February 2008 Moms: Watching Our New Babies Grow!

[mcgwigan]

La_Mer Sounds like you have a distracted nurser - I read about it. It said to nurse some place boring during the phase. Yea, right - Wyatt is totally amused by the lamp and if he didn't have that to look at the valance is just comical to him!:rolleyes: He doesn't get too distracted right now though.

tgoody Yes, I did have to initiate the calling & visit with MIL, but I think she is all right about things.

Wyatt will get fussy while nursing on my left, I think because the flow is too fast for him. With the Avent bottles that I have he only needs a #1 nipple - the newborn one. Of course the set of bottles that I bought came with the #2 nipples & he's not ready for that. Looks like another trip to BRU is in our near future!

[Sashi]

Hi Ladies -

We started daycare yesterday. I start work on Monday 5/5 so I am just gearing him up for being there all day. I'm leaving him there for half days and maybe gradually leading up to a full day on Friday. Mostly because I need to get used to getting out the door in the morning, not being with him all day and wanting to see how he reacts in the evening/night after it. Yesterday was difficult but he was only there for a few hours. I don't want to be too disruptive at daycare just picking him up in th emiddle of their scheduled day. He seemed to do well at first but seriously, was fussy all evening. Not sure if that was from daycare or just a growth spurt. He definitely wants to eat every 2-3 hours during the day, isn't napping well. He sleeps well at night. Usual schedule right now is 8:30-2, 3-7. He would sleep longer than 7 but I've woken him up to go to daycare. That could also be the problem in the afternoon. He was sleeping 10-6 and then just decided to start waking at 4:30 which is totally disruptive to going back to work so we decided to put him down earlier so he wakes up between 2-3am instead of 4-5am.

This Thursday he will be 12 weeks (3 months!). I can't believe how time has flown. And considering I saw some kids in his daycare, i think he is starting to 'even out' in terms of weight and height for his age. He seems a bit thinner to me, in a good way.

SO's to come!

[mcgwigan]

Sashi I'll be doing the same thing with daycare starting next week. I may take him for just a couple hours either Wed or Thurs this week too. Keep us posted on how Ollie does with it. As I tell everyone else- I'm sure he'll be fine, it's me that will need to make the big adjustment!

[sparkle&shine]

Honestly I am at a loss. While I love that she loves me, I don't get it. My husband was holding her, trying to calm her-he is her father not a stranger. And it's not just him, it's my parents as well, anyone who tries to hold her. The ped did not seem concerned, but I wish there was a way to get her to be okay with other people at least holding her for a few minutes.

Unfortunately the only thing that worked to solve this for us was the fact that I had to go back to work and I couldn't come home when he was crying to 'save' him. It was a rough first week for all involved. BUT now it's like I have a new baby. Other people can hold him and he isn't fussy much at all. I don't know how to solve it since I know if I had been home I would definitely have gone over and taken DS form DH. DS was just so used tome he had eyes for no one else.

[sparkle&shine]

I forgot to ask earlier...Leo has also been very active when nursing lately. He kicks his legs and flails around, he pulls off and then relatches and "talks" while trying to eat. He doesn't seem upset, he just seems distracted. A few times it has left me feeling very sore and sensitive at the end of the session. Is this a phase? He has been more gassy lately but it doesn't always seem like that is the problem. Is anyone else experiencing this?

DS1 used to do that when he was trying to stimulate my supply or my let down wasn't as fast as he would like. Once he got control of his hands he would even hit at me. It can definitely leave you feeling sore but it is totally normal.

You mentioned his long naps so he is probably going through a growth spurt and is just building up your supply.

[Rosebud]

Hi ladies! Just popping in to read your posts and say hello.

Declan had his first vaccinations yesterday and it went really well. DH and I were all stressed about it, but Declan cried for like 30 seconds and has been totally fine since then. Yay! He's 9.5 weeks now and weighs 11 pounds and is 23 inches long. He was prescribed Prevacid in addition to the Zantac last week and we continue to battle the acid reflux. He has good days and bad days, but in general things are better. He's smiling and cooing a lot, which is wonderful.

Schedule: Declan is sleeping a longer stretch when we first put him down at night (4 hours) and is doing a longer nap during the day (2-3 hours), but other than that it's the same thing of needing to eat every 2-3 hours. No STTN for us just yet, sadly.

Sling: I used the peanut shell when Declan was new, but when he got heavier it hurt my back. I switched to a Mei Tai and love it. Declan falls asleep practically the instant he goes in it. My DH uses the Ergo carrier and Declan seems to love that, too.

Hair loss: This hasn't happened to me (yet, anyway). At the very end of my pregnancy, the texture of my hair changed remarkably, though. It got really coarse and frizzy. I just had a bunch of it cut off last weekend because it's driving me crazy.

Daycare: I got laid off from my job while pregnant, so I gave up the slot at our corporate daycare. However, I'm starting a business with a friend now and will need sporadic care during the day so that I can go take meetings with vendors and clients. It wouldn't even be regularly enough to need a P/T nanny, I don't think. More like a babysitter once or twice a week. My family isn't nearby enough to do this, unfortunately. I'm kind of stumped on what kind of caregiver I should be looking for and how to find someone I can trust. Any thoughts?

Glad everyone is doing well!! :)

[Brady]

napping- I have a non-napper here also. Maybe 30 minutes here and there, but no long stretches. That coupled with my 3 year old not napping, and my husband working 12+ hour days, needless to say, some days I feel like I might lose it... ;)

Anywho.

Rosebud- I've seen a couple of advertisements around here for in-home daycares that offer sporadic care. So, you could drop your child in for a few hours a day, etc. It might be worth trying a call to some in-home places and see if they offer an enviroment like that, just a thought. Or, you could maybe try a place like sittercity.com and look for daytime babysitters that could also do something more non-scheduled? Just a couple of thoughts. I know how you feel though, I don't have family that close by and trying to find someone just for like a Dr's appt. is so frustrating.

Ah shoot.. speaking of not napping, Drew is up from his 30 minute one! Gotta run.

ETA- Glad I'm not the only one with a swaddle addict! I'm just concerned for how to eventually break him of it, and get him napping in his crib!

[mcgwigan]

Rosebud I would also check with home daycares. OR do you have any friends or know anyone that is a SAHM that would be able to babysit occassionaly?

Brady I left an arm out of Wyatt's swaddle blanket tonight...I'll let you know tomorrow how it went!

Wyatt had more shots today - HIB & PC and was extremely fussy tonight. I felt so bad for him , I know he didn't feel good and there was nothing we could do. It makes it worse that he now has real tears and also has the lower lip pout thing going on when he really cries. I was hoping that we wouldn't have bad reactions with every single shot! Anyway, I left the arm out of his swaddle hoping that he'll suck his hand for comfort if he wakes up. I'm kicking myself for not taking a nap today- I'm sure it'll be a long night!

JBB What is Julia's reaction if DH holds her (when she isn't fussy) to play with her and you're there beside him? Wold it get her more accustomed to him if he held her more with you right there? It's so hard to not jump in and save the baby, isn't it?

[JBB]

OMGJulia literally did not sleep all day-maybe 15 minutes here and there 2 or 3 times but that was it. She went to sleep at 8pm. I of course pick this night to forgo getting into bed within an hour of her going to sleep to work on baby naming stuff and she wakes at 12 and now at 1:21 she is still awake. She is in the swing and I am hoping this will help her fall asleep, but until she falls asleep and I transfer her to her crib I can't go to sleep!!!

Shout Outs

TGoodyIt's so hard to leave her even for small intervals since she doesn't take a bottle. I think if I wasn't for that I would be more willing to try it. But I keep thinking what if she's hungry and that's why she's crying.

SashiGood luck with going back to work. Sounds like a good plan having him go to daycare a little bit each day to get used to it.

SparkleandShineI guess part of the issue is since I work from home I just don't feel I can justify "torturing" her by leaving her if it makes her so unhappy. Interesting to know that Ethan adjusted and can now be held by anyone.

Rosebud Good luck with your new business-that's exciting!

BradyWell, hopefully the baby will start napping soon!

mcgwiganNothing is worse than the real tears-it just tears me apart! Oh and Julia's reaction to DH holding her when she is calm=okay for a few minutes and then the crying starts-just like with anyone holding her.

Gymboree and Little Maestros For both of these classes I am taking a trial class. Tomorrow I try Gymboree. I am going with two Mommy Friends I have made. And then next week I am going to a sample class of Little Maestros. I am not sure if Little Maestros is beyond the New York area but it's one of the most popular classes in NYC. And it is literally a fortune, so before I sign up for it I want to make sure it is worth it. I would love to hear from ROs if they took it or no anyone who did.

Mother's Day and Tavern on the GreenIn NYC there is something called Big City Moms The woman who runs it holds weekly lunches on different topics for new moms and also special events. One event is a Mother's Day Celebration next week at Tavern on the Green a restaurant located in Central Park. I signed up and my mom is also coming. A few of my mommy friends are going so it should be really fun.

Okay, I think she finally fell asleep-I'm going to try and transfer her now and hopefully I'll be able to get some sleep!

[Eliezrah]

I was gonna read everything I missed but am on Tylenol w/ Codeine right now and can't concentrate. I just wanted to update you about our house stuff...

Heres what I e-mailed some friends yesterday... For those of you who don’t know yet (I only spoke with Scott & my parents so far), the insurance adjuster (Hugh), a guy from Empire Carpets (Aaron) and the crew to clean up the wet carpets (don’t know their names and they barely spoke English so it was hard to communicate with them) all came at the same time this morning.



The rest of the carpet and first layer of flooring outside the bathroom were ripped up as well as part of the carpet in the family room, the wet part. We have fans and HUGE, NOISY machines in each room that have to stay here until Friday morning to dry everything out. It’s a huge pain in the ass and very loud, but we have to do it. I found a GORGEOUS carpet from Empire, their top of the line, in a beautiful brown color that I fell in love with (it was weird picking out stuff for the house w/o Scott here to get his opinion), but it costs way more than the Berber that’s already in here. When I asked Hugh what we’re allowed, he asked me if I found a carpet I like and then asked Aaron (not Baby Aaron! LOL) how much it costs. When he was given the price, he OKed it! YIPPEE!! The previous owners of the house left us the rest of the kitchen flooring and I asked about having them put that down outside the bathroom instead of another carpet. Empire will only lay flooring if it’s sold by them so both Hugh and Aaron suggested we find a contractor who would do that and have the insurance pay for it. Scott wanted the floor now so we decided to get a nice new laminate floor outside the bathroom. Well it would make the bathroom floor (which wasn’t approved to be replaced since it wasn’t peeling up or anything) look GROSS so Scott & I decided to cover the extra cost ourselves and get that pretty new floor in the bathroom as well! It looks almost like marble and is soo pretty!! The carpet will be laid on Friday and the flooring on Saturday.



Hugh also approved a new vanity for the bathroom. I had the option of going out and finding one and getting it done and submitting the bill for reimbursement or having him determine the cost of a new one and adding that amount to our check. I chose the later since who has the time for all this? Not me, for sure! Aaron, from Empire, later suggested to me that since I was approved for their 1 year no payments and no interest plan, that we take the insurance check when we get it and put it in a high interest savings account for the year. Withdraw the money to pay off the carpet right when we need to next year and take the year’s worth of interest to help offset the cost of the extra flooring! Great idea, Aaron!! Of course the paint in there now looks horrible so I told Scott I want to repaint the bathroom! LOL He’s gonna kill me! But the previous owners left us paint for every room in the house so we won’t have to buy it, and I love to paint, and it’s a TINY bathroom, so I’m going to see which colors we have and I’ll be repainting the bathroom ASAP. As for the new vanity, we’ll see how much money we have once we get the check and take then shop for a new one.



So the check will include the full cost of redoing the family room and hallway carpet, the DVD rack that was ruined (I gave him the receipt for how much we paid for it), the cost of recarpeting the small space outside the bathroom, and a new vanity. The plumber will be here on Friday with his crew to dig up our yard and my beautiful garden and lay the new pipe. Did I tell you that Friday is also picture day for Jackie & Seth at the school? I just called the school and instead of bringing them in at 10 am, I was told it’s ok to bring them in after Scott can get home at 12:30 since someone needs to be here in the morning to answer the phone and let everyone in.

[tgoody03]

I am on my way to Florida right now. The drive from GA to FL is 7 - 8 hours with stops and no kids ... we've already been driving 7 1/2 hours with at least 2 more hours to go. Road trips + kids = LOTS of fun ;)

Anyway, here is that article about Drooling from Parenting Magazine. Dana I know you said you would like to see the article. Check out the babies name in the article! LOL

Why babies Drool

Brandy Matthes of Albuguerque, NM, was thrilled when her 3 month old, Addison, started to dribble. "I thought it meant a tooth would pop up soon," she says. But months went by before Addison cut any teeth.

That's because while teething can lead to drooling, it's not the only cause. As your baby tries to put everything in her mouth, her chewing, even without teeth, makes her produce more saliva than she can swallow, says Jennifer Shu, M.D., a pediatrician in Atlanta and coauthor of Heading Home With Your Newborn: From Birth to Reality. Another reason there's extra saliva: Salivary glands are preparing for solid foods.

Your baby will continue drooling until she turns 1. Try to keep her chin and mouth as dry as possible to prevent chafing (though it'll likely be a losing battle). If her skin becomes irritated, sooth it with petroleum jelly.

- by Robin Kavanagh

[tgoody03]

JBB - I forgot about the bottle issue. Well, if it helps any, my DD would not take a bottle from anyone at day care after she was 6 or 7 months old. She did in the beginning, but there were a few days she was sick and nursed only and after that she wouldn't take bottles from anyone except me or DH. Our dr. said that the lack of food wasn't a problem during the day unless she wasn't thriving. It may be a little different since she was eating solid foods by then, but still lots of babies refuse bottles from "strangers" and don't eat all day. I understand why it's worrisome though. I was worried sick when DD started refusing the bottle.

Tavern on the Green sounds awesome. I hope you have a fantastic 1st Mother's Day. Weren't you supposed to go to a wedding? I remember when you were discussing that and I meant to tell you that I was in a wedding last year that was out of town and over Mother's Day weekend. I, like you, thought it was a little insensitive of our friends to have a weeding (out of town especially) over that weekend. I was MOH and DH was BM ... and to top it off bride and groom were already married for 2 years but eloped and wanted an official ceremony and reception.

Rosebud - Lots of daycares have "drop-in" rates. If you know of one that has a great reputation and you don't mind DS going to day care then you might try that route. Wow! I didn't even know you could be on Prevacid and Zantac. My DS is on Prevacid - Zantac didn't seem to help. I thought he needed a higher dosage to, but the dr. on call that day said he was on the highest dosage for his age/weight. How much Prevacid and Zantac do you give? My DS is heavier than yours. Good luck with your new business!

Brady - DD was a total swaddle addict. I'm not even embarrassed to admit we swaddled her until she was 6 months old. We tried to "wean" her from it multiple times, but she would just constantly flail her arms around. There is no harm done by swaddling, so do it as long as you have to so that you get a good nights sleep! Now you know why I was saying that the swaddling blanket we had was great because it was big and we could use it for a long time!

Lisa - Well I guess the bright side of the flood is that you got to do a little redecorating! How's your knee? Is that why you are on Tylenol with Codeine? Hope you are feeling ok!

[mcgwigan]

tgoody Was it hard to wean our DD from swaddling? I'm wondering how I'll know when he's ready to not be swaddled anymore! If I lay him down on his back when he's asleep. he never stays that way for long. He doesn't flail, but stretches like crazy!

Lisa Yay for the good insurance settlement and the oportunity to spruce up the bathroom! Too bad they have to dig up your yard/flower bed though!

JBB I hope Julia finally let you sleep some!

Today I took Wyatt to daycare for 2 hours this morning. We both did pretty well! The one woman, Erin, has a 2 year old and boy did he have a fit when I handed Wyatt over to her!! It was really cute. I told him that I knew that she was HIS mommy and that I would be back in a couple hours to take that baby away! He was better after that.

Today was the opening day of Turkey hunting - DH didn't get up to go, but I thought he appreciate if I dressed Wyatt in camo. Here's a pic:
http://i238.photobucket.com/albums/ff317/mcgwigan/2008_0501Image0006.jpg?t=1209690970

[JBB]

TgoodyHave a great time in Florida.
Good memory. On Mother's Day we have a Baptism. It's fine-we're going to go and then celebrate the 3 of us-it gets me out of being with my mil. And my mom has never been a fan of Mother's Day-she feels the restaurants are always crowded and she'd rather go out on a less hectic day!

EliezrahYay for the redecorating-sorry it's been a pain!

mcgwigancute pic!

GymboreeI went with two of my mommy friends to a trial class. It was great. the 3 of us signed up. It's actually not a bad deal for a class in NYC. It's 8 weeks and you can take 2 classes a week, plus they have a weekly gtg of new moms with different lectures. I'm planning to go once during the week and once on the weekends. On the weekends DH can come!

Okay off to sleep since Julia is asleep at a decent time!

[Brady]

JBB-I never heard of Little Maestro's. With my older son, we did Gymboree, Little Gym, Kindermusik and Music Together. I started with Little Gym around 11 months old and we are currently taking Music Together where I can also bring Drew (who really seems to enjoy it, or as much as a 2.5 year old can!) ;) Your plans for Mother's Day sounds so nice! Enjoy!

Lisa- What a pain! On the bright side, you get to pick out some new stuff...

Megan- Drew is the same way with the stretching! And he is so loud about it! lol. I tried just putting him in his sleep sack one night and man was that a mistake, he stretched himself silly for about 20 minutes, maybe slept 20 minutes and then was making tons of noise again and was up. So much for that experiment! Back to the swaddle blanket for him! Cute picture.. glad daycare went well.

Tammie-Thanks for the reassurance about swaddling. Is your son swaddled now? Have a great trip!

This has been a rough week. My DH has been on an emergency contract and literally worked 95 hours in a weeks span.. I've basically been on my own the past week, and man am I tired! He starts back to his regular shift next week (barring any more emergencies!) and I am so happy about that... My Mom is also coming for a visit next week which should be nice (and might allow me to get a little nap in during the day, which is just so exciting to me! lol).

[Eliezrah]

Tammie, the Tylenol w/ Codeine actually isn't for my knee, although it's helping it! I have about 8 warts that have to be removed from the bottom of my feet (this is soo embarrassing!) and the doc said it would be painful... well it was done Tuesday night and Wed I wasn't able to walk at all. Now I can a tiny bit but it still hurts... and I have to go every 3 weeks until they are gone! :(

Got Milk? I don't!! :eek: Well not as much as I've had and I don't know why or what's up or what to do.... Of course I just realized it last night and so far today it seems better, but here's the story anyway....

So normally, Aaron poops about once every day or every other day or so. When he nursed, he'd get so much milk that it would drip out of his mouth and onto me and he'd spit up a bit afterwards (not too much to be concerned). He was going anywhere from 5-7 hours between feedings at night and about 3-4 during the day and he'd burp a lot as well.

Well for the past week or so (I'm not even sure when it all started), he's been eating every 1.5 - 2 hours during the day and only going 3-4 hours at night (unless he was taking a bottle of EBM, then he'd stay with the 5-7). He'll go several days w/o pooping (which I know can be ok) and then when he does poop, it's very loose and explosive. He hasn't been dripping milk at all, or spitting up or even really burping. Yesterday I went to pump and realized that instead of my usual 4-5 ounces I was barely getting 2-3. My boobs haven't been feeling any heavier before feedings or softer after so I figured my supply must be a bit lower, which would explain why he's gong longer between bottle feedings, he's getting more from the bottle.

I have no clue what happened or why and I'm very frustrated. Kellymom did say stress can lower supply and I have been stressed this week for sure. The only other thing I can think of is that last weekend when Scott did the Friday & Saturday night feedings like he usually does, he ended up doing 3 instead of 1 or 2. I slept downstairs so I could sleep through the night w/o hearing any kids and he let me sleep in and did the morning feeding as well. I did pump after I woke up both mornings, but can missing 3 feedings (even w/ pumping afterwards) for only 2 days do this?

The past few days I've been trying to pump more than I usually do to stimulate the demand and I ordered Fenugreek last night, which should be here on Tuesday. I'm also going to try to do 2 feedings per side so the other side has time to build up extra milk.

Last night I he was eating every 2 hours or so. I fed him at 7 then he woke up at 8:45. Then he went about 4 hours and didn't wake up until 12:30 am. After that the night got BAD.... We both fell asleep while I was feeding him and I woke up at 1:30 and put him back in his crib. He started screaming like crazy and we finally figured out he was hungry (I had only JUST fed him an hour before) so I fed him again. We fell asleep and I woke up at 2:30 and put him back to bed. He was fine until 4:30 (3 hours after the last feeding) and the same thing happened again. I was up at 5:30 and put him to bed where he started crying to eat again. I fed him again at 5:30 (and each of these times he was acting as if it had been hours) and woke up at 6:30 (one of these times when I woke up, he had his hand grasped around my nipple, it was funny!).

At the 6:30 wake up, I did notice milk on my sheets, which made me happy since that used to happen every night (meaning he was getting more than enough milk). He then woke up at 7:30 for the day and ate at 8. After this feeding I noticed my sleeve that was under his head was wet with milk, so that's twice in a row he seemed to finally be getting enough. I pumped after the 8 am feeding and even though I barely got an ounce (I pumped from the side I fed from) my boob felt soft afterwards. He also had a VERY heavy diaper this morning, the heaviest its been in a long time.

[JBB]

Brady I think Little Maestros may be a NYC thing. I am going to be looking into Music Together.
Sorry you've had such a rough week-have a great time with your mom-and I totally get being excited about a nap!

Beauty DayOff to get my haircut today. My mom and I are both going-we have back to back appointments so I'll have help with Julia. And then tonight I'm going to get a manicure. DH will come so that Julia can see me!

Hope everyone has a nice day!

[JBB]

EliezrahWe cross posted! Sorry about the milk supply-but it sounds like its getting better. I remember when I started leaking after having such a low supply-I literally cried with happiness.

[Eliezrah]

JBB, what did you do to build it up? I don't remember.

[DelSol]

Rosebud ~ glad to hear Declan is having some better days with the Prevacid and Zantac.

JBB ~ Never heard of Little Maestros. Have fun with your Beauty Day!

Tammie ~ too funny about the babies name.

Lisa ~ sorry to hear about your milk supply but since you were stressing with everything going on with your house, that could be it. Hopefully once you are less stressed, your milk will come in again.

mcgwigan ~ cute picture, I think he looks like you.

Brady ~ yikes 95 hours in a week! I bet you are tired. Good thing your mom is coming for a visit.


me ~ not much going on, I tried to get here the other day and do shout outs but work got busy. Addison is a little better with napping (not much) but now she's waking up early. Monday, Wednesday & Thursday it was 4AM and Tuesday it was 5AM, this morning it was 1:30AM. Every time she was hungry so I gave her a bottle, yesterday she didn't want to go back to sleep so she was up for an hour then slept. Luckily I work from home on Thursday mornings so I got some extra sleep. I tried some cereal in her bottle last night but I don't think I put enough in there, tonight I'll try 2 teaspoons instead of 1 teaspoon. Little bugger was up at 1:30AM, crying so I went to make her a bottle and DH came in and asked what was wrong and I said I don't know, she's getting a bottle because she's screaming. He held her and she screamed and clawed at him. I gave her the bottle and she quieted right down and was back asleep with in a half hour. She did sleep until 6:45AM then.

I hope everyone has a good weekend!

[sparkle&shine]

Lisa ~ By any chance might AF be about to make her return? I know that with DS1 I noticed a big dip in supply right before AF showed up. I know that BFing usually keeps AF away for a while but it is different for everyone.

JBB ~ Enjoy your beauty day! I was thinking of getting my hair cut and highlighted today too.

Del Sol ~ Sorry you haven't gotten much sleep. Ethan has been waking up early lately too. It seems like everytime you think you have them figured out they change it up.


So Ethan finally took a whole bottle yesterday!! I couldn't believe it. He ate all 3 or 4 ounces. I don't know what finally made it click but he must have just been hungry enough!

[Rosebud]

Thanks, everyone, for the advice about day care! I will look around for a center in my area that takes drop ins. I live right in the middle of a big city, there's gotta be someplace! It sounds like just the right thing, since I'll only need sporadic care for him.

Rosebud - Wow! I didn't even know you could be on Prevacid and Zantac. My DS is on Prevacid - Zantac didn't seem to help. I thought he needed a higher dosage to, but the dr. on call that day said he was on the highest dosage for his age/weight. How much Prevacid and Zantac do you give? My DS is heavier than yours. Good luck with your new business!

The ped had him taking 2.5ml of Zantac twice a day: once in the am, once in the pm. Also, half a tablet of Prevacid dissolved in water at mid-day. That was really just for a week, to give the Prevacid time to start working. Since he seems to be doing well with the Prevacid, the dr. took him off the morning dose of Zantac. So, now it's just Prevacid in the morning and Zantac in the evening. If Declan can start regularly getting through nights without having big AR attacks, he'll get to quit the Zantac entirely. Fingers crossed!

Is the Prevacid working for your DS?

[JBB]

EliezrahBrewers Yeast. You can get it in a healthfood store. I took it as a pill-one time a day. And I drank two teabags of Rasberry Leaf Tea and two teabags of Nettle Tea.

[Sashi]

Hi Ladies -

I am sorry I never got around to doing SO's, maybe sometime this weekend. I've been running errands and cleaning all week. Trying to keep busy while Ollie has been in daycare. Long story short, I love his daycare! I feel so confident dropping him off and leaving him there. I spent some time there during this week watching the teachers and WOW, I don't think I could ever for Ollie what they do for all those children. The kids have a blast and they really do get such great 'education.' Oliver did body painting, tummy time, story time, went on long walks, played with toys in the outside gazebo....and so much more. I'm so happy that we chose this place and that we got in. Every single mother/father that comes to drop off or pick up and meets me (as I'm new) they tell me how much they love it, how their older children have thrived in school from it, etc etc.

I've also started giving him baths every night now that he goes to daycare, I'd rather him be clean and get rid of the germs. He also gets his clothes changed every day as soon as we get home. The only 'issue' I had with daycare was that they would not give him his whole bottle. I noticed on Wednesday that they only marked that he drank 4 or 5 oz at a time instead of the 6 in his bottle. And then they threw the rest away. Soooo not okay with me. According to them, he loses interest and they stop. They continue to try for 1 hour and then throw it out. So i started giving them 4.5 ounce bottles and let them feed him more often as opposed to more ounces, less often. Worked well, they only thre away .5 ounce today. I just get so upset when anyone throws away my hard working pumped milk!

We are redoing our master bathroom and we are in the process of picking out all the tile. We are widening and lengthening our shower stall; re-tiling the shower, tub surround, tub deck, and floor; getting granite on the countertops; new hardware; taking out the huge in wall medicine cabinet and replacing it with two mirrors, two wall sconces and a middle medicine cabinet.

We picked a lotus color slate for the floor.
http://tile-direct.com/storeimages/full/1148590112.jpg

Durango Tile for the shower stall with glass accents from Tantrum Sonoma line:
http://www.sonomatilemakers.com/images/what_we_make/tantrum/tantrum_folio4_r3_c19.jpg

Very excited. Just need to find lights, mirrors and a cabinet! :) So exciting.......

[Eliezrah]

Sparkle, I don't think so since Af didn't come back until about 4 months after I weaned Seth.

Sashi, gorgeous!

My milk: Now I'm wondering if it wasn't my supply but an early 3 month growth spurt. Yesterday and today seem back to normal. He even went 5 and then 4 hours last night!

Our house: The new pipe was laid yesterday and our yard is now entirely covered in hay to keep the seed down. It was a mess! The new carpeting in here is GORGEOUS and I can't stop walking around on it! The new bathroom floor is being laid now. There were issues this morning with the truck breaking down in Long Island, and then when they finally got here they found water damage under the bathroom floor which the insurance guy said was fine and didn't cover. They almost couldn't do the floor today (and we have about 40 people coming for a Meet The Baby party tomorrow!) Everything seems to be going well now and we have a call into our insurance agent to get covered for the new bathroom floor (they covered us for the damage to the floor outside the bathroom and we decided to do the bathroom ourselves).

[HollyMN]

Eliezrah You're probably fine with milk supply, but try the breastfeeding thread if you're worried. I've noticed that all the "extra" is gone that I used to have the first months too. I thought I remember this happening later with Caleb, but who knows. Rachel seems happy, even if I've changed...

Me - I returned to work yesterday! I love going back on a Friday - I did it with Caleb too, both kids were born on Fridays (as was I). Things went fine for me, and almost okay at home EXCEPT Rachel didn't take a bottle! I come home at lunch and feed her, but she's offered a morning and afternoon bottle but didn't take them. She took them just fine the whole maternity leave, I could leave her behind to go shopping, take Caleb to his activities, etc. Caleb didn't take a bottle for maternity leave or the first months back at work, so I'm thinking this can't be as bad as that. I hope this doesn't continue too long. In the meantime, I'm adding to the freezer stash I was too lazy to build much of on leave.

In good news, the night before I went back to work she slept her first 8 hour stretch - 9:30-5:30. However, Caleb was doing that from a young age and then he quit a few weeks after I went back to work and no bottle, so I'm not expecting this to last long.

[JBB]

SparkleandShineThat's great that Ethan took a whole bottle!

RosebudGood luck with finding a drop in daycare.

SashiG;ad you are so happy with the daycare-it sounds fantastic!

EliezrahGlad things are going well with your milk supply and glad you are so happy with the way the redecorating!

Baby NamingJulia's Baby Naming was today and it was GREAT!!!! I don't have many pictures yet, because my sister and my good friend M took most of the pics but I do have a few of her in her dress and setup.


The services began at 10am, but I knew that Julia and I would not be going into the services until it was almost time for us to be called up for the Baby Naming. DH headed over about 9am to make sure everything was okay with the caterer and my dad dropped off my mom so she could help with the centerpieces. My sister and her husband also got to the temple about 9:30am so that my sister could assist with the setup.

My dad came over to meet me to help with Julia. Fortunately there was not much help needed-I was all dressed minus some lipstick and Julia was also ready. We walked to the temple-on the way she fell asleep.

We got to the temple and I walked into the room and was blown away. It looked so good. I had really started to worry that it might not be all that great. But I really had nothing to worry about.
I stayed in the party room with Julia until it was almost time to go up. Julia did great during the naming. She was smiling and happy. Once we were done I went to try and feed her and she started to have a melt down. She was crying, didn't want to eat, she was so upset that I began to get upset because I was afraid there was something wrong with my milk supply and she was starving (this is a paranoia of mine). My mom told me I was being ridiculous and that she was just overhwhelmed. We were sitting in a room off the party room and I had turned off the lights and was trying to calm her. At this point services ended and guests were coming into the party room.

My mom ended up taking her out in the stroller, but was unsuccessful at getting her to sleep. My dad then went and she immediately fell asleep and he walked with her for a little while till she was definitely asleep and then she slept the whole time.

The luncheon was great. It was so nice to have al our family and friends with us. We had many long time friends as well as some new friends, including 6 of my mommy friends who had a blast and ended up staying the longest!

The food looked great and from what I heard tasted wonderful-we do have a lot of leftovers. The caterer packed everything up for us-which was nice and makes me happy since I love lox and there was a lot left over!



http://images.kodakgallery.com/photos4779/3/7/51/26/91/8/891265107306_0_ALB.jpg


http://images.kodakgallery.com/photos4779/3/7/51/96/73/4/473965107306_0_ALB.jpg

http://images.kodakgallery.com/photos4779/3/7/51/47/40/8/840475107306_0_ALB.jpg

http://images.kodakgallery.com/photos4779/3/7/51/6/15/9/915065107306_0_ALB.jpg

[mcgwigan]

JBB I can't see your pictures!!:( Glad the baby naming went well!

Holly Wow, that's great that Rachel slept so well for you, hopefully it continues. I'm sure she'll come around to the bottle.

Lisa I hope your Meet the Baby party went well & glad that you were able to have everything done at the house in time for it! I had a day of low supply a while ago, that had me freaked out, but was just one day. I chalked it up to shear exhaustion & stress.

Sashi Can you take in some breastmilk use/storage guidelines for the daycare to follow? I think that with formula, it has to be thrown out if not consumed within an hour, but I'm pretty sure that I've read that breast milk is not the same. You can put it back in the fridge and re-heat it once to offer it again - I'm assuming that there are antibodies in it so the whole bacteria from the mouth gets into the bottle thing is not as much of an issue with breast milk. I was able to choose whether they throw away or keep what's left in the bottle. (I chose to keep so that I can keep track better). Glad that Ollie likes the daycare!

S&S Ethan must have finally accepted the fact that it's either the bottle or nothing! Glad he finally took it - it's got to make you feel better.

DelSol Let me know if the cereal in the bottle works for you. I've read that it doesn't work for everyone and will sometimes give the baby a bellyache. I did try it last night also - just a teaspoon in a bottle - he only slept for 3 hours. His sleep has been off though so who knows!

Wyatt had a horrible sleep day yesterday. Barely any napping and then it took me over 2 hours to get him to go to sleep for bed last night. He finally went to sleep around 9:30. Woke at 1:45 and I tried a teaspoon of cereal in a bottle. He took the bottle fine and then some more from me, then went to sleep but woke up at 5. Today I took him shopping with me so that he could have a nice car ride nap. He was awake the entire time, until we started home then ended up asleep & took a 2 1/2 hour nap. Tonight it only took me 1/2 hour to get him to sleep. I was going to try to cereal in the bottle again, but he didn't want the bottle, so I didn't push it. Hopefully we can get back into longer stretches of sleep - he had shots on Tuesday last week and it ruined our good night-time sleeping!

[DelSol]

DelSol Let me know if the cereal in the bottle works for you. I've read that it doesn't work for everyone and will sometimes give the baby a bellyache. I did try it last night also - just a teaspoon in a bottle - he only slept for 3 hours. His sleep has been off though so who knows!



Just wanted to get back to you. Saturday, I put 2 teaspoons in her bottle at 8:30PM ish, she was up at 4AM again after that she slept until 8AM. Sunday AM she was up at 1AM. She had a regular bottle at 7:30PM (Saturday night) and then I tried to give her 4 ounces with some cereal at 9PM but she didn't drink a lot, I think because she couldn't get it out of the bottle and the fast nipple just ran out of her mouth. I fed her at 1AM and then she slept until 6:30AM.

Last night, she went to bed at 8:45PM and slept until 6:30AM. What I did was I got a medium flow nipple and it worked a lot better, nothing came running out of her mouth. Let's hope, she's getting back to her schedule.

I ordered her a highchair so I'm going to start giving her cereal with a spoon ans possibly mix it with some baby food, we'll see.

This is her highchair:
http://i72.photobucket.com/albums/i164/danamartin/41X1616NOkL__SS384_.jpg

We had a good weekend. Saturday she took at 3+ hour nap, could have been the cereal I gave her in the AM but it gave me a lot of time to get stuff done.

Don't have much time for shout-out, pretty busy at work and then when I get home, I'm playing with Addison.

[mcgwigan]

DelSol That looks like the highchair that I have - is it Fisher Price space saver high chair? I've had ours at the table for a while now, thinking he'd like to sit in it while we eat, but he's not wild about it yet! The only time he liked sitting in it was when I parked him in front of the refrigerator to look at all the stuff - and he fell asleep! It was cute!
Your Addison is older than Wyatt - I think by a month- he definately is not ready for spoon anything! I didn't do the cereal in the bottle last night because he wouldn't take the bottle, but he still went to sleep at 8 and then didn't wake up til 2 then he slept til 5:30. That I can handle!

Wyatt also really didn't want to take the bottle at daycare today. I fed him at 7:20, but he didn't eat much so she knew when he woke up at 10:30 fussing that he had to be hungry. He fussed until she swaddled him then he took the bottle! I'm glad she thought of it! hopefully he'll do better tomorrow!

[tgoody03]

We are back from Florida. The trip was nice, although the drive as long. The kids were awesome in the car. Couldn’t have asked for better behavior from them. The drive was 9.5 hours down and 9 back. We stopped for lunch both ways so that DD could get out and stretch her legs.

Tripp was baptized while we were in FL. It was a nice ceremony. Both my niece and nephew were also baptized, so it was a true family affair! My dad is doing well. He is on a pretty aggressive chemo schedule. 3 days of chemo every 3 weeks. It was pretty hard on him, harder than the previous chemo, but when I left this morning he was doing much better.

Tripp has his 2 month WBV tomorrow. I’ll post his stats once we get back. He’s 10 weeks today, so a little late with the WBV. It was supposed to be last week, but we were in FL so I had to reschedule.

SOs …..

McWigan – Wyatt is adorable! I think he looks like you! Not sure what your DH looks like, but Wyatt definitely has some of you in him!

McWigan & Brady – I have to say that it wasn’t that hard to wean DD from swaddling. But I guess it depends on your definition of hard. I thought it was harder having no sleep, than swaddling DD until she was ready to not be swaddled. We swaddled her until she was about 6 months. I kid you not!! I know that sounds crazy, but if we didn’t swaddle her she wouldn’t sleep. We started weaning her one arm at a time and that worked well. To this day she still loves to be wrapped up in a blanket (she’s 20 months!). Since there is no harm in swaddling, I didn’t see anything wrong with swaddling her until she didn’t need it any longer. The only thing that scared me was the blanket in the crib. She could break out of it and I was always a little scared she get the blanket over her face. You probably will be able to stop swaddling when your DSs can roll. My DD didn’t like to roll so she just plain wouldn’t. If she had, she would have likely rolled to her tummy and slept and wouldn’t need the swaddling. You’ll know when your DS will not need to be swaddled, but until them keep wrapping them up like little burritos. They’ll get sleep and, therefore, you’ll get sleep!!

Brady – Nope, my DS is not swaddled. I try though. LOL! Well, I guess he technically is. We wrap the blanket around him with his arms out. If I wrap his arms, he breaks out of the swaddle almost immediately in the beginning of the night. I can usually swaddle him after he wakes to eat, even if it is only one arm. He really does sleep better when he stays in the swaddle. Did you say your DH is in construction? I feel bad for you that he works such long, grueling hours, but I think I also feel sorry for him! You’re a strong girl to get through these days with literally no help. Hopefully DH’s work schedule will calm down a little. Have a good time with your mom.

Lisa – I was going to say that the milk issue sounds just like a growth spurt. I went through the exact.same.thing a few weeks ago with DS. I was panicked because DS wanted to eat and I felt like I had no milk. Plus, I remember DD eating this much during spurts, but I never felt like I didn’t have even milk. Now my milk is fine and I’ve actually been a little bit engorged every day, which I was not before. My kids never follow the standard growth spurts. They are always earlier than when the actual spurt should happen.

JBB – Hope you had a nice beauty day! You get to spend so much time with your mom. That’s awesome!

S&S – That’s great that Ethan finally took a bottle. Does he only take 3 – 4 oz every bottle? DS is taking 5 oz when I feed him a bottle. I was wondering if I fed him consecutive bottles if he’d take less (assume he eats less at a BFing session) or if he’d just keep the 5 oz and go longer between feedings.

Rosebud – Wow! That seems like a big dosage. It’s supposed to go by weight. It’s always interesting to me to see the difference in what drs. say/prescribe. My DD is 20 months and 25 lbs and she gets 2.0 twice per day. Your DS gets more! My DS was only prescribed 0.7 ml twice per day. Maybe that’s why it wasn’t working! He now gets just a half of a Prevacid dissolved in water once per day. It does work for him. Much better than the Zantac. He eats well now (no pulling on and off my bbs), doesn’t arch his back and get stiff nearly as much, and the crying at 7 pm has stopped. If we miss his dosage by even 5 mins though, all hell breaks loose. Sometimes I think we need to give him the Prevacid twice per day, but my dr. told me we were at the limit. That was when he was 11.5 lbs. He is now 13.5 lbs. I’m going to ask her tomorrow at our 2 mo WBV if we should up his dosage. I’m so glad the meds are helping Declan!

Sashi – The daycare sounds great! I’m glad you really like it. That makes all the difference in the world. Nice selections for your remodel!

Holly – Sounds like your first day back at work was a success. That is great! Awesome that Rachel slept 8 hours. I’m hoping that DS does that right before I go back to work also.

[mcgwigan]

tgoody Glad you had a good trip to FL & I hope that your dad continues to do better with the chemo. Remember to let us know how you made out with Tripp's WBV.

This is the swaddle blanket that I've been using with Wyatt:
http://trus.imageg.net/graphics/product_images/pTRU1-2789374dt.jpg

It velcros on so I don't have to worry about it getting on his face if he breaks out of it. He can break an arm out every now and then and his legs sometimes, but the blanklet has always stayed on around his mid section, so no fear of it going up to his face.

He's such an addict, that he has to be swaddled in order for them to feed him a bottle at daycare. At least yesterday it went smoothly - she swaddled him & he drank a whole 4oz bottle at one sitting. Yay!

I'm not getting much done with him in daycare in the mornings. By the time I get back home I have to pump - which is going great - I actually put 3 days worth of pumping in the freezer this morning! But I'm really not getting much else done. Off to try to get the bedrooms vaccumed before i go pick him up!
Hope everyone is doing well!

[Sashi]

McGwigan - I use the same swaddle blanket.

We were told to try and stop the swaddling from our pediatrician. :eek: Something about motor skills but we decided to try and stop just in general for fear of being addicted and continuing the addiction. The first day they tried not swaddling him at daycare, this was Monday. I came to pick him up and they said he had a very rough day, would hardly sleep. He slept from 4:15 to 7:30pm in his car seat (he was pooped!) and then slept fairly well at night when we swaddled him. We just kept the swaddle a bit looser than we normally would. Tuesday we did the same thing, no swaddling during naps and they said he did very well and slept a total of 4.5 hours at daycare. Last night I'm proud to say he slept from 9:15pm to 6:30am and yes he was swaddled. Of course the nurse at his daycare doesn't agree with our ped about not swaddling him. He's only 3 months old, she said! And I agree with her. So if he doesn't mind napping without it, we'll stick to swaddling at night only. And we'll attempt a change over the weekend when we have a chance to nap during the day with him.

Still love daycare. I am so hesitant to go overseas. I leave on Sunday and it just feels unsettling and too soon. I'm really upset. I haven't prepared at all for it emotionally or ACTUALLY. I don't know what i'm bringing, have to pack and actually have to buy some things.

Ollie has his first cold, it's not getting any better but it also isn't worse. We are using the humidifier in his room at night but he's just all stuffy. The ped said it wasn't in his chest.

Hair loss - I am losing hair by the fistful! And so is my baby. I hate it because he had such a great head of hair. The whole hairline is receding and luckily i have enough hair that losing some isn't a big deal.

I'm going to get a mani/pedi on Friday before I leave on Sunday, thank goodness.

What is everyone doing for Mother's Day????

[motownmamma]

I just have a minute before my oldest wakes up from her nap, but I wanted to weigh in on swaddling.

Both of my girls loved being swaddled, and it really helped them sleep longer stretches. It's great when they're really little because that darn startle reflex that newborns have can sometimes wake them up from a dead sleep, but swaddling eliminates that. I can put Chloe down swaddled in her crib, and as long as she's drowsy, she'll almost always fall asleep by herself. We also use the Swaddle-Me blankets.....aren't they great?

Our doctor told us to stop swaddling Lily when she was 4 months old. She could roll over at that point. Other than that, I don't know why you couldn't swaddle as much as baby desires until that point in their development. We were nervous to stop swaddling her, but she had outgrown her need for it anyway and continued to sleep just fine once we took it away.

Mother's Day: We're taking the girls to A Day Out With Thomas here in Detroit. I'm really looking forward to spending a day with my little family. :)

Daycare: Chloe started daycare this week! Both of my girls go two days each week (I work part time). Everything went great. We're still trying to get our early morning routine down on those days, but we'll figure it out.

Cereal: We'll start rice cereal right at 4 months. I just bought a box the other day thinking that it will be here before we know it!

[PookiePrincess]

I haven't been here in a while. I've been trying to follow along when I can, but I've been super busy since going back to school.

School has been crazy. All of my downtime is spent pumping, which is fine, but I don't do nearly as much goofing off as I used to. I'm also really glad that my team is so supportive because they don't mind me pumping during lunch or at our team meetings. I'm so glad about that. It means I don't have to hole up in my room by myself and I still get some time to hang out with them. I also spend that time grading papers and writing lesson plans because I've decided I'm not bringing work home anymore. Plus, there's only 13 1/2 days of school left, so I can survive it!

Kassidy's cold got worse. DH stayed home the first 3 days of last week and she still wasn't feeling well so I took off last Thursday and Friday and took her back to the doctor Thursday. When the doctor checked, she had fluid in her ears, so it developed into her first ear infection. She's been on antibiotics now for almost a week and is feeling a lot better. We'll go back to the ped next Thursday to make sure it's gone.

She went to my friend's house yesterday and today (for the first time...it was hard having to leave her somewhere...I've only had to leave her at home with daddy or grandma before). I picked her up early today though because my friend called me and the baby had been crying for a couple of hours and she couldn't get her to stop. She's been good this afternoon though.

That's what's been going on here with us! I'd like to be able to keep up more, but until I'm done with school I know that's not going to happen. By the time I get home ion the evenings I wash bottles for the next day and snuggle with the baby for a few hours before it's time to put her to bed and start all over again.

[Eliezrah]

JBB, Mazel Tov! She looked gorgeous!

Sleeping: I don't know what's going on, but Aaron was doing 5-7 hour stretches for about 1-2 week sand is now back to every 3 hours like clock work! I'm so tired that I fall asleep while he nurses and then wake up about an hour later to put him back to bed, so I'm only getting 1 or 2 hour stretches of sleep myself. I don't get it! And he's back to about 2 hours during the day! His growth spurt was last week, we thought, when it was more often than this and he slept all day. I never heard of a growth spurt lasting 2 weeks!! If this continues through next week, I'll call the ped. At this age, Seth already had bad eczema from him allergies and the same thing happened to his sleep.. he went from 6-8 hour stretches to 3, so I'm a bit nervous that something might be bothering Aaron. Tonight I'm going ot give him Gripe Water before his last feeding in case it's gas or something.

Weight: I had gone down to 143 about a month ago and am now back UP to 148! I don't get it! I was even 150 a few days ago!!! :shock: Between this and the sleeping thing I haven't been in the happiest of campers lately. Don't worry about PPD, it hasn't gotten to that point (yet?) and I'm good at recognizing when I need help, so no worries there. I'm just upset at my weight and his sleeping. I'm also jealous of everyone in both my Feb '08 BGs who say they are back to pre-PG weight and/or clothes and whose babies are sleeping 5-8 hours at night.

So after over a week of craziness, we have our GORGEOUS new carpet and new floor!!! WE LOVE IT!

Old Berber carpet
http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v410/eliezrah/House/DSC01713.jpg

New thick, plush carpet!
http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v410/eliezrah/House%20problems/DSC03010-1.jpg
http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v410/eliezrah/House%20problems/DSC03012-1.jpg

Old, icky bathroom floor
http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v410/eliezrah/House%20problems/DSC02989.jpg

New, GORGEOUS bathroom & outside of bathroom floor (used to be carpet outside the bathroom by the side door, which was STUPID!)
http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v410/eliezrah/House%20problems/DSC03015.jpg
http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v410/eliezrah/House%20problems/DSC03014.jpg

[Eliezrah]

BTW if you go to http://jackieseth.clarkcolor.com you can see all our pics from the Meet Aaron Party. But I will leave you with these 2....

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v410/eliezrah/Meet%20Aaron%20Party/DSC03023.jpg
http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v410/eliezrah/Meet%20Aaron%20Party/DSC03039.jpg

[Sashi]

Just thought I'd post some pics of my precious little one (my 16 pounder!)...........

The "George Costanza" pose (my husband's doing):
http://i72.photobucket.com/albums/i186/sashi0604/thecostanza.jpg?t=1210260582

The cutest thing ever for sure!:
http://i72.photobucket.com/albums/i186/sashi0604/100_4357.jpg?t=1210260674

My chubster:
http://i72.photobucket.com/albums/i186/sashi0604/100_4360-1.jpg?t=1210260739

[Eliezrah]

TOo cute!!

[mcgwigan]

Lisa Your kids are so cute & Aaron's cheeks are adorable!! Your new floors are nice. Our whole house is berber carpeting & it would be nice to have some plush somewhere! I love your bathroom floor! Oh, & I don't fit into many of my pre-preg pants, so I had to buy new ones for work since I go back next week so don't feel bad! I eat terrible & should stop so wyatt won't be a junk food junkie - it's probably too late.

Sashi Cute, cute!! I like the baby legs!!

Wyatt's been doing really well at daycare - I'm so happy with it! (as happy as I can be about going back to work anyway!) Also, his sleep at night keeps getting better & better. Last night he went down at 8:05 and woke up at 2:45! I was only up with him for 30 min then he slept til 6:15!! My bbs were killing me!!:p I had a dentist appt this morning and I had to pump in the parking lot before the appointment!

[Sashi]

Eliezrah - Great new flooring, love it! You sure do have lots of toys in that room! ;) Don't worry too much about the weight, it will come off, especially after running around with 3 kids!!!!

McGwigan - Congrats on the better sleeping! Wyatt's a champ.

I just got a call from Daycare saying they only have 1 bottle left for the entire rest of the day and I can't pick him up until 6 today (I dropped him off later than normal because of it). He's been eating every 2 hours they said. He isn't spitting up and he's drinking it all so it sounds like GROWTH SPURT time. He is also sleeping much longer at night (pretty much the whole night 8-9 hours) so he is making up for it during the day. Thank goodness DH is home today (working) and can drop off two more bottles to them. But still, I think they might feed him a bit too often. There is really no way for me to tell.

[tgoody03]

We had Tripp's 2 mo WBV. I thought it was Tuesday, but it was actually yesterday. He's a big boy and has grown so much since his 2 week appt! He's in the 90% percentile for height and length and at his last appointment (2 weeks) he was only in the 75% and 25% respectively.

Tripp did well with the shots. He got 5 plus the oral vaccine :eek: He did well though. He cried only after he got stuck with the 2nd needle and was done crying by the time I got to pick him up. He's a trooper! He slept almost all day yesterday. Today he's doing fine. Not fussy or hot ... just happy Tripp. DH got a few good pictures of him smiling this morning, so cute! I'll post later.

I haven't put any of the stats in so here are all of them (in red, of course! :))

Tgoody
Tripp
Birth: 7lbs, 4oz & 20 inches
2 weeks: 8lbs, 0oz & 21.25 inches
2 Month: 12lbs, 15.5oz & 24.25 inches

Tripp has been doing really well with sleep. He has started going down between 7:45 and 8:15 ... generally right at 8. It mostly depends on when I can feed him his last feeding and that depends on when DD goes to bed. I feed Tripp afterwards. I can't believe he is going to bed so early! He has been sleeping until about 3 am -4 am and then up for about 30 mins to eat. Then he goes down and wakes up at 6. I bring him in bed with me after I nurse him and he sleeps until I feel like getting up. Usually around 8:30. He's really starting to settle in and the reflux seems to be under control with the help of Prevacid. Thank the Lord! Hopefully I didn't jinx myself with the sleeping talk.

McWigan - I was looking back at the front page and saw Wyatt's picture. He was so little compared to the last picture you posted. All I could think was WOW! How can you MIL not think he's getting enough food. He sure has hit a good growth spurt and you can tell. He's adorable!

Sashi - I barely remember you saying you were going overseas. Where are you going? Going for work? I can't believe your pedi told you to stop swaddling. Everything I've ever read or discussed with my dr. has just pointing to stop swaddling when baby can roll. I only swaddled DD so long because she hated and I mean hated rolling over. She could do it, she just wouldn't. So I felt ok swaddling her. If she would have rolled over and slept on her belly earlier than 1 year, I would have stopped swaddling her before 6 months. I say keep swaddling until Ollie rolls over and sleeps on his tummy. Then the reflex that causes him to swing his arms in the air will be gone.

Ollie looks so grown up sitting in his Bumbo. Wow! I just brought mine out for DS today. Ollie sure is a cutie! He looks long more than chubby to me. He's not much more than the rest of the kids in here now. You know? He's a month older than many of them but only 3 lbs or so. Don't you just love the little rolls? Looks like Ollie has some and I'm sure they are about to start coming on strong. That's my favorite thing about babies! Love the rolls!

Lisa - Don't feel bad about the weight. I had lost all my baby weight + about 5 lbs but now the 5 lbs + is back. Ugh! I was doing so good. I'm off to go running in about 5 mins. Carpet looks awesome! Hopefully nothing is bothering Aaron and he just had a bad week with sleep.

Your kids are beautiful!! It's pretty amazing to me that they all have the same color eyes. Awesome!

Kristi - Sounds like your DH is really doing great with Kassidy. That is great news! I'm sorry she has had a little cold. I think DS has one also. His nose is all gunky and he has a cough - thanks to his big sister and her daycare, of course. Yay for school ending soon. I know you are excited to have the summer to spend with Kassidy. And, Congrats on becoming a homeowner!

[mcgwigan]

tgoody Wow, Tripp is tall!! Yeah, MIL has changed her tune! It helps also that SIL had her peanut last week - 4lbs 15 oz :eek:!! She's having problems breastfeeding and the poor thing only gained 2 oz when SIL took her to the ped's for her 1 week appt yesterday.

I had to come back to share my excitement - I got a baby b'jorn today - just the original one & it is awesome!! I really like it! Last night DH had told me that he'd be home for dinner when I talked to him around 4:00 so I busted my back trying to get dinner made at a reasonable time & Wyatt had a burp stuck so I basically had to hold him the whole time while making dinner - let me tell you, the kitchen was NOT a pretty site!! THEN DH was wayy late & didn't get home til 7:30!:mad: (he stopped to give an estimate to someone which is fine, but let me know!!)

[Sashi]

Tgoody3 - Way to go Tripp! He was a trooper through all the vaccines. Ollie didn't fair that well. Good luck for the rest of the week, hopefully he'll stay unfussy! You are right that Ollie is long, or at least that's what people tell me. His weight is in the 75th percentile but his height is about 97% according to that calculator from BabyCenter. If i remember correctly, Tripp had a bunch of hair. Does he still have it or did he lose it?

I will be going to Antwerp & Beerse, Belgium (the Dutch side) for work. Technically it's only three days of work but I will leave on Sunday evening and get in around noon on Monday there. Then work Tuesday - Thursday and come home early afternoon on Friday. I'm just seriously upset about going, I desperately don't want to. And I have all the faith in the world in my DH but I think it's unfair of me to do this. I am however going to be saving all my leftover milk in the fridge starting today because it can last for 8 days, that way starting Sunday evening he will always have fresh milk. We send the frozen milk to daycare and ussually rotate it but we'll see how it goes. DH is still learning the ropes of the breastmilk rotation in our house. We bought a freezer just to store my milk and the whole thing is almost full!!!!! I'm hoping that even if I want to stop all this EP'ing he can still get the majority of breastmilk after starting solids (as opposed to formula) or if my milk runs dry.

[JBB]

mcgwigan I am sorry you can't see the pics. I can sympathize with the horrible sleep as I am up at 1am because Julia is having sleep issues (I have her in the swing-praying she will go back to sleep).

DelSolExciting about starting solids soon-cute high chair!

TGoodyGlad your father is doing well. Congrats on the Baptism. I love that I get to spend so much time with my mom!

Sashi Your DH sounds awesome with Ollie and I am impressed with all your pumping. Good luck with the trip.
Cute pics!

PookiePrincess I hope Kassidy feels better soon.

Eliezrah Thanks-glad you could see the pics! Your renovations look awesome. And the kids look great-such gorgeous children!

Gymboree I signed Julia up so we are taking two classes a week. The 0-6 month class allows two classes a week since the babies are too young for the playspace.

Mother's DayWe're going to a Baptism. I was annoyed at first, but am now happy with it as I will not have to see my MIL that day. Also I have never been to a Baptism so it will be really interesting. It's in a church called Trinity Church which is right near Ground Zero-it survived 9/11.

Tummy Time Julia hates Tummy Time and I have a hard time sticking with it when she cries. Yesterday I was at a mommy's friend apartment and she had the following toy that helps with tummy time

http://trus.imageg.net/graphics/product_images/pTRU1-3445062reg.jpg

I had Julia try it out and she really liked it-so I ordered it!

[mcgwigan]

JBB I hear you on it being hard to stick with Tummy Time. I usually pick Wyatt up once he starts getting frustrated & is on the verge of crying. I've just trying to do more sessions since they're so short. That toy looks like it should be fun!

We had another good night for sleep last night - just up once at 3:15! I'm really excited & hope it continues. I have a feeling it may not happen tonight though since Wyatt ended up with a 4 HOUR nap this afternoon - it was unpreventable! I only kept him up 1 hour past bed time to try to compensate for it.

[DelSol]

http://img.freecodesource.com/myspace-graphics/images/mothers%20day/posters/prod_1020_37322.jpg


I can't believe one year ago this weekend Addison was being conceived.

[tgoody03]

If I don't get back here tomorrow, HAPPY MOTHER'S DAY!! I hope you all have happy times tomorrow with your baby/babies!

Tummy time - Tripp likes it much better than Sophie did; however, that's not to say he also doesn't like to take a nap on his belly when I turn my head. LOL. :rolleyes: My dr. told me at his WBV that he should do it half the time he's awake. Really? WOW! that's a lot. LOL. My old pedi didn't tell me that when Sophie was little.

McWigan - Apparently I birth tall kids!! LOL! DD was consistently in the 90% - 100% for length and still is, so it looks like Tripp is following suit. He is heavier than her, though. She was always in the 50% and has dropped to 25% - 50% more recently (and she eats like a little piggy LOL), but Tripp is in the 75% - 90% for weight. To me, he already looks much older than she did for a soon-to-be 3 month old.

I just wanted to share with you some things I've learned about sleep habits. It is better for the babies to sleep during the day, even if it is 4 hours. If they sleep better during the day, they'll sleep better at night. I always let my kids sleep as long as they want during the day, just not past 5 pm. When babies, I always try to get them to nap after 1 - 2 hrs of wakefulness. I know that isn't always possible with some kids, but with mine it has been. You should also not try and keep baby up past his bedtime. When you do that, schedules get messed up and so can baby. I learned this all in "Healthy Sleep Habits". Have you read that book? I would highly recommend it. I was having terrible trouble getting DD to nap anywhere other than the car seat in the car at about 4 months of age. I read lots of books (only the chapters pertaining to her age and the problems I was having) and really found the one I mentioned to be helpful. It says to look for signs of tiredness and put baby to bed then - both for naps and bedtime. If you miss the "window", you probably won't get baby to nap and they likely have a terrible night of sleep. It really worked for me. Also explains why babies sleep better at night if they sleep better during they day and why you shouldn't try and keep babies awake. It all discusses the importance of a routine and having baby nap somewhere constant rather than always in the car or stroller. Napping on the go isn't good. I learned that the hard way. I didn't think schedules were so important for babies, but boy was I wrong! I learned the hard way. I swear, the book worked wonders for us and today DD often takes 3 hours (sometimes 4) and still sleeps 12 hours at night. Tripp sleeps and hour or 2 in the morning and then 3 - 4 hours in the afternoon. He's in bed by 8 (on his own, I was keeping him up later until I remembered what the book said) and usually wakes once between 3 and 4. To me, this was the best baby book I read pertaining to sleep. I only tell you this because of what you wrote about keeping Wyatt up an hour longer and thinking he may not sleep well b/c of his nap. Anyway, sounds like you are doing everything right, I just thought I'd let you know about this book since it worked well for me. Oh, and it was recommended by my only friend who had a baby at the time I had DD!

Sashi - Ok, so I just realized you'd be going out of town on your first Mother's Day. I hope you are doing something special to day to make up for it!! I'll be thinking of you. What do you do for your job that takes you so far away? I think it'll be neat to be in Belgium, if you can just get over leaving Ollie. It's gonna be hard, but you can do it. Your DH sounds wonderful! Mine wishes he could be a SAHD. LOL. He'd be great at it, too. Much better than I'd be as a full-time SAHM. Too bad he makes more than me, or we'd work it out.

Ollie is a tall boy! But that's great. I love that Tripp is tall. DD was/is too!! Makes it hard to stick with the right sized clothes, especially as they get older and don't gain weight as quickly so they neat longer clothes but are too skinny for the sizing, but it's neat to have tall kiddos. Someone recently told me that "they" (whoever that might be LOL) say that if you double the height of your kid at 3 years old, then that is what they expected height as an adult will be. If that is true, DD will be around 5'9 or 5'10. She's not even 2 and already almost 34 in. That's almost 5'7 already. Wow. That's tall! LOL

Yep, Tripp had a TON of hair, but lots of it has fallen out. Like you said of Ollie, Tripp also now has a receding hair line. And, to top it off, you can now see his scalp because it has thinned. He does still have a lot of hair compared to most babies. I'm always getting, "your son has a head full of hair, doesn't he?!" ... I bet you get the same. And all I can say/think is "You should have see all the beautiful hair he had when he was born!" His hair has also lightened tremendously. Has Ollie's?

JBB - I couldn't see your pictures either. Did you post any? I couldn't even see where there was an error message. Would love to see them! The naming party sounds like it was so much fun and quite elegant. Jewish customs really let you celebrate the baby. That is sooo cool!!

DelSol - Ooohhhh!!! We know what you were doing last year at this time. LOL :)

[mcgwigan]

tgoody Yep, Wyatt still was able to sleep last night despite the long nap & I didn't even keep him up later - well, it was more like 8:30ish when he went down, but it wasn't intentional! We went out to eat dinner last night & when I got home I realized that I had left the diaper bag there, so had to go back to get it! It just set our bedtime back a bit- but you're right about the daytime sleep. Last weekend Wyatt could not seem to get a nap in on Saturday and he was up I think 3 times that night!!

Sashi I don't envy you having to leave Ollie like that. I'm glad that you have such a great DH that he'll be able to handle everything though! Try not to be sad!!

DelSol Whoo-hoo!!

Have a happy Mother's Day everybody!!

[PookiePrincess]

Happy Mother's Day ladies!

mcgwigan: Yay for Wyatt's sleep! I hope it continues! We do the same thing with tummy time. She doesn't like it for very long, so I try to do it lots of times through out the day.

Tammie: That's great sleep advice. I had heard the 2 hours of waking time followed by naps, just didn't know who's philosophy that was.

Sashi: I don't blame you for not wanting to go. I have a hard enough time leaving the baby to just go to work for the day, I can't imagine being in Belgium for the week! Try to enjoy it though.

JBB: Have fun at the baptism. That tummy time thing is cool!

Kassidy is on her last day of antibiotics. I'm so glad she's feeling better and is back to normal. It was hard seeing her so miserable. I have to make a follow up ped appointment sometime this week.

The other thing is Kassidy has started sucking on her thumb. It started with her sucking on her fist and moved to her sucking on her fingers. Now it's just her thumb. It's really cute, but I'm trying to break her of it, which has not been easy. Everytime she starts to suck on it, I give her a paci (which really doesn't last long). It's become her comfort thing and I don't know what else to do to break her of it.

We don't have big plans for today. My parents are packing since they are moving Friday. DH is working, so I'm just hanging out with the baby. We are going to go out to eat this evening, I'm just hoping wherever we go there isn't a long wait.

[la_Mer]

HAPPY MOTHER'S DAY !

I haven't had any time to come in here to post, but I've been thinking about you all. I hope everyone has a great day and you get to do something just for you!

Things are going pretty well with us. I seem to be having some milk supply issues just in time for me to go back to work :mad:. I'm doing everything I can to keep it up. Fortunately I do have a back up supply in the freezer to help get though this dip.

I also wanted to second what Tammie said about sleep. Better daytime sleep equals better night time sleep. We have had a few nights of 8 - 4 on days when he naps well.

DelSol I've been thinking about last year also, on Mother's Day we set sail on our Alaska cruise and brought home a little souvenir, hee hee.

I'll try to be around more this week (my last week of maternity leave).

[mcgwigan]

I hope everyone had a Happy Mother's Day!! DH brought a mum home for me, which was nice. We went out to eat lunch and an elderly lady at the table next to us vomited on the floor - not so nice!! Ugh. Other than that I did exactly what I wanted - got lots of cuddle time in with Wyatt & took a great nap with him too!

Today is my first day back at work. I'm doing OK, however, we have lost our great sleep at night - he was up twice during the night on Saturday and last night too. The last time he got up last night was 4:15 so I've basically been up since then. I'm hoping that we find our nice sleep schedule again soon, I'm actually hoping that being at the daycare had a little something to do with it - maybe it's the extra stimulation. He's the youngest and all the others are older & like to play/help out with him.

[motownmamma]

I just wanted to share with you some things I've learned about sleep habits.

This has been my experience almost exactly with my oldest. Great job of summarizing! At the age of our babies, I think I've read that only 50% sleep through the night. It's more of a neurological milestone than a matter of what they are fed (although FF babies do tend to go longer stretches between meals because formula doesn't digest as easy). The hardest thing for me is trying to be diligent about putting Chloe down for naps in a consistent fashion throughout the day. I'm usually so busy with my oldest that I feel like I sometimes can't take the time (or we're busy running around outside of my oldest's nap time.) It's easier to just let her sleep in her swing or bouncy seat. I'm working on it, though, and she's napping in her crib more often as time goes by.

Pookie: My DD has been sucking on her hands a lot more, too! She always did when she was hungry, of course, but now she's doing it all the time.

mcgwigan: I'm hope your good sleep returns! OMG, if I would have seen that poor lady puking, I'm pretty sure I would have sympathy puked as well.

DelSol: I remember since we were in the charting thread together! ;)

JBB: Let us know how you like that toy - it looks pretty fun!

Sashi: I don't blame you for being upset about the work travel at this stage. I'm also thinking Belgium would be a pretty neat place to visit!

Chloe's first week of daycare went well, but she picked up a cold. Poor thing is pretty stuffy. So far she hasn't suffered from ear infections as a result, so that's a good thing! This is her 2nd cold. Our oldest DD had tubes inserted at a year, so I'm always wary of the darn ear infections.

[mcgwigan]

Ugh - Wyatt woke up 3 times last night!! When I dropped him off at day care, I told her that he really should have 2 naps in the morning plus the long one in the afternoon & that I don't mind if the long one is 3 or 4 hours. She said, OK, we'll try to keep him up for you! :eek: I told her no, he only had 1 nap yesterday morning and he really needs another PLUS the long one in the afternoon. Hopefully we can figure the sleep thing out.
Also, he really only naps in his car seat/swing. How do I transition him to nap in his crib?

[Brady]

Megan- Drew has been waking up a bit again at night also. Is 3 months another growth spurt, I wonder? He also will only nap in his swing/car seat... I keep trying the crib but he'll wake up the second I put him down only to then fall right to sleep if I transfer him to the swing. Like another RO said though, it's so hard to take the time with it when I have my other son running around, the swing is the easy way out. With Connor, I went back to work at 3 months and I honestly can't remember how I got him napping in his crib (but I know he did), I think I just had more patience with it and kept trying the crib on the weekends for nap, I know by 4 months he was pretty consistent with a morning/afternoon and then sometimes a late afternoon nap in his crib. He was a great sleeper (and no swaddle, lol!) So, no advice this time around- just sympathy right now! ;)

Hi everyone... I am hoping to come back to check in soon. It's just been crazy here with my DH's schedule (and then he pulled his back out last week (!!) and was laid up for 3 days). Needless to say, it was not fun. He's back on "days" this week, last night he didn't get home till after 9pm though. Single parenting is not fun! Anywho, I feel like all I ever do on here is come on and whine about my husband's schedule.. hence why I have not been on as much.

Anyways- I can't believe Drew is going to be 3 months old this week! It really feels like the past 3 months have been a blur. He is so stinking cute though, he's laughing and smiling/talking all the day. He is a very happy little boy! I wish he had a 3 month WBV as I'm dying to know how big he is.. some of his 3-6 month stuff is already getting tight on him! So much for reusing all my older son's clothes on him. He's my little chunky monkey. :)

[pgbg]

Hi everyone!! I'm sorry I never get in here to post but am following along. I love seeing and hearing about everyone's babies! Things with us are going really well. It's hard being back at work, mostly because when I'm on call and work overnight, DH is very overwhelmed with taking care of 2 kids and DD doesn't sleep well. With me she goes for 8 hour stretches (!! I know. I was afraid to talk about it for a while because I didn't want to jinx it and I feel bad that so many of you are having sleep issues! But if it's any consolation, DS didn't do that til he was about 10 months!!). I think she sleeps better when she gets to breastfeed at night, although she does get 4 5+ oz bottles at daycare everyday regardless of whether I'm home at night or not. Who knows. She'll sleep about 8-4 and that's on straight breastmilk which amazes me. The other problem with me working is I have no milk in the freezer at all. I basically pump for the next day bottles. I guess I could pump on the weekends (or at night while she's sleeping) but it's hard with DS running around. So we'll see how long the BF can go but so far so good, I guess.

Here's a picture I took on mother's day. I also have one w/ DS holding his arm around her, but she's making a funny face so I like this one better. It will sound so stupid, but I'm a little bummed that when I got this great picture, she happens to be wearing one of DS's hand-me-down outfits instead of any one of her many cute, pink outfits!! I know, it's silly. I'm going to try to recreate the picture at some point!

http://i104.photobucket.com/albums/m199/bcgol/PICT0099.jpg

I'll try to get in and post more. Things have been stressful because we also just closed on a house and DH is busy at work and not too happy. I hope things pick up soon but I'm not sure what will make them turn the corner.

[mcgwigan]

Brady I wondered about a 3 month growth spurt last night (or was it this morning??) I can sympathize with your DH's schedule. Mine was working late also, giving estimates & I finally told him that he really needs to be home at least 1 night a week. Of course, now we have DSS in baseball & there's a game every Tues & Thurs night at 6 and I think we also have a game every Saturday. This morning I told DH to get DSS early & take him to eat something & Wyatt & I are staying home - I don't want to put him to bed late!

I just called the daycare to make sure Wyatt was awake before going there on my lunch and was told he napped until 10:30 (from the time I dropped him off at 8:30) and just wolfed down a whole bottle - so I'll take a later lunch at 1:00 and go see him then. I hope the long morning nap doesn't screw things up more!

[mcgwigan]

pgbg Cute picture! Don't feel bad about the outfit - I'm bummed that I forgot to have DH take a picture of me with Wyatt on Mother's Day - I had him in a really cute sleeper too!!

[Rosebud]

Hey there! Just coming by to wish you all a happy belated Mother's Day! Hope you all had a really nice weekend and were pampered by your significant others. :)

[la_Mer]

Pookie I'm glad to hear that Kassidy is feeling better. Leo sucks on his hands/fingers/thumb all the time, and he tries to talk with his had shoved in his mouth, it's so funny.

mcgwigan Uggh, it's so frustrating when you know they can sleep longer at night but they go back to waking more often. I hope he gets his good sleep schedule back soon. I can't help with moving naps from the swing to the crib since we are working on the same issue. He always wakes up within 10 mins of being moved to the crib. If I figure anything out I'll let you know.

motown Setting a consistent nap schedule is so hard. DH and I have never operated on a schedule so we have to train ourselves first so we can get Leo on one :p. Sorry to hear Chloe has a cold, I hope she gets better soon.

brady I wish we had a 3 mo WBV too. People are always asking me how much Leo weighs and I have no idea. I hope your DH did something special for you on Mother's Day since you have been working so hard!

pgbg Cute pic! Congratulations on closing on the house. I remember you talking about making a big move awhile back and you were deciding where to go. Is this that move?

I have a couple of questions for you guys.

If you are letting your DC sleep in the swing for naps or at night are you worried about them getting a flat head? Leo has a flat spot on the back of his head and I'm wondering if it's because he spends so much time in the swing? We also swaddle him at night so I could be that he doesn't really turn his head when swaddled. Anyone else dealing with a flat spot?

For those of you who are pumping at work. How often are you pumping during the day? Should I plan on two pumping sessions? three?

Thanks!

[mcgwigan]

la_Mer Sorry can't help with the flat spot, Wyatt turns his head when swaddled - maybe more tummy time would help?

Pumping at work I work 8:30-4:30 and have been pumping around 9:30 and 2:30 or 3:00 and I go nurse Wyatt on my lunch break at about 11:15 (the early lunch break stinks, but it's working out pretty well for nursing). If I didn't go nurse him, I would have 3 pumping sessions. I feed him in the morning about 7 and then immediately when we get home (and for the rest of the evening!)

We had a little bit better night last night - he did get up twice, but that's better than 3 times!! I gave him some extra breast milk in a bottle both when he went to bed initially and when he woke up at midnight hoping to fill him up to sleep longer. When he was sleeping so well last week he was also eating really well all the time. He is now a little lazy expecially in the middle of the night, so it was my way of filling him up! It didn't really work - he only slept 4 hour stretches, but is OK. Today we have a Dr's visit for a vaccination - I'm going to see if I can pop him on the scales for a quick weight check!

[Sashi]

Pumping at work. I tend to pump 3-4 times. I have been feeding him before daycare around 6:30-7 (and I pump while I am putting my makeup on usually before he wakes)but if I don't; I drop him off get to work and pump. Then again for every 3 hours. So usually 10, 1, 4. He's been eating every 2 hours at daycare so I haven't been keeping up but that was a growth spurt and this week has been every 3-3.5 hours so consistent.

I just posted in the BF'ing support thread. I am in Belgium (missing my baby) and I just got AF. I'm still pumping and i'm pumping (and dumping) more milk than ever. When I thought that your supply dips when it shows up. This sucks. After 1 hour of no AF, this truly sucks. Especially because all I have are pads and no tampons since i'm in Antwerp! ;) This trip has been so plagued. I think I killed my AC Adaptor for the breastpump and luckily brought battery pack with me so I'm still pumping. MY co-worker got a UTI and we had to see a Blegian doctor for her to get a prescription. And my boss is getting gout on his toe (if that's how you spell it).

[mcgwigan]

Sashi Boo-hoo on AF - I have no idea what to tell you about the supply, just that it's great that it didn't dip, I guess. Sounds like the trip to Belgium is a bust - is your boss drinking beer over there? That's a big no-no if you have gout!

[mcgwigan]

Just thought I'd come back & add a couple things. Last night I brought out the exersaucer and put Wyatt in it & he was so excited AND his feet touch the bottom now (on tippy toes). So he had fun in that pushing up with his legs. He doesn't play with the toys -just looks and I sit there with him since he still has a little ways to go before I'll feel comfortable that he can support himself- but it was really cute.

Also, he is sooo insistant on sucking on his hand that I've been having to leave an arm out of his swaddle at night. He has to be sound asleep when I put him in his crib though, or wakes up. He has also figured out how to scootch around while swaddled so that most times when I go to him in the middle of the night he is turned sideways in the crib! Anyone else's DC doing this? It makes me wonder if he's waking up because his head has hit the side (I do have a bumper on it - should I take it off?)

[tgoody03]

Mcwigan - My DS is doing the same thing in the crib! When I go in to feed him in the middle of the night, he is perpendicular in the crib. I don't know how he moves around so well, especially since he is sorta swaddled (not his arms, just his body). I wonder if our DS's will roll soon?

Yes, you should take the bumpers out now. I think if a baby can move around - whether it be rolling or skootching - and can find their way to the crib rails, then they could potentially suffocate themselves if they got their face stuck in the bumper. Mine are out! Actually, this time around I didn't use them for fear of SIDS (a friend's BIL's baby died of SIDS about 9 mos ago, so I'm overly scared of it happening).

I remember I put DD in her exercauser around 4 mos, but had to prop a pillow behind her so she could sit straight up more comfortably and not fall forward. Did you have to do that with Wyatt? You need to post a picture!

DH is home now so he's going to watch Tripp so I can go run. I'll be back to finish SOs later!

[February08Moms]

UPDATED TO HERE!

[DelSol]

I'll be back for shout outs tomorrow, kinda busy at work now but just had to pop in and say....
Addison is 4 months old today!

[sparkle&shine]

Just wanted to post that I have been reading along but haven't had time for shout outs. Work has been crazy!

Here is a pic of my boys from Monday. I can't believe Ethan is already 3 months old! He has finally started to laugh which is so fun.
http://farm3.static.flickr.com/2225/2493112750_304c17dc92.jpg?v=0

[Brady]

Sparkle-What a great picture of your boys together, they are both so handsome! I cannot for the life of me get one of the two of mine, the older one is always making a goofy face or doing something to make his little brother cry.. ;)

These past few days have been quite interesting over here. I was attempting to potty train my older son.. I say "was" because I think I am done with it! What a flipping nightmare, but I'll save that for the March 05 thread. lol. The good in it is that we have been stuck at home for 3 days and I've been able to have Drew take regular naps in his crib, which has been so nice. At least I know he can do it! Today he took a nice morning one and is currently waking up from and almost 2.5 hour afternoon one. It makes me feel badly though that I know he is probably not getting the sleep he needs when he is toted around with us all day to Connor's activities and having to just take cat naps in the car seat or stroller. Ah, mother's guilt... it just never ends.

[PookiePrincess]

Brady: Sorry the potty training didn't work! I sure wish Kassidy would take a 2 1/2 hour nap!

S&S: That is such a cute picture of your boys! 3 months old seems crazy, huh?

Dana: I can't believe she's 4 months old already!

Megan & Tammie: DD does the same thing, but she doesn't sleep swaddled. It's amazing how much she can shift herself without being able to roll!

Sashi: That seriously sucks! I was hoping you'd at least have a decent time since you have to be away from your baby for that stinking trip. It sucks that the trip seems to be a bust for everyone.

Pumping at work: I pump right before I leave for work in the morning (usually right around 7) then at lunch (11) and the tail end of my conference period (12:45). Then the baby usually eats as soon as we get home. The pumping is not ideally timed, but it's the best I can do with my schedule. Ideally I'd like to pump every 3 hours, but I still manage to pump a little more than she eats while I'm gone.

So my friend keeping the baby just isn't working out. She's not reliable enough and I'm spending more time worrying about childcare than I should. It's seriously been stressing me out, so I called daycares today. (Good thing, too, because right after that my friend sent me an email saying she could only watch Kassidy two days next week and then would be out of town the entire next week.) One daycare I talked to I got a great impression of over the phone, so I'm going to visit it tomorrow. The lady I talked to said we can try the next two weeks and if we like it, she can hold us a spot for the fall. It will be nice for Kassidy to go for a couple of weeks to see how things will be in the fall. I was dead set against daycare before, but she's 3 months old, already had an ear infection and I know daycare won't kill her. Plus daycare can't call me the day before and say they can't watch her!

[DelSol]

pgbg - Cute picture. Congrats on closing on a house.

la_Mer - If you are letting your DC sleep in the swing for naps or at night are you worried about them getting a flat head?
I worried about it and Addison did get a flat spot but it has now evened out. The doctor said it was normal. I hope the milk issue is just a fluke! Enjoy your last week off.

Sashi - sorry AF showed up. Sounds like everything that could go wrong has in Belgium

mcgwigan - my mom has an exersaucer and she put Addison in there and she like it. Yes, she'll move around in her crib but only in the morning. This morning I put her under her mobile and she fell back asleep and I came in to get her she did a 180 and was facing the other way. I was laughing at her. I have the mesh bumpers and have left them on.

Tammie - I do the same thing with Addison, if I notice she's been up for 2 hours, I can see her getting tired so I try to rock her or sometimes she'll put herself to sleep. I haven't read that book but I was reading the thread on healthy sleep habits.

sparkle&shine - Your boys are so cute, you can tell they are brothers.

Brady - sorry potty training isn't going so well with your older DS.

Kristi - Sorry to hear it isn't working with your friend watching Kassidy.

me – I can't believe Addison is 4 months old. She's been having cereal in her bottle for a few weeks now. I also mix it up and give it to her on a spoon, she's not sure of the spoon. I haven't started her on any fruits yet but I'll probably wait until the doctor says it's ok. We got on 5/22 for her 4 month check up and some shots.

Here are some pictures:
http://i72.photobucket.com/albums/i164/danamartin/Baby%20Addison%20-%201-14-08/SI850034.jpg

Trying cereal:
http://i72.photobucket.com/albums/i164/danamartin/Baby%20Addison%20-%201-14-08/SI850047.jpg

Mother's Day:
http://i72.photobucket.com/albums/i164/danamartin/Baby%20Addison%20-%201-14-08/SI850051.jpg

http://i72.photobucket.com/albums/i164/danamartin/Baby%20Addison%20-%201-14-08/SI850056.jpg

4 Months Old (she wasn't into smiling but her outfit looked cute!):
http://i72.photobucket.com/albums/i164/danamartin/Baby%20Addison%20-%201-14-08/SI850057.jpg

http://i72.photobucket.com/albums/i164/danamartin/Baby%20Addison%20-%201-14-08/SI850061.jpg

[Eliezrah]

Happy belated Mother's Day! Sorry I've been MIA again but I always seem to get so busy!

Aaron is 3 months old today AND HE"S SITTING for 30 seconds already! Granted it's the tripod sit and he leans way over, but still.... If you look carefully, you'll see my hand but I wasn't touching him, I was just making sure that he wouldn't topple over and hurt himself!
http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v410/eliezrah/Aaron%20%20Logan/0514081426.jpg

I took him to the ped 2 days ago since we were concerned that EVERY SINGLE poop was explosive and up his back. When she weighed him, he came out as 14, 14 :eek::eek:He's between the 90th and 95th!!!! He still wakes up about every 3 hours at night (except for the past 2 nights of course) which leaves me NO sleep! The ped thinks that he is just growing so much and eating so much, that she wants us to think about starting him on cereal next month. We were going to wait until 6 months, if possible, because of the risk of allergies. The allergist did say that if he really seemed ready and wanting to eat, we can start early, but try not to. Jackie & Seth were both on cereal at 4 months... actually Jackie was 6 months, but she was about 3 months corrected at the time. So last night we set up the high chair and for the next month, he'll be sitting in it at meal times in stead of in his portable swing!

He's talking non stop as well and is so happy and animated! He's going to be non stop like Sethy, I can feel it!! LOL
http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v410/eliezrah/th_MOV03275.jpg (http://smg.photobucket.com/albums/v410/eliezrah/?action=view&current=MOV03275.flv)

I'm trying to think, but there doesn't seem to be too much else to report. He did give me a 4 hour stretch 2 nights ago (after seeing the ped) and a 5 1/2 hour one last night! I was sooo excited!!!!

Oh yeah, I lost 2 lbs this week, so far (I started a post natal pilates program on DVD that you do with the baby on you so it's even harder).

We're taking him on Saturday for his 3 months pics at Sears. I can't wait!

[mcgwigan]

tgoody No, I haven't propped Wyatt in the exersaucer yet since I've been basically sitting right there with him and ususally have a hand on him. I may prop him tonight for some pictures though.

S&S Your kids are so cute together!

Brady Did Drew seem to sleep better at night with those better naps? Just curious. Sorry that the potty training didn't work!

Pookie Yes, Daycare will at least be reliable. The one thing that rots about mine is that since it's a family daycare in their home - they shut down for vacation so I have to use both weeks of my vacation time during July & August. I usually like to save some for later in the year.

DelSol Addison is so cute & she looks like you!!

Lisa Huh, tripod sitting - cute! Now I'll have to try with Wyatt! Wyatt is 3 months old today as well so I have to be sure to take pictures of him tonight. Let us know how Aaron likes the high chair - I've had our high chair up at the table for quite a while and Wyatt is less than thrilled to be in it! Congrats on the weight loss!

Wyatt had his Hep B shot yesterday and I thought all was well, but when I went to daycare on my lunch break she said he just wanted to be held today. I nursed him & got him down for a nap - I hope that he isn't still fussy tonight since I want to get his 3 month picture tonight! I was surprised he was fussy because he was fine last night & this morning, but I didn't look at his leg or anything while I was there, so maybe that's bothering him.

[Eliezrah]

OMG I'm watching Aaron on his playmat now and he's going CRAZY going after all the toys! I love it!

[mcgwigan]

OMG I'm watching Aaron on his playmat now and he's going CRAZY going after all the toys! I love it!

I know - I just love how they are so much more aware and wanting to interact now - such a change from our newborns!!

[Eliezrah]

It's bittersweet...

[la_Mer]

I'm so excited, I was just doing tummy-time with Leo and he rolled over from tummy to back, twice! I'm so proud of him. A few weeks ago I could barely get him to do tummy-time at all and now he's rolling over. I can't believe I am so excited about this, LOL.

Thanks for the pumping info. I'm a little worried about how I'm going to fit it in with my work schedule but I'm determined to make it work.

sashi I'm sorry to hear about your trip, especially the return of AF. I hope things turn around and you can enjoy part of your trip. If it were me and I was pumping and dumping anyway I would be sure to enjoy the Belgian beer!

mcgwigan Sounds like it's time to take the bumpers out. Did you get Wyatt weighed at the Ped? I'm always so curious to see how "our" little ones are growing! Happy 3 months to Wyatt!

sparkle CUTE pic, your boys really look like brothers.

brady Sorry the potty training didn't work out. Hopefully it will go quickly once he's ready.

Delsol I'm glad to hear that her head evened out, I'm working on turning his head when he's in there so it's good to know there's hope! I started drinking Mother's Milk Tea. OMG that stuff is amazing. I have plenty of milk now! Addison is looking so grown-up, so cute!

Lisa Go Aaron! We try that with Leo but his belly gets in the way, LOL. That video sounds fun, I love Pilates. Happy 3 months birthday to Aaron.

[mcgwigan]

La_Mer Congratulations Leo on rolling over!! Yay! I'm glad you asked about the weight since I forgot to post it. Fully clothed he is 14.6 pounds, so really he is a little over 14 pounds - I really can't remember how many clothes he was wearing & don't know if his diaper was wet at that point!!

I've been waiting for Wyatt to roll - I just showed DH last night how much better he has been with tummy time - he pushes up much better and tries to get his leg up under him - smiling the whole time!

[Eliezrah]

Thanks, la_mer! Congrats on the rolling over! Do you have pics and/ or video?

[PookiePrincess]

Dana: Addison is adorable and getting so big! She does look a lot like you!

Lisa: Awesome on Aaron's sitting! He's a big guy...I bet that's a switch from Jackie. That pilates video sounds great!

Megan: That sucks about your daycare! Mine is actually holding a spot for Kassidy for the fall if we like it. They only do that for teachers, so I'm excited about that! I hope Wyatt feels better from his shot. I'm not looking forward to more shots next month. Yuck!

la_Mer: That's awesome that he rolled! I should probably be more consistent with the tummy time...I think I'll break out the boppy for tummy time. Kassidy went to the ped today and was 14, 7 fully clothed.

We went to the ped today and everything looks good. The ear infection is gone! She was 14 pounds, 7 ounces with her clothes on. It was so cute though, there were two tiny babies in the waiting room that were probably 1-2 weeks old. They were so tiny and it's hard to believe that Kassidy was ever that little (and that it was only 3 months ago)!

I also jumped in with the daycare. I toured the place and it looks great! There are only 4 babies in the infant room and 2 caregivers at a time. I was impressed with the place...she starts Monday! I'm excited and scared about it at the same time.

Other than that, my parents leave for California tomorrow. We've already started moving some stuff in and will get the rest tomorrow, hopefully. Now the fun part...unpacking!

[JBB]

I know I have been MIA. I don't know where the time goes:

Sleep The issue I obsess over. Julia is a terrible sleeper. I have been skimming Weissbluth, went to a sleep lecture, going to a sleep luncheon next week-trying everything. She really likes napping in the stroller for 4 hours during the day and that's it-and then it's impossible to get her down until 9-10pm. I'm looking for the cues, trying to establish a routine-and nothing's working.

ClassesWe're taking Gymboree and I signed up for Little Maestros for the fall. I like the Gymboree because with level 1 I can take her two two classes a week.

PicturesIt sounds like the pictures I posted no one could see. What host site do you all use.

Hopefully this weekend I'll get a chance for shoutouts!

[PookiePrincess]

JBB: On CC I use either Flickr or Photobucket (I think photobucket still works).

[mcgwigan]

JBB I use photo bucket.

Question about breathable crib bumpers - are they padded at all? They basically look like mesh. Wyatt was in distress this morning because his head was against the crib - who know if he hit it hard or if he just didn't like it because of the hard surface. Will the breathable bumper help for this situation or is it basicaly to keep their arms & legs in?

[Eliezrah]

Kristi, I looked at the baby books and Jackie was about 6 months old when she hit 14 lbs something... It makes sense since she was almost 3 months early and was HUGE for at 28 weeker at almost 3.5 lbs! She would have been as big as Aaron, I think. Good luck with the day care on Monday.

JBB, I use photobucket to post pics.

Sorry about the sleep issues. I had major ones with Seth, none at all with Jackie once I was allowed to stop waking her to eat every 3 hours, and none with Aaron during the day (but he still gets up every 3-4 hours at bight to eat).

What I did (and some people will call me neurotic) was make an Excel spreadsheet for 2 weeks. I noted everything from when he slept (and where) to when he woke up not hungry or woke up to eat and when he was fussy or gassy. I did it with the other 2 as well and was quickly able to see a slight pattern emerging. To make it easier for me to read, I color coded everything. This way all the sleeping was one color and eating another, etc. I was able to just glance at it and see if he was eating or waking at the same time each day, etc. It showed me that he goes to sleep (no matter where he is) about 1.5 - 2 hours after he wakes up. Now that I know that, I can put him down for a nap while he's still awake but slightly sleepy. I also learned that most of his naps (unless we are out and about and he's in the car or stroller a lot) are usually no more than 45 mins so he's getting at least 4 a day right now.

I also learned that he refuses to nap in his crib if I make it totally dark like bedtime so I leave the blinds open and put on a CD for him. I turn on his mobile so he thinks it's playtime, give him a binky, and leave the room. Once in a while I need to turn the mobile on again if he's not sleeping yet, but the more I do this, the quicker he falls asleep w/o me going back up. Before I made my chart, I'd either miss his sleepy time and he'd be too overtired to nap, or I'd put him in to early. He'd also fall asleep in the swing since I didn't know it was getting to be his nap time. I don't mind him napping in there once in a while, but we never put Jackie or Seth in their cribs for naps until about 4 months and ended up having to have them CIO since we decided there had to be a time when they napped in their crib. I hope this all made sense and helps you a bit.

mcgwigan, I know nothing about the breathable bumpers, but I'm guessing they are to keep the arms and legs in only.

[mcgwigan]

Lisa I should try that with the sleep - nap thing. Daycare gives me a sheet each day that shows when he naps, eats etc. I really would like him to nap in a crib or pack-n-play rather than car seat or swing all the time! Especially since DH & I noticed this morning that he is getting a bald spot on the back of his head!! I'm assuming this is from car seat/swing since he's been spending more time in those at daycare than he would at home- at home I would nap with him, so he really didn't spend much time in his car seat. I'll have to see if I can make a chart tonight.

[DelSol]

Question about breathable crib bumpers - are they padded at all? They basically look like mesh. Wyatt was in distress this morning because his head was against the crib - who know if he hit it hard or if he just didn't like it because of the hard surface. Will the breathable bumper help for this situation or is it basicaly to keep their arms & legs in?

Popping in really fast, they are just mesh, no padding. I think it's just to keep their arms & legs in.

This isn't the best picture but here they are in my crib.
http://i72.photobucket.com/albums/i164/danamartin/Baby%20Addison%20-%201-14-08/SI850032.jpg
She was laying horizontal and got herself into this position when I came in. She was also kicking the Ocean Wonder Aquarium.

[mcgwigan]

DelSol Wyatt did the same position switch this morning in just a couple minutes!! The bumper may offer a little something if he gets his head up against the crib.

[mcgwigan]

When I went to daycare on my lunch break to see Wyatt he was all wet - clothes & everything. It was from spit up, but I changed his clothes & his onsie was wet, felt like that was from a diaper rather than the spit up. Anyway, I asked her to maybe check his diaper more often - there was a day this week that I changed him when I got him home & his onsie was wet near the leg, not from the diaper that he had on but from a previous one because the spot was drying & I also mentioned that to her also. She did not care for me asking that and made excuses - sometimes he sleeps for a couple hours, maybe a bigger diaper.... She gives me a sheet everyday that has changes, feedings & nap info on it & I was a little shocked that one day he was only changed 3 times, but chalked it up to the naps he took. Although usually she only changes him 4 times - never any more than that. I told her that I didn't mind going through diapers a little faster if he were changed more often. Am I wrong here? I change him pretty often at home - she seems to have a pattern of changing him when he wakes up & I have not seen that he's been changed much outside of that. He's in a size 2 diaper which is 12-18 lbs - a size 3 is 16-28 pounds & he weighs 14 pounds so I really don't think it's a diaper sizing issue.

I hate that I have to work and of course when I went to pump it took forever for the let down and I didn't pump as much as I would have thought, which makes it worse! I am soo glad that it's Friday!

[tgoody03]

RO's - Any of you have a double stroller? What are your thoughts on them... think I need one? I can't decide and I'm starting to obsess about it (not in a good way)!! Brady - I saw that you go the P&T (I think) in the double stroller thread. How's it working for you? I don't think either of my kids would want to sit in the low seat behind the main seat (I wouldn't either). Just wondering how that works for your kids. Maybe I need to