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

[polarama]

Do you worry about the eggs/wheat, etc. in food you give your LO? Like in breads, etc?

Not really, though we've sort of just started venturing into table foods. Besides, a lot of "baby" foods that DD has had, like biter biscuits, have had wheat or sugar or other ingredients in them, so I don't stress too much about table food. I'm a little bit more obsessed with texture (terrified of choking). I'm careful about nuts and strawberries, spicy foods, and also watching sugar content, but beyond that, we're not too limited.

DD had *fish* today, and she liked it. I was pretty impressed!

[littlecindy]

adrian's 3rd tooth barely poked through this weekend (one of the top ones, the bottom two came in at like 4 months). and we just got done with our 9 month WBV:

littlecindy
Me: cindy, 28
DH: doug, 34
Married: 6/3/05
Children: adrian (boy), 8/3/07
N/B Stats: 6lb 1.4oz 19 1/2" long
1 Month Stats: N/A
2 Month Stats: 12lb 5oz (55%), 22 3/4" (50%)
3 Months Stats: N/A
4 Month Stats: 14lb 6oz (50%), 25 3/4" (80%)
5 Month Stats: N/A
6 Months Stats: 17lb 9 1/2oz (52%), 26 3/4" (70%)
9 Months Stats: 19lb 9 1/2oz (45%), 28 1/2" (72%)
12 Months Stats:

guess we could've kept him in his snugride the last month. sucks because he *hates* the roundabout. screamed for a good half hour in the car this weekend in it.

[Ellyn]

It's a sad day at our house today :p Our Leapfrog learning table is BROKEN!!! Crap! DD (and DS) love that thing! I tried replacing the batteries (that's as "fix-it" as I get) but nothing. (And yes, I tried turning it on :D) I dunno what happened to it. We are going garage sale-ing this weekend, so I hope we can find one or something similar. I hate to spend $40 on something she won't use for very much longer. In the meantime, she uses her intellitainer to pull herself up on and "cruise" around.

[jimmysgirl424]

Ellyn Sorry about your Leapfrog table! That really sucks, especially when its a favorite toy! BTW..did your DD really eat a ladybug? :)

littlecindy DD is still in her snugride! (At 31 3/4 inches long and 19.9 lbs). She rides in her Britax Boulevard when she's in DH's van though and actually prefers her Snugride. I think its because she can see out the window in it, whereas with the Britax, the sides block her view.

polarama Wow, fish?? I am impressed! What kind of fish was it?

twainny How long are you in Egypt for? That would really bum me out if I couldn't get fresh food for DD.

Do you worry about the eggs/wheat, etc. in food you give your LO? Like in breads, etc? I haven't given DD any of that stuff yet. But I'm not too worried about offering her stuff like that, no.


I'm feeling kind of bad at the moment. I have a thread going over in infants and babies about DD's breast tissue development that I mentioned here. Anyway, there is a poster in the thread that really seems to be attacking me unfairly and I'm not sure why. :confused::( I should have just posted more about that here in this thread, I guess.

DD is now full-out crawling! I put her on her mat in our living room yesterday and walked out to the kitchen to rinse her bottle. I looked down a minute later and she was sitting at my feet looking up at me with a big grin! Too cute! Man, she can move fast!!

[karlatta]

Kym - My DD has eaten tilapia on a couple of occasions. She seems to love it.

[Katie&Micah]

Maddy really likes fish too! She's had salmon and whiting so far. Of course there isn't much that she doesn't like.

I slipped on the bathroom floor this afternoon and dropped Maddy. She has a big bruise on her forehead. DH did not help things by implying that I dropped her while trying to save myself. Butthead.

[Katie&Micah]

Ellyn..

Sorry about the table! I'd give you ours if you were close. Maddy hates that thing. I'm pretty sure she thinks its the devil.

[Ellyn]

Sorry about the table! I'd give you ours if you were close. Maddy hates that thing. I'm pretty sure she thinks its the devil.
Ha! Thanks! :)

did your DD really eat a ladybug?
Ummm, yes. And she regularly tries to. One day I looked over and she was chewing something, so I ran over and tried to pry her mouth open and saw the bug in there...I couldn't get it out in time. We live in WI (don't know what other ladybug populations are like elsewhere, but they're terrible here!) and have in influx of ladybugs in early spring and late fall.

I slipped on the bathroom floor this afternoon and dropped Maddy. She has a big bruise on her forehead.
Oh no! :( I hope you are both ok! My DH would come up with something lame like that too. ;)

[Asha]

just a quick report from our vacation. dd learned to crawl here in santa fe. so fun!!! its a good thing that our hotel room has a decent amount of carpeted floor space. but now that she can crawl she has become even more crabby when in the car seat for prolonged periods. she just wants to be moving!!!

[jimmysgirl424]

Sorry about the table! I'd give you ours if you were close. Maddy hates that thing. I'm pretty sure she thinks its the devil.

Okay, I had to laugh when I read this. Something similar with Kristianna: My sister bought her that baby bathtub that is a big yellow duck a few weeks ago. I had seen it another thread and really thought it was cute, so my sis picked it up for her. So last week DH inflated it and it was sitting on our living room floor. I picked up DD and sat her inside it and..instant meltdown. She had a scared look on her face and just started full-out crying! We couldn't figure it out. I've tried on several occasions since then to at least set her down next to it. Nothing doing, she takes one look at the thing and starts screaming.

So much for ducks. :p

[Katie&Micah]

lol Kym. You'd be scared too if I tried to stick you inside a giant duck!

I'm not sure if I mentioned it in here or not, but we sidecarred Maddy's crib to the bed last week and I've had awesome sleep ever since. I wish I had done this when we brought her home from the hospital. We both have our own space now and I don't have to worry about her rolling off the bed!

[Ellyn]

Winona had her 9mo WBV today. It went very well.

Height: 29" (90th)
Weight: 20lb 2oz (75th)
Head Circ.: FINALLY in the 75th percentile (when she was born it was 3% and stayed very low up until now.)

Kym -
THat's hilarious about the duck! Winona does the same thing with big balls. (okay, THAT didn't come out right but you know what I mean! :p)

[bensgirl1222]

Benjamin had his 9 month WBV today...here are his stats. BTW...do we have a TM anymore? If not, I can take it over.

Weight: 19 pounds (25th)
Height: 29 1/4" long (85th)
Head: 44cm (15th- has always been small! LOL)

[Lisa]

. BTW...do we have a TM anymore? If not, I can take it over.


I'm one of them but its too busy over here chasing 3 of them to keep up with everyone here :p...I will give you the password if you like to at least take over for me :)

[lovelifeandlivelove]

Katie - hope you and M are okay, my Dh would say the same.
Fish None yet I don't think, I am surprised though she eats everything.

Congrats Asha she just wants to be moving!!! Same with my DD, it is really bad to change diapers and get into the car seat sometimes.
News DD took her first few steps this week, she gets a little scared though and will squat after three or four steps.

QOTD: What are some items your DC is afraid of? DD is afraid of loud noises such as people cheering at a sporting event or once while everyone was singing happy birthday, people she is unsure of touching her or even looking at her (she is pretty shy at times)

[jimmysgirl424]

QOTD: What are some items your DC is afraid of? [/QUOTE]

As I mentioned, DD is apparently scared of big yellow plastic ducks. :D Other than that, she has just recently gotten to the stage of being scared of strangers. This includes any family members that she doesn't see on a regular basis. She's okay till they try to hold her, then its instant crying till she gets handed back to mommy or daddy.

[EmilyZA]

Hi everyone,

I was here a while ago and got behind/lost track. My son just turned 9 months today! I was also in the August 2007 pregnancy thread. :)

Hope I can join in on the conversation!

[Ellyn]

Hi Emily!

I thought I'd post our dumb parenting move of the week:

So, we were at Wal Mart and DH always carries Winona in the Bjorn and Broderick rides in the cart. We got out to the car after shopping, and it was raining (again) so DH got Winona out of the Bjorn, set her in her carseat and went to put the stuff in the back end of our car and I took Broderick to the other side, buckled him in, and then went around the other side to buckle W in. Ummm, yeah, except all that I could see of her was her legs sticking up in the air! :eek: (And DS was laughing hysterically :rolleyes:) Winona had leaned over and crawled out of her carseat and had gotten trapped upsidedown between the door and the seat. I had no choice but to slowly open the door, and by then she had rolled (somersaulted) onto the floor of our SUV. No crying from her - just a screech, as if to say "you morons! Next time at least clip the buckle before you leave me alone!" So let that be a lesson to all of you - buckle your kids in the car right away! :D

Happy Mother's Day ladies! :)

[polarama]

Happy Mother's Day everyone!

Kym--My DD is scared of the duck tub too! A friend has one, and she doesn't use it as a tub, but as a big toy...I stuck DD in and she FREAKED. Oops! :D

Fish--DD has eaten cod, halibut, and tilapia. I am pretty surprised by how much she likes it!

[littlecindy]

ok so adrian has just cut FOUR top teeth. thought it was just the two. and he took a couple steps today (for my mother's day present? hehe)

[Katie&Micah]

I hope everyone had a great Mother's Day!!

[bensgirl1222]

Lisa Can you PM me the password? Oh and tell me if there is anything I need to do? Thanks!

[jimmysgirl424]

Kym--My DD is scared of the duck tub too! A friend has one, and she doesn't use it as a tub, but as a big toy...I stuck DD in and she FREAKED. Oops! :D

LOL...I tried it again over the weekend. This time I held her and just knelt down next to the duck. She reached over and grabbed the top part of it and then started screaming. :o

[littlecindy]

adrian took a couple steps for us last night, but decided to walk across the room at daycare today. i am so proud and so sad at the same time. i can't believe i missed it.

[cherry]

ack, cindy. i can imagine the bittersweet feeling. my husband's a SAHD and i feel like he gets to see all the little milestones (no big ones for us, just yet) and tells me about them... it's great a parent is there, but i wish it were me. if you ask me, your daycare should probably not tell parents when they see/ hear big "firsts" like that.

congrats to adrian and to you, though!

[Ellyn]

adrian took a couple steps for us last night, but decided to walk across the room at daycare today. i am so proud and so sad at the same time. i can't believe i missed it.

I know the feeling. Except, my MIL gets to see it all... :rolleyes: That's all I have to say about that. :D

And I always thought this too:
if you ask me, your daycare should probably not tell parents when they see/ hear big "firsts" like that.
But now with my second, I just really am excited to hear about the new things she does...with DS (our first), I was very jealous and sad when I found out I missed out on some things, but hey, what can you do? I was lucky enough with B to see him walk for the first time (and crawl). Winona probably won't take her first steps until I am on summer vacation, so I'm hoping I won't miss it!

[dizylizy]

we are having a tough week. DH thinks Thaniel has the same allerigies I have (never diagnosed just lots of sneezing and runny nose/eyes for me in the spring-tree pollen, I think) but now after being attached to me all last night we see that he is cutting his top inscors (two on either side of his top two teeth) man he must be in pain! we were so hoping he would sleep through the night. the lack of sleep I am used to but him attached at teh boob has happened for a bit... I know it will end and I am trying to tell my friend a brand new mom that all will be well.... =)

9 mnth WBV this Friday... oh joy, shots!

[Katie&Micah]

9 mnth WBV this Friday... oh joy, shots!

Maddy didn't get any 9 month shots.. did everyone else get them?

I hope Thaniel feels better soon! Those teeth are rough!

[jimmysgirl424]

Maddy didn't get any 9 month shots.. did everyone else get them?

Kristianna only got one shot at her 9 month appt. I think it was a hepatitis shot?

[Asha]

congrats to adrian on walking!!!

dizylizy - he may be stuffy bc of teething.

my dd won't get any shots at 9 wbv, but we didn't delay any vaccines either.

Anyone else having a hard time getting their dc to settle down to nap/sleep now that they are mobile. I have to cuddle dd to get her to sleep otherwise she keeps sitting up and/or crawling around everwhere.

[littlecindy]

Maddy didn't get any 9 month shots.. did everyone else get them?

we're on a schedule to spread the shots out. so we got the DTaP and Prevnar at DS's 9 month WBV.

[karlatta]

We delayed a few, but DD still didn't get any shots at her 9 month. I randomly take her in for vaccinations, so they don't happen at 3 mo, 6 mo, 12 mo, etc.

[Lisa]

Maddy didn't get any 9 month shots.. did everyone else get them?



A didnt get any either.
Hope you all had a great mother's day!

[Katie&Micah]

Anyone else having a hard time getting their dc to settle down to nap/sleep now that they are mobile. I have to cuddle dd to get her to sleep otherwise she keeps sitting up and/or crawling around everwhere.

OMG.. I DREAD bedtime. It's usually an hour of me trying to nurse her down in bed while she pops on and off, crawls all over me, rolls around the bed, sits up, stands up, falls down because she so dang tired. I'm already tired of being treated like a jungle gym.. I'm sure it's only going to get worse.

[lovelifeandlivelove]

Shots - DD didn't get any at 9mo WBV and she is on schedule, she did get a blood test (oh, that was fun!)
Sleeping - DD will sit up and walk around so we continue to rock her to sleep.
Firsts - We have witnessed every one so far. MIL watches her during the day and I am very jealous so maybe she did have the first there and she decided to not tell me ;)
Walking - DD has been taking a few steps here and there but nothing major. She also is cutting 3 more teeth. She seems to always get her teeth around the big milestones and surprisingly has been ok with sleeping this time around.

[Asha]

OMG.. I DREAD bedtime. It's usually an hour of me trying to nurse her down in bed while she pops on and off, crawls all over me, rolls around the bed, sits up, stands up, falls down because she so dang tired. I'm already tired of being treated like a jungle gym.. I'm sure it's only going to get worse.
Yup, it can take me that long too. I usually only have a patience of 30mins to an hour of trying to put her to sleep. If she hasn't fallen to sleep after that, we just get up and play.

[karlatta]

Shots - DD didn't get any at 9mo WBV and she is on schedule, she did get a blood test (oh, that was fun!)
Oh, yes, I forgot about the blood test (hemoglobin and lead). Thankfully, they sent us to the lab in the hospital, so it was in the arm rather than the dreaded finger prick and squeeze. It did take them some time to find her vein (yow!), but it was so much better than when they did DS's tests on the finger.

[Katie&Micah]

Hmm.. Maddy didn't have a blood test at her 9 month visit. Did anyone else not have one?

[granada]

Hmm.. Maddy didn't have a blood test at her 9 month visit. Did anyone else not have one?

We did. It was just a toe prick for us. And the nurse was so great. She entertained DS the whole time, so he didn't even know he was being pricked.

No shots for us either.

[karlatta]

Hmm.. Maddy didn't have a blood test at her 9 month visit. Did anyone else not have one?
My ped does a lead test at 9 months. Most do it at 12 (I think), but my ped says she does it earlier because of all of the lead found in toys recently.

I really don't mind - DS has a genetic blood disorder, so he has to have his blood taken all the time and I'm used to it. And actually, his diagnosis was made after seeing some funny numbers with his 9 month bloodwork, so I REALLY don't mind that it was done. We know Elaine (the hospital blood drawer lady - I can't remember her real job title) really well.

[jimmysgirl424]

Hmm.. Maddy didn't have a blood test at her 9 month visit. Did anyone else not have one?

Kristianna didn't get one either. And my ped didn't say anything about it either. :confused:

Anyone else having a hard time getting their dc to settle down to nap/sleep now that they are mobile.

I don't want to jinx us, but nope, no issues here at this point. Naptime she tends to move around a bit more, but she puts herself to sleep with very little help from us. Bedtime she still goes in her peapod and tends to go right down.

[littlecindy]

blood test - our ped said we'd do it at 12 months. iron & lead.

[lovelifeandlivelove]

Karlatta - The worst part of the blood test was keeping DD from removing the elastic strap. She was ok though and actually gave the tech a smile before leaving (Maybe a "I'm sorry for screaming your ear off" smile) My job has made it a lot easier to deal with things like shots, bloodwork and emergencies in general and I think I am pretty calm when it comes time to deal with things.

[karlatta]

Dee - DD's worst part is that she inherited my rolling veins, so the tech had to dig around for quite some time. Long enough that when the tech took the the elastic off she was a little concerned about bloodflow, because it had been on longer than she would have liked. That and DS was upset because he'd just had his blood taken and was worried about them doing the same thing to his little sister.

[Asha]

Poor dd fell and got hurt for the first time yesterday. I was cooking dinner and keeping an eye on her, but she slipped while crawling and hit her face on the ground. She was wailing loudly, and immediately picked her up with my potato covered hands. Then I realized she cut her mouth. I had her suck on a clean, wet bib for awhile. She recovered fairly quickly. Of course, dh wasn't so helpful and said I should make sure she doesn't fall. Yeah right.

[karlatta]

Asha - That's why I don't tell DH about DD's falls. :D

[Ellyn]

W knocks her head on the floor all the time...she slips on our wood floor and wails for a few minutes. DS did it all the time too. :rolleyes:

Winona is really starting to talk - I'm surprised because DS didn't hardly say "boo" until he was much older. She says bye bye, mom/mama, dada, nana, bapa (grandpa), baba (for Broderick), hi, ball, etc. She is waving and clapping every chance she gets too...I think DS was more interested in fine tuning his eating at this age. :D

[Asha]

I am a little disappointed dd isn't really talking at all. She says eeehhhh, ahhhhh, and throws some consanant-vowel combos, but doesn't use words purposefully. For those of you with talking babies, how do you engage your baby in talk. I just talk to her, repeating some things I say, and telling her everything I give her. I try to mimic her sounds and will say other words that are close to her sounds too. My mil thinks that I should be repeating the same words over and over again. Do you do this??? It just is contrary to what I learned about child development.

[Ellyn]

I think you're doing the right things...that is what we do. When we give her a ball we repeat "ball" to her a few times. DS NEVER talked this early...I think kids just focus on different things - some movement, some fine motor, some speech, etc. I wouldn't worry about it - like I said, DS was not talking at all, and really, hardly talked until after his 2nd birthday. We heard a lot of "uhh, uhh, uhh" when he wanted something or wanted to know what things were...we just kept repeating those things and eventually he started spouting off sentences and he hasn't shut up since :D

[Katie&Micah]

I am a little disappointed dd isn't really talking at all.

Maddy doesn't say anything either. She's been saying dada for a couple months, but doesn't seem to put together the word and the person. I do the same as you. I talk about what we're doing, what we're going to do. I say the name of people and things. I'm not gonna sit around for an hour and repeat the word ball though. While I can't wait for her to talk, she will no longer be a baby in my eyes when she does. So because of that she can hold off a little longer if she wants.

[karlatta]

DD "talks" quite a bit, but she also sits in on DS's speech therapy sessions, so she gets way more speech stimulation than the normal 9 month old. (She doesn't realize the sessions aren't for her!)

We do a lot of word repeating, but conversationally. We don't just say "ball, ball, ball" - I say things like, "Ooh, look at your ball. Let's roll the ball. Your ball is blue. Do you like to play with the ball?" So she's getting reinforcement of the word, but it's contextual.

[littlecindy]

no advice, but adrian isn't talking yet either. not mama or dada even. i think he's in the realm of normal though so i'm consciously not worrying about it.

[lovelifeandlivelove]

Talking - Nothing yet here either. She says ta-ta-da-da-ma-ma and some things like that. I don't really see her doing it with the correct things though. Today she did growl back at DH when he was playing with her.

She does wave, dance, climbs over and under things, walks a few steps, and screams to get people's attention.

This is a dumb question but...
How does everyone wash their DC's hair? I asked my sister and she said to just tilt her head back but DD will not tolerate it and dips her head forward. Currently I sit on the edge of the tub and lay her on my lap and wash it like that but she is getting way too squirmy for this. Any suggestions?

[karlatta]

Hannah took her first unassisted, completely spontaneous steps today! We were chatting with some friends in the living room and looked over and there she was, walking through the entry. :) She's done it a few more times since then - so exciting!

Washing hair - I just pour water on top of DD's head and let it stream all down her face. She doesn't mind, but we've been doing it this way since she was born. Dee - how does your DD react if you just do it while she's leaning forward? If she's okay with it, I'd just do it that way.

[Katie&Micah]

Maddy took her first steps yesterday (May 18th). She took 6 in a row. I was very proud, but at the same time sad, because she walked to someone I *really* dislike. I feel like she'll always be part of that great first memory.

Washing Hair
She just sits there, I wash it, then I put my hand over her eyes and slightly lean her head back while I pour the water over. She doesn't move or anything.

[Asha]

Congrats to Maddy and Hannah on their first steps!!!

Poor little girl is sick. This is the first time she has been really sick. She had one cold before, but nothing like this. I should have been clued in when two days ago she went down for naps and bedtime sleep without a fight. She has a slight fever, but has been really listless. She has her wbv tomorrow, so unless her fever gets much worse, I'll wait until tomorrow to talk to the doctor. I have been bf'ing her a lot more, so I hope that helps.

Washing hair - I used to let it all just fall in her face, but she is becoming more flustered by that. She now lets me lean her all way way back so she is laying in the tub. She got a little scared the first two times I did it, but she's used to it now

Talking - Ok, I should clarify. She does talk a lot, but hasn't connected a word to an object when talking. She uses a lot of different consonants with vowels - pa, va, ma, da, ba, nay, ra, ray, ga, wa. I think that's it. She does understand a lot of different words, though. I have talked to mil a few times about how she speaks to dd. I really don't like that she is speaking to her mainly in English. Mil's english isn't good at all and has very bad pronunciation. I want dd to bilingual, so it would help if mil spoke to her mainly in her native tongue. I also take it as a slam when she does the "English" lessons with repeating words to dd bc it seems like mil thinks I am not doing a good job at teaching dd to speak. Why doesn't she do the lesson in her own language?? I haven't said anything to her about repeating words bc I have to pick my battles, but I have told her she needs to speak to her in her native language. She continues to ignore that request. Thankfully, fil speaks to her in the native language, and he actually watches her more than mil. Except for not knowing how to change a diaper, I actually think my fil is better with dd.

[dizylizy]

9 month update on Thaniel...
20 lbs 3 oz - high 50%
30" long - 90% tile
I have a long lean baby. I think the hurse did the head circ but I don't remember. but he is great. no shots. told the doc to write down that we are skipping the chicken pox shot at 12 months. just feel they get so much and I would rather wait since he willget a booster at 5 to start Kindergarten... but I have a healthy happy baby.

talking- just bables and cries. no real words. he has said da, ba and ga that I can recognize. we talk alot to him, his brother.

walking- not even crawling yet. can spin himself on the floor but no forward intentional motion. was hopping on his butt to get forward last week (rocks and falls forward to reach a toy) Harry walked late - 16 months so I am not worried. he tries to pull himself up and will stand on our laps or the floor. he will walk when he is ready and I am not ready!!! ;)

Funny stuff- loves to "chat" and giggle to himself in his mirror over the back seat head rest... he makes a noise and the baby in the mirror makes a noise! then he laughs. and he is starting to get belly laughs! so much fun!

Bath- we sit him in the tub and just dump water over him. I do a few fast ones, let him catch his breath and a few more cups over... i have a wash cloth handy to wipe his face dry... DS#1 hated getting his hair wet, still does... was covering it at teh tropical part of teh zoo when the misters would go off...

[twainny]

washing hair - I get the washcloth wet and the squeeze it out above his head, then wipe his face. I think put his soap in my hands and suds up his "hair" (he is pretty much bald). I think use my hands to wash the rest of his body, going back to his head to re-suds up. Then to rinse, I take the washcloth and squeeze it over his head a few times. If there is a cup in the tub, I might use that instead. I really didn't want my kids to NOT like their faces getting wet, so I figured this was a good alternative. I really prefer DS1 to shower with me, sooo much easier.

There is a bucket you can get at Wal-mart that has a rubber side to it, you place it against their forehead and it keeps the water from getting in their eyes. I have it, but never use it for its intended purpose, cause my kid would never tilt his head back.

[granada]

Funny stuff- loves to "chat" and giggle to himself in his mirror over the back seat head rest... he makes a noise and the baby in the mirror makes a noise! then he laughs. and he is starting to get belly laughs! so much fun!

DS does this, too! When we're in the car, I'll hear him cooing and giggling, and I'll look back and he's talking to himself in the mirror. It's hilarious!

[lovelifeandlivelove]

Thanks everyone for the ideas on washing her hair. I might try to lay her down in the tub next time. Today I just poured the water over her and she started getting flustered before I was finished getting the soap out (damn Mom, you keep getting water in my eyes) She rubbed her eyes and nose for about 45 minutes afterwards.
Asha hope DD is feeling better.
Katie & Karlatta- congrats to your girls!

[bensgirl1222]

Washing hair I just lay him all the way back while supporting his head in my hands and use my other hand to get his hair wet/wash the shampoo out. That way it doesnt get in his face.

Talking He calls me Mama and we think he calls Ben dada now. I think he repeated "good" earlier when we said, "Is that good?" And I am pretty sure he says dog.

[Lisa]

hair- he gets a bath with his brothers and we just pour water over his head.

Swim lessons? is anyone else doing them? Aiden started today. I wqas a little freaked out but am happy we are doing them.

We are busy finishing up school and getting ready for summer break. Dh and I are going on an early anniversary weekend get away next weekend...so excited:D

DS#2's adoption is almost done should be final in june :D:D

Okay I have dinner to make have a great night.

[karlatta]

swim lessons - I wanted to do them, but our Y isn't doing them this year. (And I need to do them there so that while I'm doing lessons with one kid, the other can go in the daycare.)

[littlecindy]

swimming lessons - we started adrian right away at 5 months. that's when community ed here starts lessons. the first night was awful, he was FREAKED out, but at 5 months, that makes sense. and each time, it just got better and better. now at 9 months, we can even dunk his head under.

[Ellyn]

I'd like to get DD (and really DS, too) in the water a lot this summer. I taught swimming lessons for several years, and our youngest age was 4 (although I did teach some infant/parent a few times). The kids that didn't swim much were usually afraid and it took them a long time to get over their fears. I don't want DD and DS like that! DS is a fish and loves to swim, so hopefully we can get to the pool a lot since there are no infant/parent classes. DS will be able to take classes alone next summer when he's 3.

[littlecindy]

i probably wouldn't have paid for lessons, but my DH *loves* to swim, so he was excited about doing it with him and i was all for that ;)

but, really, we don't *do* or *learn* much in class. sing songs, do little games. though, we also figure that for the $5 a session that community ed is, that would be the cost of admission to open swim, too. and he can't take much more than a half hour right now.

plus, this didn't matter early on, but from about 7 months on, all the other kids in the pool & the "group" thing makes it more fun for him. he loves nothing more than watching other kids do ANYTHING.

[jimmysgirl424]

Okay, so who has started actively planning and/or purchasing stuff for your DC's first birthday? It just kinda hit DH and I the other day that we have less than two months to put something together. We are just having a party at our house and even though we want to limit it to family, we are still looking at 20-25 people. That seems like alot to me, but what can you do? Anyway, I don't want to go overboard, but I did decide that I would do a bit of a theme. I ended up going with cupcakes. :D

I found these invitations that I am ordering today; courtesy of Esty.com. We are going to change the wording to read "our little cupcake is turning one", rather than princess.

http://mirror2.etsy.com/il_430xN.17635450.jpg


DH is a bit skeptical about this, but I am going with cupcakes instead of a birthday cake. To me, its logical given the whole cupcake theme, KWIM? So I have hired one of my co-workers who has a catering business to make the cupcakes for me. Because I suck at anything to do with decorating and I want them to look pretty.

The cupcakes are going to be displayed on this:

http://i7.ebayimg.com/02/i/03/88/ce/5c_2.JPG


They will be done with fancy swirled icing in three different shades of pink, from a bright pink to a paler shade, plus a few done in a light purple. The top tier will be done with white icing because they will be decorated with these edible cake toppers that I found:

http://www.ssb2.net/users/71059/girl-first-bday-2.jpg


And I've pretty much decided on this design for the plates and napkins:

http://images.birthdayexpress.com/bexpress/assets/thumbnails/E2287PL.jpg

I also found a seller on Etsy that makes these personailzed birthday hats, which I MUST have for DD! :

http://mirror2.etsy.com/il_430xN.27027654.jpg




Okay, let me see what everyone else is doing!

[pride&prejudice]

jimmysgirl~ Cute ideas. Tell you DH not to worry about the cupcakes. My goddaughter's 1st birthday party had cupcakes and they were a hit, especially with the LOs.

Ummmm..... we have no set plans, and no theme. I think about the only thing I'll be doing is getting invites. Not sure on them yet, we'll probably order them this weekend or next when we are up at ILs. We'll be ordering them from this small stationary store that did my wedding invites, my dad's surprise birthday, and a bunch of other fmaily events.

We'll be 2 months into the new house. So we are planning on just having a cookout with family and friends. Hopefully we'll have the kitchen remodeled at that point and the patio done. For a cake we are having a checkerboard cake. Its tradition, I got one every year for my birthday from my grandmother until she passed away. So my mom wanted to start it with DD.

[karlatta]

Kym - We always do cupcakes for kids' birthdays. It's a ton easier - none of this I want a corner piece, I want a really tiny piece, I want a piece with no icing, etc. Just give 'em a cupcake and go.

[Katie&Micah]

Birthday Party..

We're doing a polkadot theme in bright colors (purple, blue, hot pink, orange and lime)

I'm making each guest a jumbo cupcake (http://www.amazon.com/Wilton-Aluminum-6-Cup-Jumbo-Muffin/dp/B0000VMFJI)

I haven't decided yet if I will frost each cupcake in a different color (make the cupcake look like an actual polkadot) or if I will frost dots on them. I'm going to do a trial run soon.

We're going to do the party at the children's park which is 2 blocks from my house and then we'll come back to our house so the kids can play in the sprinklers/pool.

I don't have pics of the invitations or paper products, but they are polkadotted in those bright colors I mentioned earlier.

I ordered the birthday hat and banner from here. (http://www.gaddieandtood.com/)

I'm still undecided about what type of food to serve. We have 1 vegetarian and 3 vegans attending the party, so it makes it's kind of hard to find something that will work for everyone. If anyone has any suggestions I would sooo love some help with the food.

What are you all buying for 1st b-day presents? I bought Maddy a doll and a wooden train (not an elaborate one, it's for toddlers). I'm pretty sure that's all I'm getting her.

[Katie&Micah]

I forgot to mention that I found this great site (http://freekidsmusic.com/) where you can download kids music for free. Maddy is really into music right now, so we pretty much have it going all the time. I'm really loving Noelle Shearer under Traditional music.

[jimmysgirl424]

Katie&Micah I know its almost cliche, but if you are doing cookout food, you could do Morningstar Farms veggie burgers, dogs, chicken patties, etc. I really like their products! You could do a hummus with pita bread triangles. Sabra hummus is out of this world good and they make a variety of flavors, you could do a little hummus bar! :p And I make a killer spinach salad that our family loves. I just layer bagged baby spinach, Athenos feta cheese, bacon bits and Kens Three Cheese Italian dressing in a big glass bowl. Obviously you'd need to nix the bacon...sunflower seeds would be a great substitute! You could do a tomato and mozzarella salad, a cucumber and onion salad, a big fruit bowl garnished with shaved coconut and mint leaves. And Texas Caviar! Have you ever tried that? Do any of those ideas help?

[andrew&shannah]

I've started doing a little with H's party. She is a huge fan of lions so we are going to do a safari/jungle theme. I got the little dress with giraffes on it from Gymboree but that is all I've actually purchased thus far.

[Lisa]

party-
well originally we were doing a huge monkey themed party on A's birthday but after talking I think we are now doing a pool party at my parents house on the 4th of july. Dh loves fireworks and thought lets BBQ and let the family chill by the pool. We have a huge family so I think this will help me keep it laid back and not go overboard;)

I like this...
plates-
http://http://image.orientaltrading.com/otcimg/70_54461.jpg?resize(250x250)

cake-
I have a great monkey smash cake, monkey cupcakes and I'm making banana pudding.


invites-http://http://buzzville.typepad.com/buzzville/images/invite_front_pic.jpg
I dont know why it wont show up but its a monkey head invite:)

food-
burgers, chicken and hot dog

all this is probably change but as of now this is it

Cool party Kym!! love it!

[LDS Angel 19]

We are doing a Luau theme, you can see some of our ideas in the 1st Birthday Parties thread. Our party is less than a month away!

As for gifts, I wanted something meaningful, so we are going to do a Add-a-Pearl necklace for each of them and they'll get another pearl every year. (I think it's extra cool since pearl is the birthstone for June.)

[karlatta]

Gee, Lisa, now all I want is some banana pudding!

[Lisa]

Gee, Lisa, now all I want is some banana pudding!

LOL thats the idea:p

[Asha]

party - Well, we will be back in my hometown for my bro's wedding at the time. I have to talk to my mom about doing a party at her house. She is going to be feeling a bit frazzled about the wedding, so I don't know if she will want to deal with a party too. I don't want to go to the expense of having it at a restaurant, so I hope she'll be okay wiht that. I would have it in my church fellowship hall, but it will be August, and there is no a/c down there. I wasn't going to do a party, but now that we will be back home, I figure its a nice excuse to get friends and family together. It will just be my side of the family bc we can't invite just a few of dh's relatives without offending about 50 other people. I do only want to invite immediate family and my best friends. I think I will make it a book presents only party bc I don't want to take huge toys on the plane, and books will be easy enough to pack or ship back via usps. I think I will just make some mini sandwhiches (egg salad, pbj, and cheese) a green salad, fruit salad, and some other side, and of course cake and ice cream. I think I will make an ice cream cake bc my mom made ice cream cake for me as a kid growing up for my birthday, so it will be a nice tradition to carry on. I am toying with a few different ideas for presents - a riding toy, a doll or bear, or a little people set.
****

Dd is starting to get bored with her toys. I don't know if she is just bored or maybe just interested in crawling around and opening up all the cabinets and dumping everything on the floor. We did get her a ball about a month ago, and she loves that. She isn't so interested in the bubbles I got her. For awhile, I would hide her toys in a bag, and she liked finding them there, but now she's bored with that game too. She is also losing interest in her activity table. Can anyone reccomend some relatively inexpensive toys? Should I go ahead and get her a push/riding toy now? Thank god for the community pool bc by the end of the day she is really bored and whiny, and it is nice to play and cool off in the pool at the end of the day.

[Lisa]

I think I will make an ice cream cake bc my mom made ice cream cake for me as a kid growing up for my birthday, so it will be a nice tradition to carry on.

.

very fun! do you have a good recipe you could share?:D

[ceaserbride]

Dd is starting to get bored with her toys. I don't know if she is just bored or maybe just interested in crawling around and opening up all the cabinets and dumping everything on the floor. We did get her a ball about a month ago, and she loves that. She isn't so interested in the bubbles I got her. For awhile, I would hide her toys in a bag, and she liked finding them there, but now she's bored with that game too. She is also losing interest in her activity table. Can anyone reccomend some relatively inexpensive toys? Should I go ahead and get her a push/riding toy now? Thank god for the community pool bc by the end of the day she is really bored and whiny, and it is nice to play and cool off in the pool at the end of the day.

In the same boat here! Would love others ideas!

[karlatta]

Toys - DD has recently learned how to push a car along the floor, so she does that often. We have quite a few larger cars and tractors that she can really get a good grip on. She's also really into blocks. She likes to push them around and stuff - I think she likes the noise they make when they hit each other. She's just now starting to enjoy watching balls roll around, so we do that. Most of her "play" time is spent with her either trying to figure out the whole walking thing or trying to steal as many toys as possible out of her big brother's hands.

[Asha]

very fun! do you have a good recipe you could share?:D
Ok, its really easy, and not really a "recipe". Use any box cake mix that you like. Not the fudgy kinds, though. Just a plain chocolate, strawberry, or vanilla. If you want the fancy version, cook the cake in a round cake pan. Once baked, cooled. Cut cake in half, horizontally with dental floss. Then use a boxed ice cream and slice pieces of ice cream and put on top of one half of the cake. Place the other half on top of the ice cream. Cover in cool whip. I haven't used any other frosting for ice cream cake. Put in freezer to store and set. The easier version is just cook the cake in a rectangular baking dish. Once cooled, slice up ice cream and place on top of cake. Top with cool whip. Store in freezer. Tastes a million times better than ice cream cakes bought at Baskin Robins or Carvel.

[karlatta]

Asha - that sounds good! I may have to make one for Memorial Day!

[Lisa]

Asha - that sounds good! I may have to make one for Memorial Day!

me too! thanks!!!

[lovelifeandlivelove]

Favorite toys - DD loves her stacking cups still. She loves her ball still and anything that she is not supposed to put in her mouth. Currently we are visiting my family and she loves following around her big cousin.
Birthday party - we are going to be in Ny for a family wedding too. So we are having a party with my immediate family and a few friends at my Gramma's pool. We are having a jungle theme in softer patel colors. I found plates, cupes and anpkins at the dollar store this past weekend while here visiting. We are going to have bbq chicken and a few salads. I think for the cake I am going to have a pink elephant. The invites I want to make are lions with the words "we aren't lioning Lilli's turning one, rrr,rrr" or something like that. DD's outfit is a birthday onsie with tan "safari" pants (the ones with lots of pockets). we may try to get her a mask or hat or maybe paint all the kids faces with lion and zebra paint. Decorations include a year photo banner with jeeps, green streamers everywhere and the hippo and alligator float. Also i am making ice cream on sticks ahead of time to avoid needing to scoop then.
Birthday Gifts - We bought DD a tent and a few little gifts earlier this year. My family has been asking what we want for her and I have no clue. They always go over the extreme and I need to think what DD needs to have now so I can give them suggestions. Any ideas on big toys that our LO's will be interested in for the year 1-2?
I like the cupcake idea, it would save lots of time. I hate cutting and serving cakes. And the spinach salad sounds very good. I might make that someday soon.

[polarama]

Toys--I still rotate her toys every once in a while, and her new favorite thing is to play with Tupperware. I giver her a bunch of bowls and lids and she likes putting them in, taking them out, banging the lids together, etc. The big purchase this weekend is a tunnel (Target has them on sale in the outdoor toys section). She loves the tunnel at Gymboree, so I figured this would be fun in the living room.

Birthday Party--I haven't done a thing!! aaackk! Ours will be very small--mostly likely just us and the grandparents. DH and I went back and forth about whether or not to have a party and the challenge was that it was hard to keep the list manageable. without having to deal with hurt feelings, etc. So it was either family only, or humongous party. I opted for family only.

DD had roseola this past week. So not fun. Plus, I had a big project at work so I literally saw her for a total of 30 minutes between Sunday and Thursday.

[Asha]

I still rotate her toys every once in a while, and her new favorite thing is to play with Tupperware. I giver her a bunch of bowls and lids and she likes putting them in, taking them out, banging the lids together, etc. The big purchase this weekend is a tunnel (Target has them on sale in the outdoor toys section). She loves the tunnel at Gymboree, so I figured this would be fun in the living room.
Dd loves going through the tupperware cabinet!! We have a makeshift tunnel which is just a huge box to crawl through. Problem is that she just ends up chewing on it, so that game doesn't last long either. Those tunnels could last for awhile bc I remember playing with one as a kid, and we have room for one too. Dd likes to play drums with a spoons and bowls.

polorama - I hope your dd is feeling better. What is roseola?

***
For the first time yesterday, dd had the chance to interact with another baby. We were walking around in our neighborhood and this mom who I had met while walking was outside playing with her baby. I stopped by, and sat dd with the other baby who is 10 months old. Dd just stared at her the whole time. A few times she tentatively tried to touch the other baby. It was really cute. I hope dd can meet some more babies in the neighborhood, so she can have friends. I am not the most outgoing person so its hard for me to get over my shyness to make friends with people in the neighborhood.

[polarama]

polorama - I hope your dd is feeling better. What is roseola?


Asha, thank you. She is back to her usual hysterical self today. Previously she had been cranky, not quite "sick" like she was when she had a cold, but not 100% herself.

Roseola itself actually not that big of a deal--it's a viral infection, actually caused by one of the Herpes Simplex viruses. (Just to give you a sense of how twisted our sense of humor is, DH and I called DD "herpes baby" all week. Heh.) The actual illness itself is pretty mild. It starts with a fever that has no other symptoms, and when the fever breaks is when the rash appears. It's looks like of like heat rash, and it's on the trunk, neck, upper arms, and face/head. I'm not sure if the rash was itchy--DD didn't really scratch, but sometimes she seemed uncomfortable. So my guess is that it's not super itchy like chicken pox, but is mildly annoying. On DD, her rash only lasted about 3 days. Her ped said it could last as long as 7 days. But by the time the rash appears, it's no longer contagious. It's contagious during the fever stage or even before that.

The fever part is what can be worrisome--DD's was consistently around 101 for about 3-4 days. When we first called her pediatrician, their concern was that the fever not go above 102, if it did, then it was cause for concern. Otherwise, they said it was very common, especially in kids 6 mo to 2 years, and once you get it, you usually don't get it again.

[Katie&Micah]

Kym
Thanks for the suggestions. I'm not sure if the morningstar stuff is vegan or just vegetarian. I need to ask. I think I'm actually just going to ask the vegan family what they want to eat. The vegetarian will go along with pretty much anything I think.

[jimmysgirl424]

Katie&Micah:

I found some vegan recipes that might help. :)



http://www.bayareaveg.org/recipes.htm
http://vegetarian.about.com/b/2006/10/03/favorite-vegetarian-and-vegan-party-dips.htm
http://www.vegfamily.com/vegan-recipes/beverages/peach-party-punch.htm
http://www.notmilk.com/veganrecipes.html
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=L704rAh6SxM
http://www.expertvillage.com/video-series/3257_vegan-recipes.htm

[Katie&Micah]

Thanks Kym! I'm thinking maybe portabella mushrooms cooked on the grill and I saw some grilled tomatoes on t.v. the other day. Or anther one that looked good was the chickpea/sundried tomato/pesto sandwich.

[jimmysgirl424]

Look what I found!! I. Must. Have. It. :D:D

http://imagehost.vendio.com/preview/gr/grannykat/.mids/bc.jpg

Kinda takes my cupcake theme to a new level!! I can just picture DD in it now!!

[Asha]

Cute dress, Kym.

[jimmysgirl424]

Thanks Asha! Where has everyone been lately? :confused:

[lovelifeandlivelove]

Where has everyone been lately?[/ chasing after DD, lol!
Lilli is now fully mobile, she still walks pretty slow but is into everything. Today my mil and dh turned their backs for 1 second and she climbed into our storage ottoman.
Also she took her first flight last weekend for the long weekend, was not that bad considering it was only myself and her (will never travel alone with a baby again hopefully)

[Asha]

yup, I am busy chasing dd except she can't walk just crawling up a storm. She's really into getting into things she should not like the televesion/dvd. I am looking on Craigslist for an enclosed unit bc I can't keep dragging her away from it and dealing with her hyserics.

[jimmysgirl424]

Asha, my mom bought a playzone (http://www.leapsandbounds.com/catalog/product.jsp?productId=6193&cmSource=Search) for her house because she watches DD a few days a week. DD loves it and its a great way to keep her contained. You can buy these on eBay for a cheaper price than what is listed at Leaps & Bounds site.

[littlecindy]

we're chasing after adrian, too. he's walking like a pro now, though he still crawls half the time.

what else is new?

nursing/weaning - he's down to about 6 oz a day at daycare (he's there 9 hours). he still nurses a couple times a night, though. i wish he'd drink more in general as he's still 10 months, but he seems to be gradually weaning himself...and i don't want daycare to have to fight him, so...

question of the day: how much formula/BM are your babes drinking now? any self-weaning starting?

eating solids - he's now eating what we're eating for dinner unless we're eating junkfood. after he loved the general tsao's chicken, i figured why not just go all out? LOL. his latest favorite is grapes. suddenly stopped liking squash. still eats avocado like a mad man.

sleep - he's slowly getting better. besides one horrible night this week where he was WIDE AWAKE FROM 2:30-5AM, he & i sleep better & better (we co sleep). probably wake up 2-3 times still, but very briefly and i barely remember. hopefully it keeps getting better.

teeth - he's cut the top 4 (already had the bottom 2) and we swear he's getting more, but who knows?

separation anxiety - not sure if it's teething or growth spurt or something, but he's been WAY into mommy (and daycare woman). he's my little shadow when we're at home. hates when i leave the room. maybe it just comes with the territory when they start walking? they know you can go away?

talking - he's babbling now, and says "mamamama" and "wawawa" but that's about it. "mama" doesn't seem to mean just me, but it melts my heart anyway ;)

personality - he's getting more willful. i'm seeing the toddler in him starting to come out. arches his back when you're holding him and he's mad. but the sweetness is also coming out. he'll lay his head on our shoulders, look into our eyes more, make us smile, etc.

[granada]

question of the day: how much formula/BM are your babes drinking now? any self-weaning starting?

DS drinks 10oz of BM when he's at daycare. I also slip about 2oz into his oatmeal. On the days I work, I nurse him 3x (early morning, right before we leave for daycare and in the evening). When he's home with me, he nurses about 4-5x/day.

I'm not sure about self-weaning, but he's definitely decreased the nursing quite a bit since his solids intake has increased. Although, he probably doesn't eat as much solids as it seems like some of your babes are doing.

littlecindy ~ According to (I think) kellymom, nursing 3-4x/day at 10 months is normal. So, A sounds like he is in the range of normal. And if he's gaining ok and otherwise doing ok, he's probably ok. Although, I know that as moms it is our prerogative to worry about their eating. :) Are you planning to introduce cow's milk at 1 year?

[Asha]

nursing - I am trying to slowly wean her, but its not working that well. Though, I should give myself some credit. Sometimes she will go 4 hours during the day btwn nursing, but its still usually around 2-3 hours. Thankfully, she seems to have decreased to only 2 nursing sessions at night. I have been trying to feed her more so she won't need to nurse as much, but it doesn't seem to help.

jimmysgirl - That looks great, but I do think she would just hang out at the edge and scream/whine to get out. She likes to crawl everywhere to explore new things, and that wouldn't give her that much space to move around. I've gated off the main living area and upstairs play area, so she is pretty safe. Anyways, I hate our entertainment cabinet, so any excuse for a "new" piece of furniture.

yup, mine also seems to be developing more of a toddler will too. She arches her back and cries when I take her away from something she should not be in. I do try to redirect, but sometimes I just can't distract her if she is intent on getting into something.

[jimmysgirl424]

asha, my mom thought the same thing as far as it not being big enough for DD. But you can buy those things and add multiple sections to it to make it as big as you need. However, if your home is like mine, you probably don't have an unlimited amount of space to work with. We baby-gate our steps leading down to the basement and up to the bedroom and are child-proofing as fast as we can. DD is into absolutely EVERYTHING and seems way more interested in playing with anything other than her toys! :p


question of the day: how much formula/BM are your babes drinking now? any self-weaning starting? Kristianna is still taking five bottles a day of BM mixed with formula. Her first bottle is 6.5 ounces and the rest of them are 5+. So around 26-28 ounces a day. No self-weaning in sight here. She eats solids twice a day, drinks a few ounces of water and also eats about a dozen or so puffs each day.

[karlatta]

question of the day: how much formula/BM are your babes drinking now? any self-weaning starting?
DD takes a LOT. At least 5 8-oz bottles a day (that's 40 ounces). She'd take more if I offered it, too. Amazingly, she's pretty slim, only 50th% for height and weight. She's super active, though, so I guess she just is able to burn off all those extra calories. She also eats solids 3-4 times a day.

[Katie&Micah]

question of the day: how much formula/BM are your babes drinking now? any self-weaning starting?

We're still nursing pretty much every 3-4 hours. At night she nurses once (usually around midnight) and that's it until 7am when she wakes up. As for solids she sort of snacks all day long. A piece of this, a bite of that. She wants a bite of anything that we're eating. Overall she's still not eating a very large amount of solids. We're completely done with purees, so it's harder to figure what she's eating since she's onto table food.

Speaking of solids.. I'm pretty sure Maddy just ate her first piece of cat food while I was typing this..lol

[alliannie]

question of the day: how much formula/BM are your babes drinking now? any self-weaning starting? A ton still. About 4-6 6 oz bottles a day so 24-36 ounces still. We are trying very hard to cut this down though. He eats 3 solid meals a day plus random snacking. He eats a ton of food too! He is on all table food though if we are eating something I don't want him to eat or I am feeling lazy he eats the gerber graduates microwave meals. He likes them:D. He is so active that he burns what he eats-he is only in the 20th%tile for weight! 70th% for height.

We have one tooth FINALLY!! We got it last week. Maybe some more will pop up soon now.

Personality-Man does he have one. LOL! He is super active and super silly. He loves to dance and to laugh. Get him doing either of those and he is happy! He would much rather play with you and your toys than his. His are old news now. He loves balls though and will play ball with us for quite some time.

Sleep-Well he sleeps anywhere from the first 4 to the first 8 hours in his room. Then he goes in with us. Heck he might not need to he might lay back down but it is easier to bring him to bed. One of thses days I am going to try and lay him back down to see how it goes!

Seperation anxiety-Lets just say yes. Most of the time I can't walk 6 feet away without him freaking out thinking I am leaving. Going to the bathroom alone?? SOOOO out of the question!

Birthday-Slowly planning it. Not really rushed. No idea what we will get him. See no rush! lol.

Talking-He will say dada all the time, mama if he is mad or upset and that is about it.

So advice needed!! How do we wean from formula/bm to regular milk? He takes a sippy cup awesome so I think we will be able to get him to transfer good but I don't know when/where to start. He eats enough solids even now that I think we could slowly start in the next 2 weeks or so. I also fear that since he is on soy formula we will have problems. Though he as ate cheese and ice cream with no problems. Advice would be great!!

[polarama]

question of the day: how much formula/BM are your babes drinking now? any self-weaning starting?

Natalie probably drinks 24 oz of formula total. She gets 8 oz at bedtime, 8 oz for her first nap and 8 oz for her second nap--often doesn't finish that one. Occasionally she'll wake up at 3 am hungry, and will drink about 6 oz. She self-weaned when she was about 8 months old. By that point, my pumping sessions at work were really, really pitiful--I was getting maybe 2 oz TOTAL each day. So I was really counting on night nursing to supply her with BM. Well, one night, she refused to latch on--screamed, cried, fought me...as soon as she got the bottle, she was fine. I went to pump right afterwards and got about 1/8 of an oz. I tried a few more times the next few nights, but no dice. She very happily left me for her bottle.

Sleep--slowly getting back on track again. When she was sick last week her routines were all messed up, but I think we are back to normal now. She has a weird schedule (well, at least compared to other babies her age)--she goes to bed at around 9:45/10 (she wakes up for the day at around 9:30). Usually I lay with her in the twin bed in her room, and transfer her to her crib once she's asleep. Some nights it only takes 20 minutes, other nights it can be an hour long process.

Separation anxiety--She had it bad a few weeks ago, but seems to be over it now. What we've done is always tell her when we leave the room. I've found that she gets upset when someone leaves and she doesn't know about it until after the fact.

Birthday--So..uh..we went from having "just family" to now having a big shindig. :P We are going to have more of an open house-style party, so it's not really a "first birthday" party. It's more of a party for DH and I. So many of our friends don't have kids and DD will not know what's going on so I think it would be easier this way. People will be invited to come anytime after 1pm, and stay/leave whenever they want. I'll probably pick a time for cake-cutting, and let everyone know what time we'll be doing that so they can either stick around or come by for that if that's important to them.

I think we are going to have it catered from a BBQ place, and I will make cupcakes and other side dishes.

Since DD's actual b-day is a Wednesday, we will do something family-only that's centered around her on 7/30, the bigger party will be on a weekend sometime around then.


Kym-- Have you seen this Wilton cake pan? It's a giant cupcake!!! :)

http://images.surlatable.com/surlatable/images/en_US/local/products/detail/547901v1.jpg

[granada]

Wow, it's so interesting to see the wide range of BM/formula intake! Ok, I asked this question earlier, but not as a QOTD, so QOTD: Are you all planning to introduce cow's milk at 1 year? If not cow's milk and if not at 1 year, then what is the plan?

I have some lactose intolerance issues myself, so I'm thinking about some alternatives to cow's milk for DS. So, I'm interested to hear what others are doing.

[karlatta]

QOTD: Are you all planning to introduce cow's milk at 1 year?
Yeah. DD has already had some cow's milk (DS likes to trade sippy cups with her) and didn't seem to have any problems. We don't have any lactose intolerance or anything like that, so I'll probably start transitioning at around 11 or 11.5 months, just like I did with DS.

[Ellyn]

milk? I am not sure yet. DS has a dairy allergy, so we are being cautious. He breaks out in hives, so I am guessing we'll do a little skin test before letting her drink it.

sep. anxiety Uh, YEAH! Big time. WInona was in my dad's arms outside this weekend and she was fine until I walked by the door to outside and she freaked out and started fussing for me. When I get home from work she follows me around like a little puppy dog and hangs on my leg while I try to make supper. :rolleyes::oPretty pathetic look, really. Poor kid, you'd think I never held her or gave her any attention! :)

Birthday We've decided to do 2 separate parties (DS turns 3 a month later). DS wants a big jet party (those of you with little einstein watching kids, you know who big jet is ;) but it can't be a little einstein party - only big jet! Don't know how THAT is going to work...and I don't think he'll forget about it either. DS wants DD to have a pink monkey party...so pink monkey party it'll be I guess. She doesn't care, so we'll probably let DS help out. :)

Where do you get a big cupcake pan like that? That's awesome!

talking She's talking up a storm lately...so weird because DS didn't speak hardly at all until he was almost 2 yo. He latest words are fish and bompa (what our kids call grandpa...don't know why that caught on)

weaning NO self weaning here. But the school year is done in another week so NO MORE PUMPING!!! :D Yay! Dumb thing...I am so sick of getting 10 min. to eat lunch and a 15 min. prep at school because I am stuck in my office pumping away. DD drinks 2 bottles of EBM with 4oz each, BFs 3 times a day and once during the night. She also eats 3 meals a day of solids - 1/2 big jar of veggies and fruit at each meal, plus cheerios, puffs, mum mums, etc. Last night she had fish and liked it! I was surprised!

Are you guys weaning DC around a year? I would like to cut out a feeding this summer, but don't know how it'll go. Should I replace it with something? A snack? I don't want to give formula...she's never had any. DS was easier - he quit feedings on his own.

[lovelifeandlivelove]

Switching to milk - not too sure how this will go, but I thought I woud start at 12 mo. DD "eats" about 4-5 bottles formula a day anywhere from 4-7oz each time. They are always before falling asleep, but she isn't falling asleep at the bottle, kwim? Eating solids is beginning to be hit or miss. Lately she will not sit still long enough to eat enough solids, maybe 1-2 bites before she is trying to stand up. Tonight I fed her while she was standing waving her toys. She also has been waking up every.single.night to EAT - and she easily finishes 8oz at that time. I really think we need to get her to eat more during the day but I am at a lost to how to get her to sit long enough. :eek:
Separation anxiety pretty badly.

[amew]

I had forgotten about this thread, so I haven't posted in here in ages!

Cow's milk -- We plan to introduce it at a year. I am still nursing and pumping and plan to quit pumping at work at a year and switch him to cow's milk at daycare. I will continue to nurse him first thing in the morning and before bed for another few months if I still have milk and he still wants it.

Self-weaning -- The boy still loves to nurse, so no self-weaning, but he is definitely drinking less BM now that he is eating more solids. He has three good-sized meals a day of table foods (almost always some veggies, a fruit, a whole grain, and some dairy or meat), plus two snacks. He drinks about 10 oz. of EBM at daycare and nurses 3 times (morning, afterwork, and before bed). So that is probably 20-25 oz. of BM each day?

Separation anxiety -- Yes and no. He is fine being left at day care and willingly goes to other people most of the time, but if I hand him off to someone else, stay in the room, but don't take him back after about 60 seconds, he loses it. And if DH, DS and I go somewhere together, he screams up a storm if DH tries to carry him instead of me.

Sleeping -- DS was up anywhere from 1-4 times a night every night without fail until he was almost 8 months old. Then he just sleep right through the night one night and hasn't stopped. In the past six weeks he has only woken during the night maybe twice. It has helped. A lot.

B-day -- We are having a whale themed party at our house and setting up whale shaped kiddie pools in the backyard for the kids to splash in. We are planning on around 20 adults (just family and close friends) and maybe 5 kids (we don't have many friends or family members with young children).

[andrew&shannah]

how much formula/BM are your babes drinking now? any self-weaning starting?
DD started self weaning at 8 months. Apparently, I have an independent one on my hands :) She takes 6-oz for breakfast, 3-5 oz bottles at daycare, 4-5 oz before bed (so about 25 oz/day)

Cow's milk We'll probably try around one year. She had a mild dairy intolerance when she was younger so we won't try any earlier than one year. Right now, she is doing great with cheese and stuff though so I figure we won't have much of a problem.
We are working on fine tuning the sippy drinking which will need to be finished before I offer milk.

Separation Anxiety Sort of. It depends on what is going on around her.

B-day We're doing a Safari themed party since H loves Lions. I've picked out a bunch of stuff but haven't bought anything yet.

[karlatta]

separation anxiety
It depends on if I leave her or if she leaves me. Right now she's upstairs in the playroom playing happily. But she's the one who decided to go up there by herself. If I'm up there with her and I leave to go use the bathroom or whatever, it's the end of the world. She's FINALLY okay being left with a babysitter, as long as DS is with her.

[Asha]

separation anxiety - oh boy, does she have this! I tried putting her in the nursery at church yesterday bc she was talking really loudly during all the quiet times during the service. She just wouldn't tolerate it. I stayed with her in the nursery, and she had a fun time playing, so maybe she will get used to it after awhile. Though, the people at church kept reassuring me that her noises weren't bothering anyone and I shouldn't feel like I have to put her in the nursery. I was just amazed at all the babies in the nurseries content to be without mommy. They would just sit in the exersaucer, bouncy seat, or their bucket seats contendly. I thought they were itty bitty, but it turns out the babies were 6-7 mos old too. I had to cancel my gym membership bc she wouldn't tolerate the childcare there either. She does happily play with her grandparents if I am nowhere in sight , but as soon as she sees me she only wants to be with me.

So, I am trying to decide if I am going to put dd in a Mother's Day Out program. I know I will have to be wait listed. I just think she needs to start socializing with other babies and start getting used to being without me sometimes. I just worry she won't like it and scream the whole time. Another option I was considering was hiring a babysitter twice a week to come to the house. That way I coulld get some things done around here, and overtime she would get used to the babysitter. Another option would be to use the money I would have used for MDO or babysitter and go to Gymboree, Music Together, or other baby classes. I really do get enough time by myself now that she is napping on a schedule (crosses fingers) and fil watches her in the morning so I can exercise and get ready for the day.

[Katie&Micah]

separation anxiety
Like someone else said.. she's fine if she doesn't see me, but if I walk by or she hears my voice all hell breaks loose. She now clutches to me like a monkey if anyone tries to take her while I'm holding her. Not only is it hurting DH's feelings, but it's driving me insane. Dh doesn't seem to understand how frustrating it can be to have a child cling to you 24 hours a day. He just says that I chose to SAH with her and this is what kids do. :( I love Madeline, but sometimes I need like an hour without being touched or listening to whining. I hope this phase ends REAL soon.

Asha
If you're getting enough alone time, I would choose the classes together. It's a great way to meet other mommies and babies to hang out with.

[karlatta]

Asha - I think MDO or classes would both really benefit your DD. I'm doing MDO, not necessarily for the alone time (I get plenty of that with naps!) but because I really like the socialization that the kids get without me. I love that DS knows how to stand in line, and that he's learned that if he scrapes his knee and needs a band-aid when I'm not around, there are other people that can make him feel better too. He's still very securely attached to me, but MDO has helped him develop a great deal of independence and confidence. I think MDO or Gymboree, etc. classes would be a really good experience for you.

[bensgirl1222]

nursing/weaning - No weaning here! I even went away without him for 4 days and was scared that he wouldn't take to the breast right away but he did.

question of the day: how much formula/BM are your babes drinking now? any self-weaning starting?
No signs of self-weaning yet. He nurses about every 3 hours. While I was away for 4 days he ate about 30-35oz of BM a day between 7am and 7pm. He does not eat overnight.

eating solids - Eats 3 meals a day plus BM and snacks here and there. Usually oatmeal and fruit for breakfast, or yogurt and a waffle. I still give him purees but only bc I still have a ton left otherwise I'd forgo the purees altogether. He can pretty much eat whatever we eat as long as it soft and mashable.

sleep - Has been STTN for a few weeks now. Sleeps from about 7pm-7am without any wakings. Its wonderful!!!

teeth - 4 teeth...2 top 2 bottom

separation anxiety - Oh yes!!! If I go out of his sight he has a fit.

talking - He babbles a lot! Always "talking" and pointing at things. He says "mama" "dada" "dog" and "good".

personality - He is so inquisitive! Always wanting to know what everything is. He is also such a lover! Always kissing and giving hugs. Too cute.

[littlecindy]

Are you planning to introduce cow's milk at 1 year?

we probably will...but we'll see how the weaning goes. i honestly figured we'd nurse past a year, but he seems to be slowly weaning. i have mixed feelings about cow's milk. i want him to get the "good fat" that he needs, but i don't drink cow's milk myself. and yet, i don't really want to give him soy milk, because i think soy is best limited in a LO.

[lovelifeandlivelove]

Amew - How cute on a whale theme!
Shannah - We are doing a safari theme too.
Karlatta - stated it all - if DD decides it on her terms then okay, if not then it is all hell breaking loose. Same with coming in from outside, stopping playing with the filthy toys in the play yards at stores (btw, do they ever wash them?)
Katie - DH feels bad too and I wish he could understand that I would love it for her to "want" him to hold her over me when I am exhausted and can barely stand. She did cry when it was time to go to MIL the other day and clung to him AND he was so happy about it.
STTN - DD was sttn until recently, this once a night crap is killing me. She has been eating less solids though then before so I think her teeth are really bothering her and then she is really starving come night time.
Teeth - The top front two are breaking through and the top front ones and the one bottom side one are at halfway points. She has the three on bottom so far. Wow, she will have eight teeth soon.
Birthday - I just emailed the cake person hopefully she will do DD cake(s). This is something like the invitation we want to do well, the lion stamp part:
http://kennyandlauren.com/pictures/blog/HappyLion_Flat.jpg

[Katie&Micah]

RE:Teeth
Maddy got the 4 teeth when she was 7 months old and hasn't gotten any since then. I'm starting to wonder when the heck the next ones are going to come in. Is anyone else's LO taking a break in teething too?

[dizylizy]

Cow's milk-plan to introduce at 1 yr, start weaning at that point.

Self-weaning- not happening, still prefers me to a bottle, still nursing at night- at least twice.

Separation Anxiety- some. but not too bad. He had some a few weeks ago (screaming as I left him at day care) we learned to place him with his back to the door and away from us.

Sleeping- Thaniel is definitely not like his brother... Harry started sleeping through at 7 months 8-7. but Thaniel is up at least twice. the other night 4 times... augh... I am used to it but DH is having a bit of trouble and wants him to STTN but has trouble letting him cry... I am hoping when we move him to his own room in August he will sleep better (we are building a loft to move the ofice furn into and then Harry into the office (new Car bedroom) and Thaniel into Harry's star bedroom)

B-day- I am thinking of doing a bland balloon and polka dot b-day party. something easy. and a big smash cake! friends and family. a few with little kids. we are debating on inviting the day care ladies kids. but she may have a b-day for him at her house... not sure how that works...

Teeth- we have two on the top and it looked like he was going to get the two top side teeth but they never popped through. we have a third tooth on the bottom. we are sittig at 5... seemed ot take forever to get new ones once he had the 4.

Feeding- still hates purree but will eat my instant oatmeal. we keep trying. loves the puffs and cereal. he is getting enough... I hope.. :)

[Asha]

dizylizy - You might want to try feeding Thaniel more solids. Dd sleep improved tremendously once she got three solid meals a day. Now, its even better since I am really trying to make an effort to get more fatty foods (cheese, egg yolk) into her diet too. For the past couple weeks she has only been getting up once to bf. Also, I found if I change her diaper at this time too, she sleeps longer too. Have you tried beans? Dd loves pinto beans. For some reason, black beans didn't agree with her.

[Ellyn]

So I am sitting up at 1 am listening to DD cry. :( I have fed her, burped her, rocked her, and nothing is working. I need to sleep...I have a long day at school tomorrow. Why did she have to get my stubborness? :rolleyes:

[Katie&Micah]

Ellyn
Could she be teething? If I've tried everything else I usually give DD some Tylenol and orajel. Good luck!

[Ellyn]

(**still up**)

Yeah, she could be teething...she has 4 top teeth and 2 bottom...maybe 2 more on the way. I've tyloneled her up already, and either it is kicking in or she's giving up...either way, I think I'll be in bed in another 10 min. ;)

[Asha]

(**still up**)

Yeah, she could be teething...she has 4 top teeth and 2 bottom...maybe 2 more on the way. I've tyloneled her up already, and either it is kicking in or she's giving up...either way, I think I'll be in bed in another 10 min. ;)

That sucks. Poor you and baby. Dd was up screaming for about an hour last night too. We're not sure if it was moving her to the new room or reintroducing cheese into her diet. I was sleeping with her in the room, and she is pretty used to sleeping in different locations bc of our travels, so it may be more likely to be the dairy. She could be teething again bc she is drooling a lot again.

[Ellyn]

Well, I got to sleep finally around 2am...and then had to go to work and spend several hours on a school bus packed with 8th graders...in a thunderstorm. FUN FUN! :rolleyes:

Hey, at least I wasn't the only one up. :p

[dizylizy]

thaniel refuses most soldi food. we try new stuff almost daily just to change him up... HATES carrots, i wear more than he eats... like Ritz crackers so we can ususally put two on his tray and let him goof with those will we try to shove the spoon in... will not eat a pea (puree or shelled halves...) ate a bit of baked potato the other day.. I was surprised. I can typically get a bit or two of chicken in him, l ikes the breading on fish sticks. hated beef the last time I tried. like gaucamole. we are adding pepper and spice to his food just to see if he hates the blad stuff... watching the salt... I sis get an ounce of pureed sweet potato in him last night. it was a fight to get the last 2 bites... but I was hoping for the more food = more sleep... it seemed to work he only woke once last night. trying more sweet potato to day...

[Asha]

thaniel refuses most soldi food. we try new stuff almost daily just to change him up... HATES carrots, i wear more than he eats... like Ritz crackers so we can ususally put two on his tray and let him goof with those will we try to shove the spoon in... will not eat a pea (puree or shelled halves...) ate a bit of baked potato the other day.. I was surprised. I can typically get a bit or two of chicken in him, l ikes the breading on fish sticks. hated beef the last time I tried. like gaucamole. we are adding pepper and spice to his food just to see if he hates the blad stuff... watching the salt... I sis get an ounce of pureed sweet potato in him last night. it was a fight to get the last 2 bites... but I was hoping for the more food = more sleep... it seemed to work he only woke once last night. trying more sweet potato to day...

Dd used to be really picky too. I think its something a lot of babes just outgrow. I'm sure you just keep offering the same food he likes day after day. Dd has literally eaten sweet potatoes every single day since she starting eating solids. lol!!

[littlecindy]

we've discovered adrian really likes spicy food, garlic, lemon, etc. so it's worth a shot!

anyone else's baby grinding their teeth?

[alliannie]

anyone else's baby grinding their teeth?


Blake doesn't have enough teeth to grind:p.

We now have two teeth though! The second one made its appearance yesterday. He now has one top, one bottom both on the same side!

[granada]

anyone else's baby grinding their teeth?

DS did this for the last month. It was so freaky. Whenever he did it, it was like nails on a chalkboard, it just gave me the willies. I'd try to distract him and get him to focus on doing something else. He eventually stopped doing it. We figured he was just getting used to his new teeth.

[Katie&Micah]

anyone else's baby grinding their teeth?
It's funny you ask because a friend I have IRL was just asking me about this. Her baby is a June baby and he's started the teeth grinding thing. Maddy hasn't started yet and I hope she skips it.

Maddy is now down to 1 nap a day. What's everyone else doing?

[karlatta]

Maddy is now down to 1 nap a day. What's everyone else doing?

DD's schedule is pretty much just whatever DS wants to do. He's 2, but he still takes two naps some days, so on those days, I try to put DD down with him too (or else we'll be stuck at the house all day because someone is napping). If DS takes just one nap, that's what DD does too.

[Ellyn]

Teeth grinding...yep, just started. It is so annoying and just grates on me - give me the chills! I usually try to distract her too, or take my finger and touch her lip and say no - that usually stops it for a little anyway.

Napping - Winona is napping twice a day still. She goes down around 10:30 am and around 1:30pm. her morning nap is around an hour long, afternoon one is anywhere from an hour and a half to two hours. On days where I need to run errands (on the weekends) I go in the morning and we skip her morning nap and put her down around 12:30pm. We can only do it once or twice a week or she gets overtired.

I am almost done with school (last day is tomorrow) and then I am weaning her from her night time feeding. Last night she got up at 5:30am so I don't think it'll be too hard for her to go all night without eating. We'll see though. Then my second goal is to get rid of the paci this summer before I go back in the fall...it didn't work with DS - we tried it and then ended up waiting until he was 1.5yo to do it...by then he didn't much care. She's a fiesty one though so it'll be interesting :D

[littlecindy]

napping - adrian cut down to 1 (really long) nap at like 7 months. so he's still doing that. i'm glad, because i hear cutting out the second nap can be hell.

anyone else's LO sleeping a longer amount of time at night?

all in all, the nighttime sleep is getting a bit better for us (we still wake up a couple times, but for very short periods). but he seems to want to sleep a longer nighttime stretch (like 12+ hours total). not sure if it's because he's going to bed around 8-8:30 now instead of about 7:30 like he used to, but he wants to sleep later in the morning. he'd sleep til probably 9am if i let him, but we have to be to daycare by 8:30 so i can get to work by 9 at the latest.

[Asha]

grinding - every so often she does this.

naps - well, right after i posted that i thought dd would go down to one nap she is now on a solid two nap schedule. its pretty nice to have some predictability to the day (crosses fingers).

sleeps more at night - for the most part, dd only wakes up once at night to feed. she may get up once or twice more if she has a night terror, but that is not every night, and i can usually rub her back to get her to go back to sleep. i will probably wait till after a year to try to night wean. she is on the thin side, and i don't want to cut out that feeding if she seems to need more nourishment.

***
I am currently debating if I should respond to a neighbor's post on the neighborhood message board about needing a nanny for her 7 month old. She is looking for a sahm with a baby around the same age to watch her baby 4 days/week. We could do it in our home too. We don't really need the money and after taxes it wouldn't be a whole lot.. Though, it would be nice to have some extra money too. Dd could really benefit from a playmate. I think it would be good practice for me handling more than one baby at the same time. I guess, I should talk to her and see how I feel about it. She may not consider me anyways bc we have a cat and may not be comfortable with fil being here at the same time too. Obviously, fil wouldn't be watching her baby, but some mothers are extra cautious about having men around.

[Katie&Micah]

Asha
I was offered a situation like that when Maddy was a newborn, but declined because I wanted to focus on her. But now that she's older I think it would be great to have a baby of similar ages for her to play with. Let us know what happens!

[Asha]

katie - Yeah, there is no way I could have handled that when she was a newborn. I really see how much she likes seeing other babies and kids, so I feel sad that she is without a peer most of the time.

[bensgirl1222]

Maddy is now down to 1 nap a day. What's everyone else doing?

B still takes 2 naps...10am and 3pm. The 10am one is about 1-2 hours and the 3pm one is about an hour.

[jimmysgirl424]

Maddy is now down to 1 nap a day. What's everyone else doing?

Kristianna is still taking at least two naps a day, sometimes three.

anyone else's LO sleeping a longer amount of time at night?

Nope, she is about the same as she always was. Goes down between 7-7:30 and up again no later than 6:30. We usually wake her up earlier than that on weekdays to get her to her grandparents on time before we have to be at work.


Kristianna is cutting a HUGE number of teeth at the moment. DH looked yesterday and said there were at least five coming through and he could see more! :eek: She already has four at last count that are completely through.

I'm really awful at introducing new foods for her. So far I've tried giving her egg, which she hated and cheese yesterday, which she really liked. She also loves the Gerber Graduates yogurt melts, Earths Best smiley crackers and her puffs.

[dizylizy]

napping- Thaniel still naps twice a day, 10am (1-2hrs) and 3pm (1 hr) at day care. when I have him at home, I put him down between 9:30 and 10. but I won't go into get him until after 11 even if he is crying. then put him down about 1:30-2 and he will sleep for 2 hours. I try to keep the boys on the same afternoon nap schedule when I am home. Harry (3 in july) goes down at 12:30 to 1 and sleeps until at least 3:30 if not 4:30... I love that he sleeps 3 hours a day! I am hoping to get Nathaniel on that schedule... granted that is prime pool time but he needs a nap...

Night sleeping- we have had a few 6 hours sleeps but not many... he was up 3 time last night...

teeth- I think we are stalled at the moment... hoping for mre so he can eat more...

food- tried eggs this weekend- eh and strawberries today- nope, ate the first one, spit the other out... try again this weekend...

[Asha]

I'm really awful at introducing new foods for her. So far I've tried giving her egg, which she hated and cheese yesterday, which she really liked. She also loves the Gerber Graduates yogurt melts, Earths Best smiley crackers and her puffs.
Good for you for starting finger foods!! It can be a slow process.

Dd has started feeding herself!! She doesn't like the texture of most of the finger foods I give her, so she its harder for her to pick up some of the slimier/stickier foods. When I gave her diced pasta, she started picking it up and putting it in her mouth. =) She also has gotten gotten much better with the sippy cup. I gave her a popsicle in a mesh feeder, and she was so happy with it. I just need to buy some healtheir pops. On a more sour note, I think dd still has an intolerance to dairy bc when I cut out the grated cheese she has had much improved evening behavior. Its too bad bc she really likes the taste of cheese.

[jimmysgirl424]

When I gave her diced pasta, she started picking it up and putting it in her mouth. =) She also has gotten gotten much better with the sippy cup. I gave her a popsicle in a mesh feeder, and she was so happy with it. I just need to buy some healtheir pops.

Asha, do you just give her plain pasta? I have whole wheat/whole grain pasta that I was thinking about cooking up for her but wasn't sure if I should put anything on it or not? I love the idea of giving DD a popsicle..just got to find a healthy, low sugar kind.

I forgot to add that DD is very good at self-feeding when it comes to her finger foods. She does very well with her yogurt melts and puffs. Now the cheese she just tried yesterday and she wanted to play with it before trying to get it into her mouth. And it kept sticking to her fingers too, so I just put it in her mouth for her.

I would like some suggestions on other finger foods I could try with her, if anyone has any that would like to share?

[Katie&Micah]

Kym
I feel so bad for Kristianna! 5 teeth at once!! That's insane.

As far as finger foods Maddy eats.. arrowroot biscuits, apple slices, pears, watermelon, tortillas, pretty much anything we're eating.

[jimmysgirl424]

Kym
I feel so bad for Kristianna! 5 teeth at once!! That's insane.

We actually think its more than that, its just that she fights us every time we try to look so its hard to get an exact number!

[Asha]

Asha, do you just give her plain pasta? I have whole wheat/whole grain pasta that I was thinking about cooking up for her but wasn't sure if I should put anything on it or not? I love the idea of giving DD a popsicle..just got to find a healthy, low sugar kind.

I forgot to add that DD is very good at self-feeding when it comes to her finger foods. She does very well with her yogurt melts and puffs. Now the cheese she just tried yesterday and she wanted to play with it before trying to get it into her mouth. And it kept sticking to her fingers too, so I just put it in her mouth for her.

I would like some suggestions on other finger foods I could try with her, if anyone has any that would like to share?
I add olive oil to the cooked pasta and dice it up. I add oil bc she is on the thinner side and she isn't tolerating dairy, so she needs to get some more fat in her diet . I also give her whole grain pasta.
some other fingers/real foods
diced baked potato with olive oil
couscous with olive oil
brown rice with olive oil
diced, cooked carrots
corn kernels, peas (I buy frozen and just take a small amount at a time)
roti (indian bread sort of like a tortilla) with hummus
egg yolk
pinto beans cut in half

[jimmysgirl424]

Thank you, Asha, those are all great, healthy suggestions.

I have to ask, am I the only freak that doesn't want to give my child juice? I don't mean never ever, but I certainly don't intend to make it a part of DD's regular diet, nor do I intend to offer anything other than the lowest sugar content juice available. I ask this because DH's entire family is ganging up on me over this and I am getting pissed. SIL has been especially pushy since she has a five year old that runs around with a juice box in each hand (literally!!) all day long! Ugh!!

[Ellyn]

I don't like giving juice either. Actually DD has never had juice (in a cup/bottle) and DS (almost 3yo) only gets it once a day...the rest of the time he is thirsty he drinks water and has soy milk at meals.

On the popsicle note, we make our own. We bought the molds (I think Targer has them in their seasonal stuff this time of year) and just use 100% juice in them (we use apple). In the end, it turns out being like a "shot" of juice and a lot of teething relief. :)

DD eats anything she can pick up now. She had meatballs and diced pears for lunch, with pureed sweet potatoes. I try to give her more finger foods. She loves pancake, has had muffin - I made blueberry ones this morning and made one w/o blueberries for her, eats ground turkey, cut up chicken, potatoes, cut up fruit, whole saltines, still loves her mum mums and cheerios, Life cereal, etc. I'm making french toast for supper (DS has been asking ALL day) so I'll make her a half a piece with only yolk. She loves rice, we havn't done much pasta, but only because we haven't eaten any lately. She LOVES LOVES LOVES baked beans.

A note about pasta - we take spaghetti (and I'll do this with other pasta soon) and make a lot of it, put the pasta in sections of a muffin pan that is sprayed with Pam and freeze it, then bag them up and store in the freezer. They reheat (with a sprinkle of water) in less than 1 min. and are so much easier than breaking out the big pot everytime DC wants pasta and we're not eating any.

[Ellyn]

Another note about this:

I ask this because DH's entire family is ganging up on me over this and I am getting pissed. SIL has been especially pushy since she has a five year old that runs around with a juice box in each hand (literally!!) all day long! Ugh!!
I know some kids that have been drinking soda since they were 6 mo. old! Oh how cute to see a 6 month old drink from a straw in a can of orange pop. :rolleyes: DS still hasn't had any soda, and won't for a long long time.

[Asha]

juice - I used to be against it, but since dd is constantly dealing with constipation its the only way to get her to drink enough liquids. I water 1/2-3/4 of the juice. I don't let her nurse it either. When she is able to walk, I won't let her just walk around with her juice sippy cup bc I don't want a mess in my house. I give it to her when she has finished eating her meal. We were given juice as kids and all very skinny kids. I have healthy teeth with no cavities still.

[polarama]

juice--Like Kym,I'm very hesitant to offer juice. Natalie hasn't had any juice--she really prefers water and she hasn't been constipated or anything, so for now, no juice for her. My younger sister drank straight apple juice in her bottle up until she was 4 and ended up with major dental work at a really young age (root canal when she was SIX!!)

finger foods--my kid hates soft slimy things too, so I've offered pancakes (add veggie puree to them to make it a little bit healthier), bread, veggie booty is a big hit, and she also likes frozen blueberries.

[bensgirl1222]

Juice DS has had juice but only bc he was constipated. He didnt like it much though. He much prefers water over juice anyday.

Finger foods Any diced fruit, puffs, goldfish, Gerber ravioli cut in half, slices of cheese, string cheese, yogurt melts

How do you plan to keep your child eating healthy once they hit a year? I ask bc I am planning to wean DS around a year (well, I will start the process and will probably continue to BF morning and night until 18 months) so I am wondering that if they wont be getting the bulk of their nutrition from Formula or BM, how do you plan to keep them eating good? Also, how much milk should they be getting once they hit a year? Is it the same amount as formula or bm?

[Katie&Micah]

polarama
I love the idea of adding purees to the pancakes. Are you just making a regular pancake batter an then adding the puree? Or are you putting it on the pancake after it's cooked? I still have a ton of baby food left over and I'd like to use up at least SOME of it.

bensgirl1222
I'm not weaning or cutting back at a year.. but I guess my plan is to make sure she has as many fruits and veggies as possible and try and avoid the stuff like puffs, crackers, breads when at all possible. I don't want her to get hooked on processed food. I know it's convenient, so of course she's had her fair share of it, but my goal is to limit those kinds of things.

[Asha]

Along the same line as Bensgirl, if you decide to cut out one nursing session, what do you give as a substitute before one year. Formula? Food? Water? I know that it says you should ask your dr before giving rice milk, but is that bc it lacks fat and not to be given to replace whole milk? I was thinking of giving her a cup of rice milk, but make sure that she has fat in her diet. She can't tolerate milk now or anytime soon. Our new ped isn't as supportive as the old ped regarding her food intolerances and she keeps writing off dd's fussiness as teething.

Bensgirl - Like K&M said, I am trying and will continue to give her mainly whole foods. Both our babies have had food intolerances so whole foods are better anyways bc they don't contain dairy or soy. For at least two of the meals, I try to make sure there is a whole grain, vegetable, fruit, protein, and healthy oil. Fruit is usually given at the end of the meal bc that's what she prefers and she would only eat that if I gave it to her first. It hasn't really worked out for us to give dd what we are eating. We really don't eat family meals, anyways. In between meals, I offer her watered down juice if she is getting fussy before nursing her. If she is still fussy, I will nurse her.

[littlecindy]

adrian's insisted on feeding himself for months now, but a quick suggestion for introducing texture/finger foods. if i'm eating something, adrian will want to try it, and i'll just hold it for him. i had half a peach last night and i just held it and let him bite some off. might be a good way to get your LO's to get the taste of it and encourage them to feed themselves.

[Asha]

adrian's insisted on feeding himself for months now, but a quick suggestion for introducing texture/finger foods. if i'm eating something, adrian will want to try it, and i'll just hold it for him. i had half a peach last night and i just held it and let him bite some off. might be a good way to get your LO's to get the taste of it and encourage them to feed themselves.
This reminds me of dd. I can't eat anything I can't offer her either bc otherwise she is at my feet begging like a little puppy.

[jimmysgirl424]

This reminds me of dd. I can't eat anything I can't offer her either bc otherwise she is at my feet begging like a little puppy.

Mine too. But the absolute worst is when I have something to drink, especially a water bottle! DD will climb ALL OVER ME in her attempt to get it. She does not stop till the water is gone and the bottle has disappeared. Seriously. The kid is totally obsessed with water bottles. Not just to drink from either, if I hand it over, she chews on it and plays with it till I take it away. Strange little girl! :p

[polarama]

Mine too. But the absolute worst is when I have something to drink, especially a water bottle! DD will climb ALL OVER ME in her attempt to get it. She does not stop till the water is gone and the bottle has disappeared. Seriously. The kid is totally obsessed with water bottles. Not just to drink from either, if I hand it over, she chews on it and plays with it till I take it away. Strange little girl! :p

Mine too! She wants to drink from a grown-up glass and won't drink from her own cup. She loves water bottles. It's nice that she can be so easily entertained. :)

Katie--I put the puree in the mix--what I'll do is put 1/2 the recommended about of milk (I use formula), and then add puree and adjust the consistency by adding more formula if needed. I don't really make my pancakes from scratch as I use a mix. :p


How do you plan to keep your child eating healthy once they hit a year? We try to offer DD a variety of foods--always a veg, a protein, and a grain at every meal, and usually fruit at bkfst or for finger foods. Of course she gets puffs too, but I try to limit that and offer that last. We actually don't go out to eat as much anymore b/c it's just easier to eat at home with a baby, and I can control what she eats more. I also think just exposing her to what we eat is good too--it will help us try to eat healthier meals too.

[Katie&Micah]

I know that it says you should ask your dr before giving rice milk, but is that bc it lacks fat and not to be given to replace whole milk?

I think that's right.

polarama

Thanks so much for the great idea! I now have a use for frozen EBM and baby food!! I'm going to work on doing pancakes tonight and freezing them. I think I'll make little silver dollar sized ones.