Trying to get our house sold. So keeping a house in show condition with an almost 8 month old is not fun. I've got back to back travel this week and next. We settle on our new house at the end of May, so its craziness with that. Then it probably won't stop much there since we'll be remodeling a bunch before I stop working.

DD is getting so much more social. Although she really does have the anxiety with new people if we aren't holidng her. She's said da-da a few times, although she's not realizing who to associate that with. The funniest part is, she says ga-ga alot. I wasn't paying too much attention to that, until I realized she's been directing that alot towards Stacha (our dog). So yeah, my kid associates with the dog before me and DH. :rolleyes: Oh well, they are the best of buds, and I'm just glad that they get along so well. DD has already learned how to feed Stacha, so when she goes in the highchair, Stacha is sitting at her feet. :)

The only thing that has been keeping me sane lately though is thinking only 11 more months of work. :) So hope everyone is doign good although I haven't been around much.

[littlecindy]

adrian's just started cruising. waving goodbye (with the WHOLE arm, so cute). was copying his dad and dancing last night. this age is the funnest.

[lovelifeandlivelove]

Lilli has been waving too, it is cute. She blew me a kiss yesterday and has been blewing kisses ever since, melts my heart!
Great news Ellyn!

[jimmysgirl424]

This thread has been quiet for six days! Whats going on ladies? :confused:

[Lisa]

Hey, Kym's right...we have been so quiet! As is well over here. A is getting too big too quick! He belly laughs all the time and is kind of cruising. he has 2 teeth and 3 coming in. He gets on all four like he wants to stand up. Its so fun now. My boys are crazy busy all day, I love it. I'll post a new pic of him soon.
We are going on a cruise in May I cant wait! I started to plan his party...so overwhelming! Okay have a great day!

[BrownEyedGirl]

I haven't been around much (sort of frustrating to hear how well everyone is developing since K got delayed so much by his surgery, hopefully I'll get over it and be back full force)

Teeth...7 (4 on top, 3 on bottom)

My cutie
http://i137.photobucket.com/albums/q204/kennedybm/Kieran%20Arnold/DSC_0014-2.jpg

[Katie&Micah]

Things have been so busy around here. I'm started back to school and still working part time at the health dept. Maddy is now walking with the help of her Fisher Price Stride-to-Ride Lion (http://www.amazon.com/Fisher-Price-L4511-Stride-to-Ride-Lion/dp/B000NW3LZ6). It's sooo cool! I'll try and get some new pics posted soon. Just busy busy around here, but having fun!

[Lisa]

Brown,
K is so handsome! I'm sure K will catch up. I know how you feel my daughter was really delayed. She, unlike K, was too far behind but I'm sure time will show him quickly catching up! Stay strong mama:)
Katie- cool Maddie is walking!!!

Here is one of the most important men in my life!
http://i82.photobucket.com/albums/j277/LisaMatt/IMG_4711-1.jpg

[littlecindy]

This thread has been quiet for six days! Whats going on ladies? :confused:

guessing most of you are chasing baby around like me? adrian is cruising and starting to get into things like the books on our bookshelf.

[littlecindy]

Here is one of the most important men in my life!
http://i82.photobucket.com/albums/j277/LisaMatt/IMG_4711-1.jpg

omg, what a handsome little man!

[Lisa]

omg, what a handsome little man!

Thank you!

guessing most of you are chasing baby around like me? adrian is cruising and starting to get into things like the books on our bookshelf.
very true! I turn my back and he's gone and its always in something he shouldnt be in;):rolleyes:

[jimmysgirl424]

BrownEyedGirl Kieran is SUCH a cutie! I fall in love with him and that smile of his every time you post a picture! And is that red hair I see on him? Adorable! And try not to worry too much about his development, I'm sure he will catch up. Is his pediatrician concerned at this point?

Lisa OMG, what a gorgeous little boy you have there! All that hair! Of course, he was born with a ton of hair, so I'm not surprised! :D I'm jealous of your upcoming cruise! Hope you have a wonderful time!

Katie&Micah Whoa..Maddy's walking ALREADY?? Holy crap! :eek: I love that lion, I'm thinking I might just have to buy that for Kristianna!

So far, Kristianna is not crawling or cruising. Should I be worried? :confused: She gets up on all fours like she wants to go somewhere, but just can't seem to get any further than that. She always ends up flat on her tummy and crying. We keep trying to help her and it just frustrates her more. Sure seems like she wants to be more mobile, she just doesn't seem to understand how to be! Anyway, she will be nine months old in just three more days! Wow! How did that happen? Only three more months to go before the big First!! Time really does fly.

So, a QOTD for everyone: Is anyone here now TTC, or plan on doing so in the near future? I know this question has come up before, but most weren't quite sure.



For us, the answer is no. As a matter of fact; DH went to the "snippy doc" (as I nicknamed it!) last week and decided to schedule a vasectomy for next month. I know that may seem a bit premature, but honestly, its not. We are both in our late(r) 30's, we just bought a house and have a ton of bills that we never dreamed of having even a year ago. Another mouth to feed just isn't something we want. And we already made the decision that should we feel in the future that K needs a sibling, we will look into adopting. I will admit that a part of me feels a bit sad that I didn't give DH a son, but he truly doesn't seem to care at all. But all in all, neither one of us can imagine having another baby. Having K was a HUGE wakeup call for both of us, we really underestimated the enormous impact she would have on our lives. Most of you know that DH in particular had a very difficult time accepting the fact that his life was no longer his own. There were times when I really thought we wouldn't make it through the first few months after she was born. There is no way I want to go through that again.

Sorry, guess I went off on a tangent there. Its just that some of our family has already found out about our plans and are giving us a hard way to go, so it actually helped to type out some of my thoughts on the matter so we are better prepared to deal with it! KWIM?

Hope everyone has a great day! I'll be back later to post a new pic of K!

[Katie&Micah]

Katie&Micah Whoa..Maddy's walking ALREADY?? Holy crap! I love that lion, I'm thinking I might just have to buy that for Kristianna!
She's not walking without the lion.. so I wouldn't say it's true walking yet. She still needs something for support. She does walk around the coffee table while holding on with one hand though.. that's pretty cool!

I wouldn't worry.. Does she scoot herself around on her butt or anything? If she's able to get around at all I think she's fine.

So, a QOTD for everyone: Is anyone here now TTC, or plan on doing so in the near future? I know this question has come up before, but most weren't quite sure.
If you all remember I was the crazy one who said I was ready to TTC again right after giving birth. Luckily we held off on that, because Miss Madeline is a little hellion and she's quite a handful. We are now thinking she might be an only child.

[BrownEyedGirl]

Lisa Thanks for the encouragement. I'm sure he will catch up, it's just hard to see him behind for anything. On another topic...your little guy is soooo cute. He looks like such a little man! And I love all that hair.

Kym He is my sweetie pie. His pediatrician was worried when he stopped bearing weight on his legs a couple of months ago so she had us start PT. We've been going to PT once a week for five weeks now. He does bear weight on his legs and will roll from back to tummy now...and if we get him on his hands and knees he will sit there for a minute before he falls. Slowly but surely he is improving.


Is anyone here now TTC, or plan on doing so in the near future? I know this question has come up before, but most weren't quite sure.
We will be trying this summer.

[karlatta]

Katie - Hannah's walking with a similar toy that we have. It's so much fun to watch, isn't it?

So, a QOTD for everyone: Is anyone here now TTC, or plan on doing so in the near future? I know this question has come up before, but most weren't quite sure.
I would if I could. I can only conceive with IVF/FET, so we're waiting until this fall so that people don't think we're too crazy. And I need DH to take and pass the Bar first. :) But if I could get pregnant on my own tonight, you bet I would. I loved having my first two so close (14 months), and I really want the third here before Hannah is two. If our FET is unsuccessful this fall, we'll try to adopt in 2009.

[Asha]

kieran is such a cutie!!!

ahh. lisa, your little man is such a doll!!

ttc - we have one frozen embryo left, so we are planning on a frozen embryo transplant in august/september of 2009. its expensive to keep it in storage, so we can't wait forever. the chances of success with one embryo isn't very high (something like 40%) ,but i really don't want to go through another entire cycle of ivf. also, i don't want the risk of having twins. i think i would go crazy if i was caring for twin newborns and my little handful. we are still wanting to adopt too, but haven't agreed on a time table for that.

kym, oddly enough my dh who is from a pretty traditional culture is ok with only having girls. he is so in love with his little girl that i think he just wants girls now. he says if we adopt we should adopt girls.

[Lisa]

So, a QOTD for everyone: Is anyone here now TTC, or plan on doing so in the near future? I know this question has come up before, but most weren't quite sure

well I think I wouldnt mind to get preggo again but DH and I discussed it and we're done. The thought of 4 boys in the house plus DH is too scary to chance:p Being pregnant 3 times in 5 years has been plenty. We are going to adopt a girl sometime in the future. DH thinks january:rolleyes:I on the other hand like a 2 year age gap. but who knows we will see. I just want a girl :D

[Katie&Micah]

karlatta
It's very cool!! Miss Hannah is so advanced for her age! Having such a great big brother must be a good influence on her.

[Lisa]

[ I loved having my first two so close (14 months)

I agree. Mine are 11 months and it is so fun:D...I do like the 3-4 year age difference too. My oldest is such a helper :)

A has 2 ear infections so today has been a tough day. Okay off to give him a bath and off to bed;)

[karlatta]

karlatta
It's very cool!! Miss Hannah is so advanced for her age! Having such a great big brother must be a good influence on her.
I'm not sure if the influence is for good or not. :) He's such a stinker. The other day he was picking her up by her arms and trying to make her walk across the living room. It's so awesome, because he does it while saying, "Help, Nana, help." (He calls her Nana, which I think is darn cute.)

[karlatta]

A has 2 ear infections so today has been a tough day. Okay off to give him a bath and off to bed;)
Hannah was having recurring ear infections all the time until I took her to a chiropractor. She hasn't had one since. Just food for thought.

[Katie&Micah]

I didn't know you could take babies to the chiropractor.. what did they do for her?

[karlatta]

He adjusts her, similar to how an adult would be adjusted but less bone cracking and more massage. He's really been wonderful. She was having ear infections on top of each other and was on super powerful antibiotics that just weren't getting rid of them. I wasn't comfortable with her being on so many antibiotics, so I decided to try out chiropractic care, and it's been great. She doesn't really enjoy the adjustments, but our chiro is so great with her - and really I think her biggest complaint is that she has to be still and isn't allowed to crawl around and get into stuff.

If you (anyone, you) decide to do chiro for your kids, make sure you use a chiro affiliated with IPCA (International Pediatric Chiropractic Association). Or if you just want to read more about how chiro can help, visit their website (http://www.icpa4kids.org/).

[Katie&Micah]

Thanks for the link! I found a ICPA chiropractor 30 mins from here. I'm going to save the information in case I ever need it.

[RobynScott]

OMG - Kieran and Aidan are so freakin cute! I couldn't see the picture from work, but I see them now - so cute!

BEG - I agree with the others - K will totally catch up! I think all babies are just at different stages now. Seth does more motor-wise than the other kids in his daycare class - but then again, he's not walking or doing stairs like some of the kids in here - I think it's all relative. He's standing but not cruising. For Seth, I attribute some of that to his size - 15lbs 6 oz at 8 months (so a tiny guy) - it really is all up to the individual child - I don't think any of it is too big a deal yet (but I know it's hard not to worry)

Re: TTC - hopefully in the late summer / early fall of 2009 I guess? I think in a perfect world #2 would arrive spring 2010. I wouldn't mind a 2009 baby, but we'd prefer a spring baby and we are really not prepared for 2 under 2 :p

[granada]

Seems like all the babies here are on the move! DS gets around pretty well by rolling everywhere, and he's been rocking on his hands and knees for a while now, but he's not quite as mobile as most of the other babies here.

TTC#2: We'll probably try again when DS is two years old. I probably wouldn't mind waiting a little bit longer, because having a baby is TOUGH work! But DH and I are already in our 30s, so if we want another, we want it to happen sooner rather than later. I always knew I wanted more than one (I used to think I wanted 3, LOL) and I know I will be excited about another baby, but I'm definitely also scared.

[jimmysgirl424]

Wow..am I the only one that definitely isn't going to have more kids? I feel like such a wimp! :p

[Katie&Micah]

So, a QOTD for everyone: Is anyone here now TTC, or plan on doing so in the near future? I know this question has come up before, but most weren't quite sure.
If you all remember I was the crazy one who said I was ready to TTC again right after giving birth. Luckily we held off on that, because Miss Madeline is a little hellion and she's quite a handful. We are now thinking she might be an only child.

nope.. you're not the only one!

[littlecindy]

So, a QOTD for everyone: Is anyone here now TTC, or plan on doing so in the near future? I know this question has come up before, but most weren't quite sure.

i really want 2, DH would be happy with one. but there's NO WAY i would even consider even trying for another 1-3 years.

a) i've known enough toddlers in my life to know that they are a lot of work and i don't want to be pregnant or have a tiny infant with a young toddler around. i really think anyone considering 2 should wait until their little one is a year or older and walking to know if they want to have two so young. some babies are mellower even as toddlers, but some are really handfuls.

b) i'm 28 so i'm not in a huge rush because of my biological clock

c) i work full-time and have no plans of stopping (or being able to financially if i wanted) and life is crazy enough with one baby right now

but most importantly

d) i haven't had more than 4-5 hours of sleep in a row in 8 months and that's only happened a handful of times

[karlatta]

i really think anyone considering 2 should wait until their little one is a year or older and walking to know if they want to have two so young.
I disagree with this. Sure, for some people that's the right thing to do. But some people (like me!) want their kids to be close in age even if the older kid(s) is/are a handful. It wouldn't have made sense for me to wait to decide, because nothing about DS's (or DD's) behavior is going to make me not want another one.

[jimmysgirl424]

d) i haven't had more than 4-5 hours of sleep in a row in 8 months and that's only happened a handful of times

Word. I just told DH two nights ago that I hadn't had a decent night's sleep since she was born. Of course, pumping exclusively hasn't helped matters as I have to get up at the butt crack of dawn to pump. And when she was very young, I was getting up twice during the night to pump too. Yuck. I miss my sleep more than anything else!

[Katie&Micah]

I can't remember the last time I slept for more than 2 or 3 hours.. My brain is complete mush at this point.

[jimmysgirl424]

I can't remember the last time I slept for more than 2 or 3 hours.. My brain is complete mush at this point.

Yeah, most days I walk around in foggy daze that resembles consciousness. :rolleyes: My sister has not made it any better either, she keeps telling me not to expect a decent night's sleep till DD is around five years old or so. I hope thats not true or I'm going to lose my mind or run away and join the circus. Possibly both. :p

[Asha]

I can't remember the last time I slept for more than 2 or 3 hours.. My brain is complete mush at this point.
hugs. dd is JUST starting to sleep longer stretches here, but not for more than about 5 hours at a time, but in my world and your's too that is heaven.

poop issue - anyone deal with constipation? dd has been having harder poops for about two weeks now. we took her to the dr. a week ago when she was having black, hard poops. the dr. said to give her 4-6 oz of water a day. so, we did that, and she had softer poops for one day, and slowly has gone back to harder poops over the week. now, we are going to try apple/prune juice. how much should we give her. also, is it normal for baby's poops to harden somewhat as they get older? i knew the black poop wasn't normal, but is it normal to have adult looking poops? also, does anyone know if my reintroducing dairy to my diet could be causing her to be constipated? she isn't showing any distress except when pooping bc she is straining to get it out. oh yeah, she is still exclusively breast feed and has started stage two foods and some whole foods in the mesh feeder.

[RobynScott]

poop issue - anyone deal with constipation? dd has been having harder poops for about two weeks now. we took her to the dr. a week ago when she was having black, hard poops. the dr. said to give her 4-6 oz of water a day. so, we did that, and she had softer poops for one day, and slowly has gone back to harder poops over the week. now, we are going to try apple/prune juice. how much should we give her. also, is it normal for baby's poops to harden somewhat as they get older? i knew the black poop wasn't normal, but is it normal to have adult looking poops? also, does anyone know if my reintroducing dairy to my diet could be causing her to be constipated? she isn't showing any distress except when pooping bc she is straining to get it out. oh yeah, she is still exclusively breast feed and has started stage two foods and some whole foods in the mesh feeder.

Hmm - not constipation per se in that his poops are more formed but still soft. But frequency - oh my. He's turning into a once-a-day-er - it's making me nervous that he's uncomfortable b/c it used to be like 4-5 times/day - but in the last 2 weeks, he's really cut back. He's getting solids 3x/day and BM 4x/day. The one thing that I have found makes a difference is giving him pears - that's what we've been doing for b-fast so that at least makes him go.

Sorry I can't be any more help than that!

[karlatta]

poop issue - anyone deal with constipation? dd has been having harder poops for about two weeks now. we took her to the dr. a week ago when she was having black, hard poops. the dr. said to give her 4-6 oz of water a day. so, we did that, and she had softer poops for one day, and slowly has gone back to harder poops over the week. now, we are going to try apple/prune juice. how much should we give her. also, is it normal for baby's poops to harden somewhat as they get older? i knew the black poop wasn't normal, but is it normal to have adult looking poops? also, does anyone know if my reintroducing dairy to my diet could be causing her to be constipated? she isn't showing any distress except when pooping bc she is straining to get it out. oh yeah, she is still exclusively breast feed and has started stage two foods and some whole foods in the mesh feeder.

I never gave juice. I found it hard to find juice that was pure juice and not some sugar concoction that they added a little fruit to. :) Since DD's on some foods, I'd look for the ones that are supposed to help - "p" fruits are good (prunes, pears, etc.). And maybe for now avoid foods that tend to plug kids up - bananas are bad at that.

[Asha]

i already give her pears at least once a day.

oh gosh, i didn't realize bananas were bad. i knew apples were bad. she eats bananas a few times a week.

karlatta - i wanted to avoid giving juice, but the dr. suggested it, and i would rather juice than her have to go on a medicine.

eta - do you think iron fortified cereal is doing this???

[karlatta]

i already give her pears at least once a day.

oh gosh, i didn't realize bananas were bad. i knew apples were bad. she eats bananas a few times a week.

karlatta - i wanted to avoid giving juice, but the dr. suggested it, and i would rather juice than her have to go on a medicine.

eta - do you think iron fortified cereal is doing this???

It absolutely could be (at least in part) due to the iron fortified cereal. Maybe cut that out for a while and see if it helps? Because she's BF, it's not like she needs the cereal for its nutritional value. I'd probably back off on cereal and bananas, keep up with the pears, and see what happens.

[twainny]

Asha - I have been dealing w/ constipation with DS for about 3 weeks. I got him back to having "normal" poop (ie soft) for a day or two, then it was back to pellets. I found that banana, carrots and yogurt (esp. yogurt) was what did it. As far as the black poop is concerned, depending on what your baby is eating, it might not be that bad. I have started to give DS blueberries, so his poop is really dark. (I remember when my older son was about 16 months and ate a quart of blueberries in a day, and he had BLUE POOP!! Carrots will make the poop orange-y. You can look for the thread "yet another poop question" people answered my constipation question there.

having more kids - I am pretty sure we are done. DH asked me if he needs to see "that" Dr. while we are in the states in the summer. I am not ready for him to do that. I may want another, but not for awhile. I do wish I would have been giving birth around now, when my first turned 3 (like having the kids 33-38 months apart). DH really wanted them 2 years apart, so we comprised and had them 2.5 years apart. DS1 has always been a very good baby/child, but I must say that in the last 6 months, he has really grown up, and can do stuff that we ask of him. I also think that 9 months from now he would be even better at dealing with a younger sibling. (i hope that makes sense). If I am to have another I would wait until DS2 is at least 2.

d) i haven't had more than 4-5 hours of sleep in a row in 8 months and that's only happened a handful of times

I can't remember the last time I slept for more than 2 or 3 hours.. My brain is complete mush at this point.

DITTO those two comments!!! DS2 has made me sooo much more exhausted than my first. I totally don't remember 9 months being like this with DS1. I may start working soon, and I can't imagine how I am going to pull that off! LOL I will probably sleep at my desk!!!!

As far as DS is doing... he has started standing, and that is ALL he wants to do. And he tries cruising too. He has at least 4 teeth, but I am a bad mommy and haven't check lately.

Katie - DS1 was walking at 9 months too. He could take a few steps by himself, but was really good with the walker thing. I but you DD will be independent any day now!!

[Katie&Micah]

I hope thats not true or I'm going to lose my mind or run away and join the circus. Possibly both.

Can I go with you??

Asha
5 hours does sound like heaven!!

twainny
She hardly needs me anymore it seems. She can get around to get her own toys.. I'm just the food and cuddle person.

[jimmysgirl424]

Can I go with you??

Sure..we can become trapeze artists or something and our DH's can bring our DD's to the circus to see us when it comes to town! :p:D

[RobynScott]

It absolutely could be (at least in part) due to the iron fortified cereal. Maybe cut that out for a while and see if it helps? Because she's BF, it's not like she needs the cereal for its nutritional value. I'd probably back off on cereal and bananas, keep up with the pears, and see what happens.

Actually, after 6 months, babies don't have their iron stores so the cereal helps with that - however, I think there are high iron foods you could give instead (I'm pretty sure Marisa recommended sweet potatoes to me as a good source of iron)

As to the pears, I can tell you, on the days I send Seth to daycare with pears, he often (maybe 70% of the time) comes home in a different outfit than he went in :p - that should tell you something, *lol*

[karlatta]

Actually, after 6 months, babies don't have their iron stores so the cereal helps with that - however, I think there are high iron foods you could give instead (I'm pretty sure Marisa recommended sweet potatoes to me as a good source of iron)
I suggested cutting back because Asha's DD is still BF almost exclusively. As long as Asha's diet remains rich in iron, or she feeds her DD other iron-rich foods (like sweet potatoes), her DD should be fine without cereal. I just don't believe cereal is a necessary food for babies - neither of my kids eat/have eaten it.

[littlecindy]

I disagree with this. Sure, for some people that's the right thing to do. But some people (like me!) want their kids to be close in age even if the older kid(s) is/are a handful. It wouldn't have made sense for me to wait to decide, because nothing about DS's (or DD's) behavior is going to make me not want another one.

totally...some people are cut out for having young ones real close in age. just not me. and i'm guessing not 90% of mommies. i actually always thought we'd have 2-3 real close in age. but it's mostly the sleep issue. and outside of my selfish concerns, i want to either have them real close together or at least 3 years apart because i think that is better for sibling rivalry. sometimes i think the classic 2-2.5 years apart makes is the hardest age to for an older sibling to have a baby brought home.

[dizylizy]

Hi all- way behind on all the postings!
Nathaniel is now 8 months old. Still onlyhas two teeth, sitting up well but arches his back a "throws" himslef to he floor every now and then.

Food- hates baby food but loves the food we eat, cherrieos, life cereal, Kraft blue box mac, green beans (not puree) I can typpically only get 1 Tbls spoon of baby food in. loves to squish bagels. I try to get him to eat a container of food in three servings. Oh waht to do... I don't want him to shoke on food, he can't chew it he only has two teeth... sily baby...

standing- loves to hold our hands and stand on our laps or on the ground.

Jump up - loves this. eh can even get it to travel a foot and then swing around. he just laughs his lttle belly laugh!

Siblings - I will admit i think mine are too close together but it is working out... DS#1 loves to make "Thaniel" laugh and giggle. Harry understands the "trade toy" comcept. I sure it will get harder when Thaniel is more mobile and can get to more of Harry's toys. If i could have waited another 6 months, I think the age difference would have been better.

Sleep - more please. here we are at 8 months and he still won't sleep more than 4-5 hours at a time. unfortunately, that is right away at night. bed time is easy, pj's, nurse, book, bed with paci and blanket by 8-8:30. out until 1-2. then up in 2.5 to 3 hours. but i don't go to bed at 8:30... I need to get bags ready for the next day, clean the kitchen (do it after bed so we can spend time with the kids) mail, bills, and stuff... he has been fighting a cough this week so he has been waking more... still it would be nice for him to be as good of a sleeper as Harry... who started sleeping through (7-8 hours) at 7 months.

BFing- stilll at it but have to suplement as I have been going through a prety big supply dip the last 2 weeks. kind of annoying. I BFed Harry until 10 months w/out an issue... But I am ready to give it up but will make it to at least 10 months. I amy go to only 2 pumpings a day rather than 3. but again my supply will dip... I am almost out of my freezer stash so day care is mixing whatever I pump with a few ounces of formula to make a 6-8 oz bottle. still hard to give it up.

Weight - we have moved up to 12 month clothes but he is not chucnky like Harry, cute with a round head and cheecks but lacking rolls and belly... I am bit concerned and will bring it up to my new ped when I see her next month. I don't think he is gaining. he was 19 lbs even on Monday at teh doc check of the cough. the worry never stops...

[Asha]

sorry your dealing with constipation too, twainny. today i felt so bad for her bc she was crying when she was pooping. :( defintely, have cut out bananas for now since karlatta and you both said they were bad. dd doesn't eat dairy directly bc of her food intolerances so it can't be that for her.

karlatta - yup, going to cut out the cereal for now. i liked giving her it bc i love :D cereal, so it definitely will be a part of her eating routine when she's older. i did give the healthy kind made with brown rice, and she really didn't get that much bc i mixed it with fruit. i hope i can find a healthy cereal that doesn't have added iron. i just need to remember to take my multi vitamin so i get the iron i need.

dizylizy - i am sorry your supply is waning. in addition, it must be hard to pump/bf with another child to look after too.

littlecindy - yeah, sibling rivalry was a problem with my sister and me when we were older, but when we were young we played together all the time. i wish my dd had someone else to play with on a regular basis.

don't remember who posted about dark poops, but she hasn't really been eating any foods that would account for dark poops. the dr. said it was a concern bc that is not the usual color of her poop.

***
well, ela skipped solids for breakfast today. for lunch she ate a whole container of pears, and i also got whole pears to give in her mesh feeder once they ripen. i tried giving her juice but she doesn't seem to like it, so i am trying to get her to drink water as much as possible, but it's hard to get her to drink 4-6 oz in a day. she mostly just plays with her sippy cup, and i end up having to give her the water out of a regular cup. she has pooped more today but it is still very solid looking. she loves sweet potatoes and eats them every single day for dinner, so no worries on iron for her.

[jimmysgirl424]

Asha Have you tried the straw sippy cup that Nuby makes rather than the standard spout sippy? DD hated the spout and wouldn't drink from it, just played with it. But she LOVES her straw sippy cup and drinks from it easily, frequently. I offer her water with each solid feeding, but it only amounts to a few ounces each day, nowhere near 4-6 ounces.

[karlatta]

sometimes i think the classic 2-2.5 years apart makes is the hardest age to for an older sibling to have a baby brought home.
I think so too. I want my next one before DD is two. I have friends with the 2-2.5 year spacing and their experience was just so different than mine. (DS was 14 months.)

[Ellyn]

Another baby? Heck no! We're done! :D I have an IUD, but we'll probably be doing something more permanent in 3-5yrs. I just feel like we are still pretty young (I'll be 27 in May, and DH will be 30 in June) to make anything permanent. DD has been a handful...and this is us too:
i haven't had more than 4-5 hours of sleep in a row in 8 months and that's only happened a handful of times
We are getting to the point where she might have to fuss/cry it out a little...there is no way she can be hungry that often at night - she slept through the night before her surgery in Nov, and ever since has been up at least once a night (which I can totally handle) but more often at least 2-3 times...it really takes a toll on me, especially with a 2.5yo and working. :( Oh well...this too shall pass and we'll get it figured out. Part of my frustrations stem from me being a control freak, and I cannot "control" my baby or her schedule or really anything about her right now. :p

She still isn't full out crawling...anyone else? :confused: She gets on her hands and knees and rocks, and scoots (inch worms) herself (very quickly) everywhere. Definitely not interested in standing/walking yet, either.

I haven't been around much (sort of frustrating to hear how well everyone is developing since K got delayed so much by his surgery, hopefully I'll get over it and be back full force)
:( Us too...totally know where you're coming from.

[Asha]

jimmysgirl - yeah, she doesn't get the straw. she does drink out of the soft spout nuby cup, but she is much more efficient with just a regular cup. she bangs around the nuby like it is a toy and doesn't get much water from it bc she just wants to play with it.

[littlecindy]

Another baby?DD has been a handful...it really takes a toll on me, especially with a 2.5yo and working. :(

was your older child not a great sleeper? i'm curious if it's a pattern that runs in families. if i knew we at least have a chance of getting a good sleeper next time, i'll have another some day.

[littlecindy]

sippy/water - DS *loves* water and though he likes holding and playing with the sippy he doesn't get it. helping him with a normal cup works best.

we also got that stride & ride lion (mentioned here: http://www.constantchatter.com/forum/showpost.php?p=1692281&postcount=279) and omg, does DS love it. he loves hitting the nose and making the music start. and after a day or two of practice, he's got the walking behind it down. if only the music weren't so annoying ;)

[karlatta]

was your older child not a great sleeper? i'm curious if it's a pattern that runs in families. if i knew we at least have a chance of getting a good sleeper next time, i'll have another some day.

My first was a great sleeper and so was my second. And mine aren't even biologically related. :) I'd say there's a chance.

[Ellyn]

Broderick (my 2.5yo) was not a good sleeper until about 9mo. old. Otherwise his naps had been about 1/2 hr to an hour at most. But now - and ever since he was a year old - he goes to bed at 7:30, wakes up at 7am and naps from 1-4pm in the afternoon...and we have to WAKE him up so that he sleeps at night! :) So, even though DD is sleeping like crap lately, I guess I kind of know that maybe there is an end to it in sight. Winona has been a handful in other ways...ALWAYS whining, crying, fussing about something (until she became mobile - scooting - and was able to get to where she wanted to be). I guess I am just exhausted with this stage and am glad that she will be crawling/walking soon and happy that she is happier. Ask me again about another child in 3 years and maybe I'll have a different answer about wanting another ;) Dh on the other hand, is positively done, and I'm ok with that.
if i knew we at least have a chance of getting a good sleeper next time, i'll have another some day.
There's no guarantees...I know you know that, but all these great sleepers as babies might not be as toddlers, ya know? :)

[Katie&Micah]

we also got that stride & ride lion (mentioned here: http://www.constantchatter.com/forum...&postcount=279) and omg, does DS love it. he loves hitting the nose and making the music start. and after a day or two of practice, he's got the walking behind it down. if only the music weren't so annoying
I turned the music off on ours.. lol

[Katie&Micah]

OMG, I'm absolutely sick to my stomach! Maddy just chewed the finish off of a big spot (the size of the palm of my hand) on her crib. It looks horrible. We bought a convertible crib so that this would last her a while. Ugh.. What the heck do I do to keep her from doing this? It was on the end piece, not the side piece with the teething guard.

ETA: I just looked at it again and she's done it in small spots all over the crib.

[Ellyn]

I don't know if you can do anything...DS did that to our (convert.) crib too. In the end, I don't think we'll use it for a big bed anyways (my dad made his big boy bed and will probably make DDs too) but I know how frustrating it can be. You could try this:
http://www.onestepahead.com/catalog/product.jsp?productId=150768&parentCategoryId=85183&categoryId=85216&subCategoryId=86201
but I don't know if you could get it off when you want it off later on???

[Katie&Micah]

I think I might have to cover the whole crib in that stuff to keep her from chewing. She didn't do it on the rail part unfortunately.

[Asha]

oh gosh, that sucks that she chewed her bed, katie.
***
ok, hopefully this is the last poop report in awhile. she finally had normal poop this a.m. after cutting out the cereal yesterday. so i think its safe to say it was the cereal. i am surprised bc she ate so little cereal before that.

[Katie&Micah]

Asha

I'm glad she had normal poop! Isn't it crazy the stuff we get excited about?

I'm sad about her crib.. my mom told me to throw a blanket over the side that has the big spot. That will work for now I guess.

[bensgirl1222]

Having more kids... I have 2 more weeks of my BC pills and then I'm done. But I doubt I will get pregnant right away since I'm still BFing full-time and havent even had a pp AF yet. But we arent preventing so whatever happens, happens.

[Asha]

well, aunt flo has made her return. i didn't miss her. i had been feeling really bloated and crampy, but i just thought it was bc i was eating like crap lately. dd has really cut back on bf'ing. she sometimes goes 4-5 hours during the day which is unheard of for her, so i suppose that is why it's back. yuck!!!

[Katie&Micah]

I'm sorry Asha! I keep dreading the day she comes back for me.

[alliannie]

Wow you are some talking moms lately!! I don't think I could catch up if I tried!

More kids-When it happens, it happens. We haven't prevented so far but we haven't tried really either(ie timing it or anything).

Walking-Blake goes everywhere along furniture. He will also walk behind his walker all over. We are trying to get him to walk between us but I think he just thinks we are crazy:p. Though today I let go of him and he stood on his own for about a minute before he realized I didn't have him and freaked out!!

Food-He is eating a lot!! I think we would be able to try way more if he had teeth. But alas no teeth still.

Sleep-We are sleep training. I can not handle co-sleeping anymore with being back to work. Plus he slept horrible then! It is going good though. We started naps about a week ago and then last night we started nights. We still aren't getting longer than 30 mins at naps but we got from 8-1 last night!!! After than I put him in bed with me though. lol. Tonight he is eating and going back to his bed. We will see how it goes. I am thinking I should have done this months ago but I honestly feel he was just showing signs of being ready in the last few weeks. By that I mean sleeping with us started going bad he was obviously wanting is own space. Eating way less at night. Things like that.

Well I am off to bed. With no baby:p!

[Katie&Micah]

Well.. I posted about how Maddy chewed up her crib? Let's add my BRAND NEW coffee table to the list of things destroyed by her teeth. I left her walking around the coffee table for like 3 minutes and I come back to find the finish eaten off the table in a 2 inch section. I honestly wanted to cry. We just bought that table last month. I painstakingly picked it out and it was supposed to last a while.. :(

[alliannie]

Katie-oh my gosh! I can't believe Maddy is doing that. I would be afraid of what the finishes are doing to her little belly. Since she obviously likes wood so much can you find some wood toys or blocks or something for her? Maybe that will distract her from the tempting big items. Beyond that I just don't know. I feel so bad for you though!

[karlatta]

Katie - Oh, no! DS chewed up some of his crib, but it's hardly noticeable. He mostly just removed the kind of varnish layer, so the color is still there. I know you were so excited about your tables - I'm sad for you that this happened!

[jimmysgirl424]

Katie We need to find some wooden teething toys for Maddy before she chews up your whole house! I am a little worried about the chemicals she may be ingesting, have you called her pediatrician? Anyway, here are some links some wood teething stuff that I found for you:

http://www.turnertoys.com/wood_rattle.htm
http://www.babyshowergiftshop.com/haba-teething-ring-kringelring.html
http://www.organicgiftshop.com/catalog/html/selecta-stellina-star-shaped-wooden-teething-toy-p-515.html
http://www.organicgiftshop.com/catalog/html/haba-scalari-fish-teething-toy-p-415.html
http://shop.nurturecenter.com/seamwoteri.html
http://www.tinybirdsorganics.com/organiccotton/stuffedbabytoys.html
http://www.dealtime.com/xDN-toys--baby_and_toddler_toys-maukilo_merch-teething_toys


I know someone here asked if anyone else's baby wasn't crawling yet. Mine isn't! She can scoot herself around, especially backwards, but thats about it. She gets up on her hands and almost gets her knees under her, and then just sprawls on her tummy.

Is anyone else's child not babbling? I'm really starting to get concerned about Kristianna. She isn't babbling at all, just whines and squeals alot. Should I be worried?

[littlecindy]

Is anyone else's child not babbling? I'm really starting to get concerned about Kristianna. She isn't babbling at all, just whines and squeals alot. Should I be worried?

sometimes adrian sort of babbles, but mostly it's random sounds, screaches, squeals, grunts. most of it doesn't sound like words at all.

[granada]

Well.. I posted about how Maddy chewed up her crib? Let's add my BRAND NEW coffee table to the list of things destroyed by her teeth.

Oh no! A friend of mine had a baby who did this same thing, chewed on all the furniture. Would teething toys help her have something else to chew on? Can you put those edge protectors on your furniture?

Is anyone else's child not babbling? I'm really starting to get concerned about Kristianna. She isn't babbling at all, just whines and squeals alot. Should I be worried?

If you're concerned, check with your ped. But I think all babies are different, and K is probably in the range of normal. Because DS is in daycare, I see a lot of babies his age, and they all really range in their development. There is a 10 month old baby there who's not crawling yet and not babbling either, but she sleeps like a champ! :) DS on the other hand, babbles all the time. I'm convinced he'll be on the debate team one day. LOL.

Just this weekend, DS has started crawling! He's still really wobbly and can only take a few "steps" at a time. But now I'm getting scared that we'll have to baby-proof soon. This age really is the best age. :D DS is just so adorable and huggable.

[Asha]

sometimes adrian sort of babbles, but mostly it's random sounds, screaches, squeals, grunts. most of it doesn't sound like words at all.

babbling - dd doesn't really babble much. just in the past few days, she has started introducing more consonants to her speech like vaaaaa, maaaaa, daaaaaaa, baaaaaa, but she hasn't really used them purposefully. she mostly "talks" a lot when i lay her down to sleep. that's how i know she is just about to fall asleep bc she starts talking up a storm. she also talks when dh and i talk to each other, but since he works all the time, she doesn't hear two adults conversing very much.

crawling - not really. i've been reading that the first step to crawling is using their arms, but dd is using her legs to help her move. she does what i call the mork crawl by planting her face in the ground and propelling herself forward by moving her legs. she looks like an upside down "v".

[Katie&Micah]

crawling - not really. i've been reading that the first step to crawling is using their arms, but dd is using her legs to help her move. she does what i call the mork crawl by planting her face in the ground and propelling herself forward by moving her legs. she looks like an upside down "v".

Maddy did this for a little while, then she decided it was taking too much time and switched straight to walking. She never did really crawl.

Re:Maddy chewing..

The kid has 4 million teething toys (including wood). She does spend lots of time chewing on them, but I guess the problem is that she sometimes wants to chew while standing and when she's standing she doesn't have a toy in her hand...just the crib or table. I'm not really too concerned about the finish, because I don't think she's really swallowing it. I find little flecks of brown all over her face/bib.

I was talking about it with someone tonight and she said, "Don't worry.. in 20 years all you'll remember is that she was such a sweet, inquisitive child." I need to focus on not getting upset about the little things. I've been upset all day because of the table, when I could have been happy that I have a gorgeous child instead.

[Asha]

Maddy did this for a little while, then she decided it was taking too much time and switched straight to walking. She never did really crawl.
hmmm...wonder if my prediciton of no crawling will be correct? she started pulling herself to standing today.

[jimmysgirl424]

hmmm...wonder if my prediciton of no crawling will be correct? she started pulling herself to standing today.

Okay...it seems like things happen in groups in this thread. Last night I got home from work and DH was all excited to show me that Kristianna pulls herself up to a standing position when you hold out your hands. Its so cute! I sat in front of her while she was sitting and held out my hands. She put her hands on top of mine and pushed right up to standing with no further assistance from me! :) We also realized last night that the reason why she keeps sprawling once she gets her knees under her in the crawl position is because she is trying to push herself up to standing from that position too! I don't think she has much interest in crawling at this point. This kid wants to be upright and walking.

[karlatta]

Re: crawling.

My DS started crawling and pulling to stand on the very same day, and then didn't walk (unassisted) for a couple more months. So even you standers may still have crawlers. :) Or not. My opinion is that it's not super important - as long as they're moving and developing, they're okay.

Here's a link (http://s53.photobucket.com/albums/g63/karlatta/?action=view&current=HannahCruising.flv) to a video of DD cruising. She's kind of awkward because she refuses to hold with both hands. She's much better at walking if I just hold her hand and walk next to her, but that's impossible to do while holding a video camera and getting any sort of shot.

[twainny]

Karlatta - wow, I'm totally impressed, your DD is such a good walker!!! :) (I also watched the other videos, your son "falling" off the bed is toooo cute!)

This age really is the best age.

I think you may keep saying that! IMO, I liked 2-3 the best so far (we didn't really have the "terrible twos") It is so much fun to actually play with my DS1 (i'm talking, tennis, softball, soccer, swimming). I dunno, I think ever age is a lot of fun...

[bensgirl1222]

Babbling DS babbles ALOT! He figured out his "G" sounds lately...such as "Uh-gah, gee, guh, uh-guh" etc... He has already been thru the "M" stage, like "ma ma ma ma" but no Mama yet! He also screams, squeals and makes lots of noises using his tongue.

Walking/crawling None here yet. He goes from the sitting position to the crawling position and rockng for about a week now. He has been able to pull himself up onto things (with some assistance) for a while now. Although I cant just leave him like that bc if he falls, he still falls hard! He has been trying to fall on his butt lately but I still wont leave him alone standing. He loves for me to walk him around and if I play his CD player with his preschool songs he loves to dance. Its so cute! Just this morning he used my leg to stand up so he is getting there!

Food Still no finger food yet. He is such a gagger! LOL I still put fruits in his mesh feeder and he does good with Puffs now. What kind of finger food can an 8 month old have now? And when can they have meats? I bought some Stage 2 foods that are veggie & chicken or turkey but my ped said no meats until 9 months so I've been holding off. Anyone know?

Katie That sucks about Maddy eating the finish!! I'm so sorry :( Hopefully you can get her some wood toys to chew on.

[jimmysgirl424]

bensgirl I'm not sure on the meats myself. And honestly, I'm considering not introducing them for some time. After I thought about it for awhile, I just realized that a baby doesn't need meat. Too many other ways to get protein in them at this age. I've actually been thinking about going vegetarian or semi-vegetarian myself for awhile, so I guess thats why I'm going on this line of thinking at the moment.

[bensgirl1222]

Man this thread really picked up!! Things with our household have been going well. Benjamin is SOOOO active! He is going to be into everything when he can finally get around. I'm going to have to set up a pack-n-play in our family room once he gets going. He already tries to pull open the drawers on our coffee tables. LOL He can get from the sitting to the crawling positon now nd kind of rocks back and forth but then falls on his tummy and kind of looks like an upside-down trashcan lid just rocking around. haha He still isnt very interested in eating foods. Well, let me re-phrase...he doesnt like being spoonfed. He wants to eat whatever I have and I would gladly give it to him but he gags on everything! He has just started getting used to eating Puffs and thats taken about 2 months! He still nurses around the clock. He still eats about 2 hours when he is awake but only wakes up once to eat in the middle of the night. He sleeps from about 7pm-7am and wakes up around 2 or 3 to eat. I got a good 3 nights in a row where he slept ALL night long. It was nice!! But I can deal with once a night. He loves nursery rhymes and preschool songs (I have a bunch of CD's that I play for him in the car and at home and he likes to "dance" to them). And he is so good at playing with his toys! I can sit him on the floor with his toys and he is pretty content for quite some time.

In other news we are trying to sell our house bc we want a single family home. Its been on the market for almost 3 months. We have had some interest but those people have a house to sell too so that doesnt hep us any. We are looking into a new community that they are just now building right up the street. Our goal was to be in our new house by 2009. So we still have some time.

I think thats about it.

[Asha]

I'm going to have to set up a pack-n-play in our family room once he gets going.
this reminds me. does anyone have the superyard? how well do they stand up? is it strong enough to take a baby pulling up to standing on it? i want to set this around the permiter of the play area i'm going to set up for dd downstairs. i know its best to let kids just wander, but when my mil watches dd, she is just outside on the back porch cooking half the time, so she puts dd in the around we go activity table so she can watch her play. i am irked that dd spends so much time in the activity table with her, so i feel like putting her in the superyard will give dd more freedom to play with other things besides the activity table. thank goodness mil now works during the week, bc dd was getting activity table overload and started getting bored with it.

[Lisa]

quick question- what age can babys have eggs?

[gator97]

I have the superyard and LOVE it. We have had this for a long while now and it has always been our "dog free zone" so that when I am cooking or whatever, I don't have to have the eagle eye on DD and the dogs (they are sweet but big and LOVE our little girl). We don't have it in a circle but have one end up against the wall and the other end up against the back of the couch (so the couch acts as part of the barrier- if that makes sense). It's a little flimsy on the end (but we solve that by putting one panel flat against the couch. She pulls up on it all day long and it is great! We hang toys on the panels as well- for interest as she pulls up.

It is sort of like this (http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/customer-images/B00004RA66/ref=cm_ciu_pdp_images_1?ie=UTF8&index=1#gallery) set up--only they've done it slightly wrong b/c a few of the joints are set straight---and all joints should be at an angle.

[Katie&Micah]

Meats
I read in one of my parenting mags this month that they say now that meats might become the new first food for babies. They recommend it at 6 months. I personally waited until Maddy was 8 1/2 months, but only because the meat stuff looks gross and my homemade food tastes better. This might be gross to some (including my DH), but I will sometimes chew up a piece of chicken or whatever meat I'm eating and give to her. She's doing awesome with table type foods all of a sudden. I think my freezer full of purees is going to go to waste. The past 3 days she's eaten part of a muffin, chicken, fresh pear, toast and egg noodles. I'm going to start giving her small pieces of fruits and veggies as snacks instead of so many crackers, puffs, basically carb stuff.

[LDS Angel 19]

We started meats (beef and chicken) around 7 months. DH is a wannabe bodybuilder and is big on protein :rolleyes: Our ped said meat is fine after 6 months.

[granada]

quick question- what age can babys have eggs?

According to Super Baby Food, you can give them cooked egg yolks at 7 months. The egg whites is the allergenic part.

[Lisa]

According to Super Baby Food, you can give them cooked egg yolks at 7 months. The egg whites is the allergenic part.

thank you!!

[jimmysgirl424]

Katie Can I ask how you give those foods that you mentioned to Maddy? Do you just break them up in very small pieces? I haven't given anything to DD other than her purees because I'm so scared of her choking. And she shows so much interest in our food that I feel bad not giving her a taste!

[Katie&Micah]

I'm INCREDIBLY afraid of her choking also, which is why I held off a while on offering table food. She hasn't had any gagging and I watch her really closely. So I think as long as I'm diligent about watching her we'll be ok. I just break very small pieces off. Pretty much everything I've given her is about half the size of a puff I think. I've been thinking about giving her cheese, but I'm worried about that because the other stuff is sort of soft enough that it can be mushed up. Cheese doesn't really change form very much. I gave her a green bean earlier and it was great, because she could hold onto it and feed herself.

[karlatta]

Kym - I'm not Katie, but I've given my DD all of those foods (and a ton more). I just make sure things are easy to chew/mash up and are in small pieces. DD won't eat food that doesn't look like what's on our plate, so I've had to just let go a little.

[RobynScott]

So many exciting things going on! Seth was pretty much like Hannah (Karlatta's DD) - started crawling and pulling up on the same day (about 1.5 months ago :eek:) - but no walking yet - not even cruising. He just loves to pull up (especially on your pants leg - it's pretty funny!)

Quick question - I'm headed out of here soon (should have asked earlier) - we have Seth's 9 mo visit tonight (where has the time gone!) - anything special I should ask the ped about?

I'm guessing foods will be my primary concern - but I'm sure there's stuff I'm not thinking of.

Hope everyone is doing well!

[jimmysgirl424]

Robyn, are you going to get the MMR for Seth at 12 months or are you delaying it? If you are delaying it, and haven't discussed it with your pediatrician, I would use this opportunity to do so.

[karlatta]

So many exciting things going on! Seth was pretty much like Hannah (Karlatta's DD) - started crawling and pulling up on the same day (about 1.5 months ago :eek:) - but no walking yet - not even cruising. He just loves to pull up (especially on your pants leg - it's pretty funny!)
It was DS that pulled up and crawled on the same day. Hannah crawled well before she pulled up on anything. Every baby is different!

[RobynScott]

Robyn, are you going to get the MMR for Seth at 12 months or are you delaying it? If you are delaying it, and haven't discussed it with your pediatrician, I would use this opportunity to do so.

We were already behind on shots (just finished his 6 mo shots) - so I'm sure they won't be surprised when I delay, *lol*

It was DS that pulled up and crawled on the same day. Hannah crawled well before she pulled up on anything. Every baby is different!

Sorry!

So, DS is still a peanut - 15lbs 5oz at 9 months (less than 3rd%), 27 3/4" (50%) and 10% for head circumference. B/c of his weight (or lack thereof), the ped wants us to focus on getting more calories into him.

I can't believe he's so small that he still fits into his infant seat at 9 months! (but we plan on moving him to the convertible soon anyway - I'm tired of the infant seat!)

[Katie&Micah]

I can't believe he's so small that he still fits into his infant seat at 9 months! (but we plan on moving him to the convertible soon anyway - I'm tired of the infant seat!)
Maddy is still in her infant seat. She has a couple pounds on Seth though. I keep meaning to switch the convertible, but since she still falls asleep pretty regularly in the car, I've been putting it off.

[Ellyn]

I think my freezer full of purees is going to go to wasteOUrs too...DD hates purees now. I was thinking about making sweet potatoes, cubing up fruits, etc. and freezing them and thawing them out like I do the purees. DD is resisting pretty heavily to the spoon fed stuff. She eats Cheerios and puffs by the handfuls. :rolleyes:

Karlatta - can you list the foods you give DD? I need ideas, and beyond carbs, I'm terrible. I've given some banana chunks and that's about it. NOw that she's refusing more and more, I'll need to up her finger foods.

Crawling: That was me that asked about crawling last week...and guess what? Winona is finally crawling! After months of scooting and dragging herself around by her upper body, she spent the weekend rocking on her hands and knees and just crawled tonight - so I got to be home for it. :) She's also pulling herself up on furniture - but doesn't know enough to hang on after shes up - she just lets go!

[karlatta]

Ellyn - Honestly, I just give her whatever we're eating, as long as it doesn't have something that's a big no-no (peanuts, honey, etc.). In the last week or so she's eaten cheerios, blueberry muffin, bits of homemade bread, apple, rice pilaf, chicken w/ lemon pepper (it was the end of a breast, which is kind of overcooked and I kind of mushed it up a little so that it was really tender), banana chunks, applesauce (the only puree she'll do anymore), some chicken casserole made with sour cream and poppy seeds, Ritz w/ a little bit of jelly, tuna salad, animal crackers, organic whole-wheat pop-tarts... Gee, it sounds like I over-feed her! She only eats a tiny bit of everything - like a bite or two, but she gets insanely jealous if she sees us eating something and she's not allowed to try it. And if I don't give it to her, chances are that DS will, crazy kid.

It's funny to me that I let her eat so much. I never in a million years would have allowed DS to eat all of this stuff at 8 months. But she loves it, and she's still drinking at least 34 ounces of formula every day, so I don't worry that she's not getting all the nutrition she needs. She's also really, really good at mashing food between her gums, so she can "chew" anything I give her until it's a good consistency for swallowing.

[bensgirl1222]

I can't believe he's so small that he still fits into his infant seat at 9 months! (but we plan on moving him to the convertible soon anyway - I'm tired of the infant seat!)


Benjamin is about 30" long and over 20 pounds (at almost 8 1/2 months) but is still in his infant seat that is permanenty placed in DH's car. I have DS in a convertible seat in my car though. I have a friend whose son was still in his infant seat at one year old. LOL So dont worry about him being in his seat :) If it works for you, thats great! I just couldnt carry around that seat after he reached 6 months bc it was too damn heavy!

[bensgirl1222]

Shots Is anyone here delaying the MMR at 12 months? I am going to go by the Dr Sears Vaccine MMR Schedule. The health dept can give them separately and my insurance covers it.

[Lisa]

Shots Is anyone here delaying the MMR at 12 months? I am going to go by the Dr Sears Vaccine MMR Schedule. The health dept can give them separately and my insurance covers it.

can you post a link to his vaccine schedule?
I didnt delay any with DS#1, DD or DS#2 but I think I will delay or break up the MMR for DS#3

[littlecindy]

My DS started crawling and pulling to stand on the very same day, and then didn't walk (unassisted) for a couple more months. So even you standers may still have crawlers. :)

adrian pretty much started crawling and pulling up at the same time, too. he's cruising, but he still prefers crawling. it's faster.

[littlecindy]

my running list of finger foods (this is NOT what we've tried, just what i've collected from various sources on what's good for finger foods

meatballs
chopped egg
cheese (DS likes fresh mozzerella) but shredded whatever works

Beans (pinto,black,etc)
Peas
green beans
brocolli
asparagus
shredded carrot
cooked carrot
celery small
peppers small
asparagus
cukes

whole wheat pasta
brown rice
Toast, Tortilla, Pita
waffles/pancakes

you could spread all knids of things on bread/toast and break into pieces (hummus, bean spreads, leftover fruit/veggie puree, cream cheese)

mashed potatoes

cheerios
plain rice puff cereal

kiwi
cherries
grapes
cantaloupe
grated apple
cooked apple
all kinds melon
mangos
papayas
avocados

[karlatta]

Shots Is anyone here delaying the MMR at 12 months? I am going to go by the Dr Sears Vaccine MMR Schedule. The health dept can give them separately and my insurance covers it.
I'm delaying. I have been pretty much delaying everything with DD, on a schedule that's sort of a combination of the Dr. Sears stuff and something my ped and I came up with.

[jimmysgirl424]

I am delaying her MMR, no question about it. My only concern is if we eventually put her in daycare, I think most of them require vaccination records or they won't take her. Not sure how to work around this. :confused:

[karlatta]

I am delaying her MMR, no question about it. My only concern is if we eventually put her in daycare, I think most of them require vaccination records or they won't take her. Not sure how to work around this. :confused:

My kids' MDO requires vaccination records, but they don't check them to make sure that all the vaccinations are there.

[Asha]

littlecindy - i feel like such a bad mommy when you are posting the variety of food you feed your child. its been such a painfully slow process introducing food to dd. she is so picky and i am trying to only introduce one new food a week bc of history with food intolerances. plus, with the constipation issue i eliminated foods like bananas and apples.

i thought we weren't supposed to give our babies melons until after a year? maybe, i am remembering wrongly.

[karlatta]

Asha - Don't feel like a bad mommy! You are doing exactly what your child needs, and there's absolutely nothing wrong with that.

[RobynScott]

littlecindy - i feel like such a bad mommy when you are posting the variety of food you feed your child. its been such a painfully slow process introducing food to dd. she is so picky and i am trying to only introduce one new food a week bc of history with food intolerances. plus, with the constipation issue i eliminated foods like bananas and apples.

i thought we weren't supposed to give our babies melons until after a year? maybe, i am remembering wrongly.

Asha - I think we can all feel like a bad mommy for some reason. I feel like a bad mommy b/c Seth is so small and I haven't given him formula.

Seth's food list is also still relatively small. Not even b/c of the intolerance issue (which we have a bit) - and the constipation issue (same here) - but we end up only introducing a new food once / week b/c I like to be the one to try it with him and he's in daycare all week. We don't do it at night b/c we don't want to find out he has a bad reaction at night - so we're pretty much also at basic fruits and vegetables right now. My philosophy all along has been that "he'll get there" with respect to eating table foods / a wider variety of foods - and now I've got a peanut that's barely gained, so I NEED to get more (calorically dense) table foods in him (and probably think about adding formula as well).

Trust me - you're not alone - we've all got our 'bad mommy' issues. And anyone who says they don't is lying ;)

So, now that Asha and I have shared ours, what's your bad mommy moment?

Also, the ped said we could start eggs (whites and yolk) with DS - anyone else's ped say this is ok now, or are we supposed to wait a little longer for egg whites? Our ped has said that basically everything is ok now except for nuts and honey.

[karlatta]

My ped okays whole eggs at 9 months.

What's your bad mommy moment?
I have too many to share them all! Most of mine revolve around splitting my time between two kids. It's hard to always feel good about how I choose to do that.

[jimmysgirl424]

So, now that Asha and I have shared ours, what's your bad mommy moment?

I've got a few:

1) Every weeknight, I feel terribly guilty at the extremely limited amount of time I spend with DD before she's in bed. I don't get home till 6:00, sometimes later. I have to pump as soon as I get in the door. And then I rush out to the kitchen and get her bottles and stuff out of her diaper bag so they are ready for me to work with later on. Sometimes I stop and wash my two pumping sessions worth of pieces. Meanwhile DD is out in the living room on her mat with DH trying to entertain her. And then we start her bedtime routine at 7 pm. At least I give her her last bottle of the day. It makes me so sad. But if I don't get started on all of the crap that needs to be ready to go for the next day, I would be up late every night which would also suck. Its a constant compromise and one that I despise having to make every day.

2) I haven't introduced any finger foods to DD. None. She is strictly on purees, although I do offer a variety.

3) She needs new clothes so badly because she's growing so fast and we are still squeezing her into her old stuff because we haven't found the time to buy new stuff for her.

4) Since moving into the new house, we are constantly trying to get stuff done like unpacking, arranging, cleaning, etc. We have been sticking her into the bouncer for longer periods of time so we can get it all done and she is NOT happy about it. I feel awful for not giving her more attention. :(

[RobynScott]

Aww Kym - that will change once you guys are all moved in! And I hear you on the one hour at home before bedtime! We have the same thing. Can DH help with your pump stuff so you have a little more time to play with K? After enough bitching by me at DH :p he has finally taken it as his job to make sure my milk is out of the bag and in the fridge.

One other thing - I should have probably said that was one bad mommy moment - I'm sure there are many more. Like when I had sugar-free hot chocolate a week or two ago and was reminded of Seth's dairy intolerance ... :eek:

[Katie&Micah]

My bad mommy moment..

I *hate* that Maddy watches so much t.v. She watches at least one episode of Tigger and Pooh a day. It's the only way I can get any studying done though..

littlecindy
I never would have thought of giving Maddy shredded cheese. Great idea!

[bensgirl1222]

I LOVE how this thread picked back up recently!!

i thought we weren't supposed to give our babies melons until after a year? maybe, i am remembering wrongly.


Melons as in watermelon, cantelope and honeydew? I never knew that! I have been giving B catelope and honeydew for a while now. I put it in his mesh feeder...and he LOVES it.

Also, add me to the list of mom's who havent really given their child anything else but purees. I give him a variety of purees and anything I can put into his mesh feeder I do (such as bananas, cantelope, honeydew, grapes, apples). Today I bought avacado and sweet potatoes (which are cooking as we speak!) Its mostly bc he gags on anything solid. He is just now getting used to Puffs and I'm so scared he will choke. I tried giving him mashed banana and he almost threw up. It was too thick I suppose (of course that was a month ago). I just bought a Stage 3 (apple, cinnamon & oatmeal) to have him try and see hwo he does with that.

Is anyone else still spacing the different foods every few days? I stopped doing that. Only bc he has never had any problems with anything so far so I dont even keep track anymore. It takes him about 3 days to finish a jar of food anyway so I suppose thats enough time.

Lisa PM me your email...I will forward it to you!

When do you/will you introduce juice? I havent yet. Just wondering :)

[bensgirl1222]

Bad mommy moment

I wish I read him more books (we have a TON)! I try to read to him everyday (usually before naptime) but slack off by the evening. He loves it when I read to him. I just find that he is really cranky in the evening when he is tired and all he wants to do is nurse and go to bed.

I dont change his diaper in the middle of the night bc I dont want him to wake up. So by morning its like twice its size. LOL Poor guy.

I have alot more I'm sure...but thats all I can think of right now.

[LDS Angel 19]

Bad mommy moment It was a beautiful day today so we met a few friends at the park. We were out for two hours in the sun and now Natalie's face is sunburned :(

[Asha]

hugs to robyn and kym - i am sorry you don't get enough time with your little ones in the evening.

3) She needs new clothes so badly because she's growing so fast and we are still squeezing her into her old stuff because we haven't found the time to buy new stuff for her.
lol!!! dh keeps harping on me about buying dd new sleepers bc it takes basically acrobatic tricks to get her in them now. i am just cheap bc i am wondering if she'll even need sleepers pretty soon bc the weather is warming up quickly.

other bad mommy - i don't bathe dd every day. i probably should now bc its warm and she's sweating, and who knew baby sweat is stinky??!! i might get a small baby pool for outside.

question - have your babies gone down to one nap? do you know when it is "normal" for babies to only need one nap during the day. dd has started taking one really long nap and one nap that is usually less than 30 minutes. today she didn't even go down for the second nap, so i didn't fight it this time and just let her stay up.

[alliannie]

Nap-Blake still takes more than one. Some days just one but not normally. It depends on how long they are!! He needs his naps though or he is a holy terror. The girl I nanny for is a late August baby and she has been on one nap for like 2 months though. They are all so different!!

Bad mommy-Blake doesn't get baths every day or every other most of the time. I realllllly plan on working on this as we just moved to a place with a bathtub. Before it was shower with me or kitchen and it was truely a PITA!!! Tonight he got one!

Foods-We are like Karla. Blake eats lots of what we eat. He screams otherwise. Though he does eat baby food for his "normal" meal times. He is on stage 3 and ready for full time real food but I don't feel comfortable doing so when he has no teeth!

When do you/will you introduce juice? I am not sure when you do but we won't for awhile yet. If/when we do we will do at least 50/50 water/juice. I don't think there is any real need for juice in a baby!

Clothes-Blake needs new clothes too!! He has one sleeper that fits and a couple two piece PJ's. He also wears like the same clothes every week. lol. We are trying to wait until he needs warm weather clothes for good. I refuse to buy two seasons of bigger sizes.

not much to update. All calm here. Still doing the same things as normal. Working and having a baby is hard work though. I hate having so little time at night to do things. But I am grateful my job is with Blake so I get to spend my days with him unlike most WOHM's.

[karlatta]

Nap - DD is still a solid two-nap baby. I don't mind at all, and I'm hoping it stays this way for a while because DS still takes two naps (at nearly two years old!) and I enjoy the time I have to get things done.

[Katie&Micah]

Maddy still takes 2 naps and I don't know what I would do if she dropped one of them. Of course her naps rarely last more than 30 minutes, so maybe if she dropped one she'd actually sleep longer. Who knows.. I swear my kid is killing my slowing with sleep deprivation.

[granada]

Reading all these bad mommy moments makes me realize what a bad mommy I am! LOL.

I dont change his diaper in the middle of the night bc I dont want him to wake up. So by morning its like twice its size. LOL Poor guy.

I do this, too! Once in a while, his waistline is a little moist, usually when DH has put on his nighttime diaper, so I blame DH. :D But most of the time, the pee is contained, so I figure it's ok. LOL.

i don't bathe dd every day.

I don't bathe DS everyday either! Well, we used to need two people to bathe him, because he was still unsteady sitting up. So, sometimes that did not happen until the weekend. :o Now that he's sitting up by himself, I do try to give him a bath more often, but it's usually only 2-3x/week. I'm usually the only one who has to smell him, and I like his baby stink. :)

My other bad mommy moment is I watch Oprah sometimes with DS. Sometimes he'll play and not notice, but sometimes, he'll stare fascinated, and I know you shouldn't really let babies watch TV, but I do it anyway!

Also, add me to the list of mom's who havent really given their child anything else but purees.

Your DS sounds a lot like mine. I give him Cheerios, but I break them up into fours. I tried giving him pieces of banana this weekend, and he gagged on it, so DH didn't want to try anymore finger foods for a while. I watch him like a hawk when he eats the Cheerios, too. I guess it's purees for a while longer.

She needs new clothes so badly because she's growing so fast and we are still squeezing her into her old stuff because we haven't found the time to buy new stuff for her.

Two words: on-line shopping! I pretty much do all my shopping on-line these days: baby clothes, diapers, whatever. The UPS man loves me. I find it saves me tons of time.

do you know when it is "normal" for babies to only need one nap during the day.

Of course all babies are different (usual caveat) but "they" say babies drop the second nap around 15 months.

[bensgirl1222]

Do any of your DC respond to their own names? I am just wondering bc I dont think Benjamin does yet. Thats partly my fault I suppose bc I always call him "Bubba" or "Little man" or "Little Buddy". I try SO HARD to call him Benjamin but until recently never really thought about it.

[karlatta]

Do any of your DC respond to their own names? H is just now starting to. And it's only about 50% of the time. Sometimes I know she knows I'm talking to her, but she's too interested in whatever she's doing to respond.

[Katie&Micah]

Do any of your DC respond to their own names?
She'll turn to look at whoever said it.. is that what you mean?

[jimmysgirl424]

Do any of your DC respond to their own names?
Oh yes..Kristianna has been responding to us saying her name for awhile..at least a month or two.

When do you/will you introduce juice? Not for awhile. Babies don't need juice. And I have no desire to introduce all of that nasty sugar into her diet. Once I find a juice that doesn't have four freaking pounds of sugar in a bottle, I'll consider offering it to DD mixed 50/50 with water. Honestly though, I intend on making her mostly a "water baby" so to speak. Juice is a top cause for both childhood obesity and early tooth decay and those are two things I'd like to avoid if at all possible. And she loves water!

napping She is still taking two or three naps a day! Most days its just two naps. And I can't think of a day where she only took one. She gets very cranky if she skips, so we stay on top of her sleep cues and put her down when she's showing them.

Bathing We bathe DD every other day, or sometimes every third day. :o We will change that once it starts getting warm again.

I need to get some sunblock for DD! What kind is everyone using on their babies? And how about insect repellant? Which ones are safe? We have bad mosquitos here in MD, so its a must.

[karlatta]

When do you/will you introduce juice?
We don't do juice. Even my almost two year old doesn't get it. I just don't see the need. We eat tons of fresh fruit, and we drink water almost all the time.

Bathing - DD gets about 5 baths a week. Usually there's a night or two that we're busy and don't have time to bathe both kids, so we skip. Once it really warms up, though, we'll have to do baths every day.

Sunblock - We use UV Naturals. It's expensive and a bit greasy, but I don't use products on the kids that have parabens or preservatives, and this is the best one I've found. We go swimming 3 days a week in the summer, so we need good sunblock.

Insect Repellant - I use Jason Quit Bugging Me. It's DEET-free, which is important to me. And I live in muggy, humid Houston (mosquito haven) and it works just fine.

[littlecindy]

littlecindy - i feel like such a bad mommy when you are posting the variety of food you feed your child. its been such a painfully slow process introducing food to dd. she is so picky and i am trying to only introduce one new food a week bc of history with food intolerances. plus, with the constipation issue i eliminated foods like bananas and apples.

i thought we weren't supposed to give our babies melons until after a year? maybe, i am remembering wrongly.

oh that's just the list i have on hand, not what i've done! hehe.

we have given him cantaloupe. i didn't know melon was questionable. but i haven't been super strict about any of the sorta questionables. avoiding all the obvious allergens.

DS could not eat bananas from 5.5 months until recently. we tried them again (in a limited amount) and he was fine. they used to constipate him and make hi mreally gassy.

[Asha]

i'm so glad this thread picked up again. its so nice to connect with other mommies. i don't know anyone around here, so i need some adult interraction.

katie - i didn't know you were in school. are you doing it online? what are you studying?

juice - dr. reccomended juice to relieve constipation. problem was dd doesn't like it. lol!! so we just have been giving her water which she loves bc mommy drinks it too. i'm actually glad she doesn't like it bc i was just planning to stick to water anyways.

names - ok, now i can feel like my dd is advanced at something bc she still isn't crawling/independently mobile like all your tots. she has been responding to her name probably since around 4 months old. she will turn to look at anyone who says her name. she even looks when someone isn't speaking directly to her but talking about her.

sunblock - we so need to get sunblock. i don't take her for very long outdoors and when i do she wears a hat or has her shade on the stroller. i need to be especially careful bc she probably won't burn like a fair skinned child would, but she still needs the protection.

tv - a few times when i have been very tired or sick i have tried to get her to watch tv, so i could get a beak. she just isn't interested. once in awhile i will watch hgtv when she is playing, but she doesn't pay the tv much attention.

[littlecindy]

littlecindy
I never would have thought of giving Maddy shredded cheese. Great idea!

DS LOVES LOVES LOVES the fresh mozzerella if you can find that. you know the kind packed in a tub of water? it's softer too so i don't worry about choking.

[littlecindy]

finger foods
i only introduced finger foods because DS would NOT let me spoon feed him by like 6.5 months. darned independent thing. i used the baby safe feeder until he started pincer-ing and then i just gave up and let him feed himself. i'm not a good mom just because DS is stubborn ;)

Is anyone else still spacing the different foods every few days?
i stopped, too. call that my bad mommy confession. oh, and i certainly don't bathe him every day.

When do you/will you introduce juice?
we'll hold out as long as possible. if he keeps drinking water i'll wait until after a year or longer. and we'll dilate it when we do give it to him.

have your babies gone down to one nap?
DS cut down to one long 3 hour nap at like 6 months (at daycare). i don't like that he did it, but he did and he seems happy enough, so why fight it.

clothes
adrian has finally seemed to stop growing momentarily. he's in 12 months pretty solidly, but some 6 and 9 months still fit (even over cloth diapers). i actually think he's stretching out, getting taller, but not gaining wait. we'll see at his 9 month checkup in a couple weeks.

responding to name
DS is not great at this

repellant and sunblock
we'll get these (we live in MN so HAVE to have bug repellant) but i want to go as natural as possible. i've heard good things about buzz off or buzz away (can't remember which). and california baby sunblock.

[Kristy119]

Haven't been here in a while but I am reading along when I can!
G is getting so big! Last week at the dr.s he was 19 lbs 8 oz. and 29 1/4 long. He's not moving much tho... he rolls all over now but he is not interested in crawling or pulling up yet. I am half glad that he isn't since our hous