February 2008 Moms: Watching Our New Babies Grow!

[mcgwigan]

JayJay That's too cute - he looks so happy & proud of himself!

S&S Yay for the tooth! We still don't have one-guess his congestion really was a cold! I'm sure you're happy little guy is just dying to come back!

Rosebud Sorry about the icky night sleep! It seems like most everyone else here has been complaining that naps are so hit & miss.

tgoody DH & I are hoping to go to Disney within the next year (Orlando). The most recent conversation we've had about it is waiting until maybe Feburary and go without kids (gasp)! We've never really been on a trip alone together - when we got married, we took DSS on our "family moon" since he lives with us & I wanted to make sure he didn't feel left out, so we went to Marine Land & Niagara Falls & hit an amusement park on the way home. We have already paid for a weeks worth of stays in Orlando & Daytona and also have tickets to Disney - We just don't think we could afford to fly the whole family at this point - we'll have to see how the year ends! Anyway, I'm excited to go since I've never been!

Pookie Yep, it's really not too bad. I'm sure she came because I am no longer pumping in the afternoon.

[mcgwigan]

Baby proofing I have thought about this some, but have not taken any action....guess I'm waiting to see how much he'll get into first!:) I do have a bunch of outlet covers that I should start putting on, I'm sure I'll need a ton of those since we have an outlet every 3' throughout the house! I'd also like to make sure that I can keep him out of the cupboards where I keep all the cleaning stuff-any input from RO's on what worked better for cupboard doors?
Oh, I also have the knob covers for the knobs on our gas stove & also door knob covers (I'm sure it'll irrate DH when I put those on!).

[Brady]

I somehow missed a couple of days and got really behind in here!

JayJay- That video of Cole is so cute! He is adorable.

babyproofing-I'm so afraid of the crawling stage, mostly just due to having an older one that leaves things like pennies and other small little things all over the floor! I am going to have to do some serious childproofing soon. Like Sparkle's son though, my older DS was pretty good about not getting into too much.. so, we'll see what I'm in for this time. We also had a much smaller place at the time that he was learning to crawl, this time I have more ground to cover in the "making sure little things are not on the floor" arena... We do already have the locks on the cabinet doors that have cleaning supplies in and outlet covers on all the outlets.

Sparkle- Wow on the tooth! Glad he is sleeping well too. We took the swing down as my "little" 19lb kid just looked like he was going to break the thing when I tried to put him in there.. lol.

Rosebud- So sorry that Declan is still not improving in the sleep dept. Thank goodness you have such a cute little face to look at all night, he is so sweet. I really do hope it improves for you soon, 5 months is a long time to go with that much broken sleep (as I'm sure you are well aware).

Lisa- That's great about the naps. Did it just happen on it's own, or did you do anything differently? I can usually get Drew down with no problem at "normal" napping times, but he is still up usually 45 minutes later. He's actually sleeping right now in the stroller, I just left him in there after our walk.

We are at the Cape right now for a little vacation. It's so nice being with my parents and having the extra set of hands for my older son.. right now they are all at the beach and I'm back with Drew. He was getting a little fussy and had just eaten, so I walked him a bit and he ended up falling asleep. His sleep has been so-so since we got here, last night he got up once just for a pacifier replacement, but the first night he was up for about an hour mostly wanting to play, he would also roll himself over and then need me to roll him back onto his back to try to go back to sleep. Fun times! When my older son figured out rolling, he just chose him belly to sleep on. Drew still seems to prefer his back (which has me stressed because of the flat spot issue), but on his belly he gets frazzled and wants to be rolled back. We'll see if he ever takes to tummy sleeping. Other than that, things are good. He's sitting up more and still loves his food.. I'm going to try green beans tonight, I don't expect it to go well- but you never know. :)

[Sashi]

JayJay - I have to tell you, I am teary eyed (Literally!) just watching your little guy crawl. It makes me sad that they are all growing up so fast! Happy too, but sad mostly! It was honestly the cutest thing I ever saw thank you for sharing the video! He seems so nonchalant about it! Congrats on such a big milestone!

Rosebud - I know you are probably opposed to solids before 6 months but I am just going to tell you, it will help SIGNIFICANTLY with the sleeping. His little belly will be a little fuller! Are you still nursing? Congrats if so! I know you were having so many issues in the beginning. Ollie has the same jumperoo and we have the same issues with the hollering. I have to say on certain days he can stay in that thing for 20 minutes and he LOVES it. That's usually the weekends. Weeknights he just wants to be held and have us play with him because he misses us. ;) or that's what i tell myself.
I honestly was scared to give Ollie solids, starting something earlier than I wanted to created a lot of anxiety but I love it and since I make my own baby food it really has opened up a new world to me.

S&S - Congrats on the tooth! I'm sure another will pop up soon. They look so adorable with little teeth.

[mcgwigan]

Sashi I know that Ollie goes to daycare too - Wyatt gets very tired in the evening & is usually 3 sheets to the wind by 6:00-6:30. He loves his jumparoo in the mornings & weekends - evenings, he wants to eat, be held & put to bed! LOL! When you made your sweet potatoes for Ollie, did you just peel them, then boil them? I nuked one last week & it came out awful! I bought some more today to try.

Brady I was thinking of trying green beans too, but we're going to try prunes tonight. I hope he likes them-he hasn't pooped since Friday:eek: (lookout!!) I think I'll do green beans next-I really like them!

[Sashi]

Mcgwigan - I peeled and diced them and then steamed them in a double boiler. I honestly think i'm just going to boil them from now on because steaming them for 30 mnutes and they still didn't get too soft. I did 2 whole ones at once, that could have also been a factor. The ones near the bottom of the boiler were soft the others were not, was hard to chop up in the blender.

I bought a hand blender last weekend, LOVE IT! It mashes up a banana in mere seconds! :)

Just a quick question for someone who's stupid. Can you use a peeler to core an apple or do you need the special corer? I found a GREAT recipe for Apple Dumplings on The Pioneer Woman (http://www.thepioneerwoman.com) blog (well my friend did who's obsessed with her blog) and I'm trying it this weekend. Looks pretty darn easy for someone who doesn't cook. I don't want to have to buy a corer if I don't have to but I'm starting to think it won't be a bad $8 investment. I have a slicer but I don't want to slice it, I need to core it.

[mcgwigan]

Sashi Thanks! I peeled them, chopped them up & boiled them until they were soft, then put them in my food processor - I used the water that I cooked them in to add to them to make them the right consistancy. I made them a little thick, thinking I can always add liquid to make them thinner.

I don't know of a way to core an apple with a peeler. I have actually never used a corer. They do have a gadget that peels & cores the apples at the same time if you think that you'll be making things with apples quite often, I would spring for that rather than a seperate peeler & corer. I just peel my apples and slice around the core - you don't get the pretty looking slices that way and I'm sure there's a bit more waste.

By the way Sashi- you are one good mamma to invest in doing all this for Ollie - first you're pumping exclusively & now making all his food for him too! Way to go!

Wyatt tried prunes tonight & liked them. Maybe not as much as squash (which seems to be his favorite) but he still ate them. His daycare provider came to the conclusion today that he will only drink out of a 4oz bottle right now. She tried giving him a bigger bottle because he'll eat more than 4oz at a time and he would have none of it - she put it in the 4oz bottle and he guzzled it right down. I give up trying to figure him out!!

[mcgwigan]

Sashi That's a great website - I'm going to have to try those, they sound great!

[tgoody03]

Sashi - I don't think you can use a peeler to core an apple, well easily like you can use a corer. You can use the peeler and cut a circle, like you would with a knife. However, a corer you just push on and the apple is cored and cut. Personally, I think the $8 is worth it. We core apples all the time. I give 1/4 or 1/2 the apple to DD and I eat the rest. It's the healthy way to snack!! :)

Sashi & McWigan - The nights that Tripp goes to school he is sooooo tired. Beyond belief. M, W he only goes 1/2 days and when I pick him up he naps from about 2 - 5. And he's still tired when he wakes up. I guess it's all that "interaction" they have, even if it's only watching or looking at the things around them.

McWigan - I'm from Port Orange which is just S. of Daytona. Have I said this before? Anyway, if you need any ideas of what to do in Daytona just let me know! Oh, and totally get Wyatt used to the prunes. Sophie loved love them when she was a baby ...then I guess we stopped feeding them to her .. now she hates them. She truly was not constipated ever when I fed her prunes. Once I realized that, I tried to feed them to her daily as part of some food .. bfast, lunch or dinner!

Rosebud - Do not use Super Baby Foods, I think. It was the most complicated book I've ever read. It was always referring to another page ... like please see page 92 ... pg 92 would say ... please see pg 325 ... which would say pls see pg 4. It was annoying!! If you need any info from that book (which is supposed to be a good book) let me know and I'll try and look it up for you. Otherwise, ask Megan or Sashi and they will give you good tips!!

[tgoody03]

Babyproofing - from an RO to a newbie - do not babyproof until you have to. Your baby may be different than mine, which will mean you may or may not need to spend more money babyproofing than you think. My DD did what I said and didn't get into cabinets. I bought stuff to babyproof the cabinet that had the breakables and the other cabinets I made child friendly. You'll want that while you're cooking - a cabinet for your baby to play in. Keep asking questions, I've got answers on this topic! LOL! Plus, your baby may crawl later or become devious later ... wait until you need to do it ... it will save you money and time ... and will let baby become curious on their own time. Just my thought on the topic!

Sashi - Would you recommend I buy a hand blender over a food processor? I can probably use the processor to make other foods, but it's quite an investment. If I can save some money now, I would love to.

McWigan - Can you just explain to me how to boil? That probably sounds stupid, doesn't it? :rolleyes: I can boil pasta, no problem, but other stuff I have no clue. THANK YOU!

[mcgwigan]

tgoody I LMAO (well quietly since I'm at work) at that!

Can you just explain to me how to boil? That probably sounds stupid, doesn't it?

Just like you do for pasta - except you don't have to bring the water to a boil first! I filled a sauce pan about 2/3 of the way with water, peeled & cubed up the sweet potatoes & put them in and then boiled. I'm not sure exactly how long-I think about 30 minutes maybe? If you poke them with a knife it goes in easily when they are soft - if it doesn't go in easily, let them cook a little longer.

I have a very cheapo food processor-it was probably around $10 and is small, but I like it for the baby food so far. I may also look around for a small hand processor or something if I want to do just one thing when we have dinner or something.

[Sashi]

Tgoody3 - I would use what you have first and then see how it goes. I have to say my hand blender is THE BOMB! Honestly as long as there is enough liquid it takes literally 5-10 seconds to be at a purree'd consistency. My MIL is a thrift store/garage sale guru and found me a Cuisinart $200 11 cup food processor for literally $10, it was NEVER opened. (We joke because she says that nothing is ever worn or used and they typically always are/were but this one seriously had the box in PERFECT condition and everything was still taped and packed the way it would normally come) but i haven't used that one yet. I use another one she bought at a garage sale, A Kitckenaid 3 cup that looks like this ($40 at BB&B)
http://www.bedbathandbeyond.com/assets/product_images/380/3905112140797P.JPG

This is my hand blender for $30 (really $24 with my 20% off coupon):

http://www.bedbathandbeyond.com/assets/product_images/380/7318114915265P.JPG

That's all you really need unless you want to make 3 months worth of food which is somewhat pointless because food only lasts for 6 weeks in the freezer.

[tgoody03]

McWigan - I knew you would get a kick out of that question. LOL! Sad thing is, I'm serious. I told my hubby you were going to think I was nuts for asking. I never boil food. I still bake my potatoes in the oven. LOL. My hubby uses the microwave for everything. I use a saucepan and the oven. If there isn't a direction on the package, I don't know how to cook it. LOL. I blame my mom for that :D

I tried to steam some veggies for DD when she was little so that I could puree them, but I had no idea how long to steam them. I'm an analyst in real life, and now you probably know why. I analyze things to death, even cooking dang veggies. LOL. My poor hubby. :rolleyes:

Thanks for the directions. I'm totally going to try that. Like I said, I would have never thought to do that. I'm sure I would have put the potatoe in the oven. I mean, is that acceptable? I feel like there are rules to making your own baby food purees. Man, I'm making this harder than it has to be, I know. That's why I wasn't all that successful in making my DD's purees. I made some, especially those I could just mash up, like avocado and banana, but hte rest ... um, not so good at it.

Sashi - Thanks for the help there. I have what I thought was a good blender. It's a very nice Cuisinart (we got it for our wedding). I tried to blend up some steamed veggies to make puree for DD when she was a baby, and the blender just couldn't handle it. Everything kept getting stuck in the bottom and the blades wouldn't turn. That's why I wasn't sure if a hand blender would work. I've got to buy something because I'm determined to make my DS's baby food.

I always buy everything at BBB with my 20% of coupons. LOL. Well, that is unless Macy's is having one of their big sales plus 15% off if you use your CC. Sometimes things like food processors come out cheaper there.

Too funny about the garage sale. My MIL is the same way! She goes every Sat morning. I also told her to look out for a food processor for me, but she hasn't come across any I guess.

Oh - and I don't want to make a ton of baby food at one time, because I wouldn't have a place to store it. I've been pumping 3 days per week while DS is at school and I have a humongous stash now ... it takes up the two top racks of our freezer. There's barely room for our food. LOL. Who cares, as long as the babies have food, right? ;)

McWigan & Sashi - Thanks for your help! You can be sure I'll have more questions because for some strange reason I just can't wrap my brain around making baby food. I've got like a mental block against it. LOL :p

[Sashi]

Buy a cook book, that's the only way I started to feel comfortable about it. I'm an analyst too (Finance/Accounting) so I COMPLETELY understand. I don't cook otherwise so things don't make much sense to me either but I started out with the assumption that all things need to be 'soft' to go in the processor. The consistency can be a little thick because adding BM if always an option. I have done that with Avocado, Banana, Sweet Potatoes and that's it. If you want to start small start with no cook baby foods like Banana, Avocado and Papaya.

Ollie had Papaya last night (although I did put it in the processor and added some rice cereal), he absolutely LOVED it!

[tgoody03]

Sashi - I'm a Credit Analyst (finance/accounting like you, just for a bank).

I did feed DD those foods - bananas, avocado, etc. that I could mash and add BM to. That's about as far as I got. LOL. I'm sure you won't be surprised to hear that I'm planning to give Tripp avocado for his first meal. I always added BM to all the foods that I made, because it was another way to get it in DD's diet since she boycotted most bottles at school once she hit about 6 months. Between the nursing sessions at home and in the food, she got at least 20 oz a day which my Dr. said was just fine. I put a few ounces in everything, once I knew that she'd eat all the food so that I didn't waste the BM. Thanks again for your help!!

Sashi & McWigan BTW - My grandma gave me a cookbook called "How to Boil Water" when I was a kid. I still have it. Maybe I should pull it out and finally read it?! LOL! :D

[Sashi]

Rosebud - I recommended this book a few pages back. I LOVE IT! So easy and each 'recipe' comes with a key/map for how old they should be when eating it, how long it takes to make, how many portions it makes and if it's suitable for freezing. I can'T recommend this book MORE! On sale right now at Amazon.com (Sign up for Amazon Prime trial membership and get free shipping for 45 days).

http://ecx.images-amazon.com/images/I/51HPWCF5GAL._SL500_AA240_.jpg

I don't have any experience with her other books. I do not cook and this is beyond easy to follow and it made me feel pretty confident in starting this 'adventure.' I LOVE making his baby food though, i feel like it gives me a purpose above and beyond being his mommy.

[la_Mer]

I love this conversation! I'm so glad I have you gals to get information from.

Sashi I'm glad to hear the hand blender works well, we have one already so now I don't have to go buy another food processor, yay!

Tammie I'm glad you asked about the boiling, I was also wondering about the best way to cook sweet potatoes for baby food. I'm not a cook either but for some reason I'm excited to make baby food.

We are going to start solids this weekend, I wanted to wait until 6 months but there is no reason for that other than my reluctance. I can tell Leo is ready, and I think he needs more than BM at this point. We will start slow and if it doesn't go well we can just wait. I decided to start with avocado. Thanks to Kristi for asking if you can skip rice cereal. I'm so glad to hear that so many of you skipped it to.

A question about sweet potatoes. Did you (for those who have made them) use the yellow or red ones (which are often also called Yams)? I know the yams are sweeter, does it make a difference?

Also for the first feeding did you do it in the morning or in the evening?

JayJay Cute video of Cole!

[mcgwigan]

Sashi & Tgoody Too funny that you're both analyst! I'm an insurance agent - I think the brain waves are probably similar! My DH is amazed that I can cook as well as I do because my mom is a very bland/simple cook!

Tgoody You can absolutely cook the sweet potatos in the oven! That would be my prefered method, but I was trying to have the windows open last night, so turned the AC off and didn't want to heat the house up! Oh, and anytime I try to make something in the microwave (like veggies) I totally ruin them!:D

I do have a hand blender similar to Sashi's, but I don't use it much. I never feel like it's blending enough-maybe when he gets into more lumpy food, I'll use that. I've gotten sidetracked from work between this and some conversations we've been having here-it's going to be a long day!

Wyatt was up at 2, 3 and 5 last night - I am beyond tired, because I feel like I've basically been up since 2! When he woke up at 3 I tried to put him to sleep til 4, then gave up & went to bed only to have to get up at 5- ugh!

[mcgwigan]

LaMer I think that everything you buy in the stores in the US are actually sweet potatoes & everyone refers to them as Yams. I think yams are grown in S Africa and are actually really huge, which is why they come all cut up in a can. I could be wrong, but I think I read something like that once. I'm not sure which ones I bought- there was only one variety in the store.

I feed Wyatt the solids in the evenings just because it is easier to work into our schedule. Sometimes he is too tired & we skip it. I am thinking of maybe giving him some oatmeal in the mornings soon, but I'll keep you posted on when I do that. i really only give him a small amount at a time.

[Sashi]

LaMer - I purchased what they called 'Yams' from the Whole Foods supermarket (organic). Depending on the consistency of certain foods you might want to add some rice cereal into it, to thicken it up. For instance, the papaya is very watery after processing it so I just added rice cereal to it. I can't tell you how unbelievably much he liked it.

And one box of organic rice cereal really has lasted me for about a month and i'm not close to be done.

[Eliezrah]

11 1/2 hours.... yes, 11 1/2 hours is what Aaron gave me last night!! His naps were all screwy and he woke from his last one at 4 s there was no way he'd be able to stay up until 7/7:30. I fed him at 6:30 and heard him talking around 2:45 but he never cried. Then he woke up happy as a clam at 5:15 but didn't start fussing until 6 am to eat!!!!!! OMG!!! Of course I had trouble falling back asleep after the 2:45 waking since I was waiting for him to cry to eat! LOL

Naps are touch and go on the days I have to take the kids to camp and it sucks! He always falls asleep in the car, even if it's not nap time, and he wakes up when I move the car seat into the stroller, so those naps are never any longer than 15-20 minutes. Then it takes forever to get him back to sleep in his crib at home and those naps are back to about 45 mins. But when he gets his nap in his crib from the start, he still goes about 1 1/2 hours.

I also think he's starting his 6 month growth spurt a few weeks early. I swear I just nursed him about 2 hours ago and he just woke up after 45 mins screaming and trying to nurse through my shirt... he's chowing down now!

There's a tooth trying to push its way out so I figure we have about another 1-2 weeks!

~~~~

Kristi, have fun on your trip! I've flown with the kids before and they usually do much better than you expect them to!

Megan, I know all the articles and books and stuff say starting solids has nothing to do with how they sleep, but it all happened around the same time. I really think he just wasn't satisfied with just BFing, like the ped said, and needed more. Sorry about AF! I'm praying she stays away from this house until after I wean!

Tammie, sounds like someone wants to eat what you guys are eating! LOL If we eat in front of Aaron and don't feed him at that point, he gets so angry! LOL We're football fans here too, Steelers and Giants. Scott got so excited when I found that 1st bday football theme! LOL

Rosebud, that's some smile he has!!

sparkle, have you looked into the Fisher Price Kid Tough Digital Camera? We got it for Jackie for her 3rd bday. It's an actual digital camera so you can print out their pics, but you can also throw it down the stairs and it won't break, plus it has a double view finder which is easier for them. Congrats on the tooth!

Brady, his naps started getting better around the time he was 4 1/2 months old. We do try our best to keep to a routine, except when he falls asleep in the car on the way to and from the other kids' camps! LOL We use his sleepsack like at night as well as the same music, etc. when he cries and I go in, if his eyes are still closed, I don't take him out but try to get him to go back to sleep.

~~~

Babyproofing: the only thing we're going to do very soon is find a good top of the stairs gate that you can use with a banister. Our banister isn't wood so we can't use a regular hardware one. It's a wrought iron one so we have no clue what to do about that.... Other than that, we're going to wait until we see what we need. We never needed a bottom of the stairs one with Jackie but did with Seth. We need to get a better lock for under the kitchen sink since that's where all the cleansers are (it doesn't really lock now and Jackie & Seth just know not to open it). The only room that we'll gate off is the dining room since Jackie & Seth already have the run of the house. The biggest things for us will be making sure the kids keep their tiny toys off the floor and out of his reach! We have all the outlets covered already as well as the stove knobs covered since Sethy gets curious!

I'd suggest that you make sure whatever area the baby will be in has the outlets covered and obvious things like breakables put away. If your kitchen won't be closed off, stove knob covers for when the baby is eventually walking and at least lock the cabinet with cleansers. Most everything else can depend on the baby's personality. I also agree with Tammie about letting the baby be curious and able to discover things.

[mcgwigan]

Lisa Oooh 11 1/2 hours! I'm jealous! What a good boy he is!! Wyatt's beyond tired today - when I went to see him at lunch time he had just gotten up from a 2 hour nap to eat and was completly tired after not even being up for an hour. I leave work in 15 minutes to go get him & am really curious to see if he got another decent nap in! I'm thinking ( and his babysitter is too) that he's going through a growth spurt.

[Eliezrah]

Don't get too jealous unless this is a new trend! LOL It could have been a 1 night fluke for all I know! I hope not but I'm not counting my chickens after what we went through with Sethy... he didn't STTN until almost 16 months!! Poor Wyatt... It does sound like the beginning of the 6 month growth spurt... I can't wait for it to end already! LOL

[Eliezrah]

I just did a bit of research and it looks like I'll have to buy an installation kit (http://www.onestepahead.com/catalog/product.jsp?productId=1&parentCategoryId=85183&categoryId=85217#tabs) to get a gate to securely attach to the wrought iron banister on top of the stairs. If I'm reading it right, I can then use any top of stairs hardware mounted gate I want.... Too bad we lost the pieces to the one we had in the old house!!
http://content.onestepahead.com//assets/images/product/detail/01009_4.jpg

[Eliezrah]

I actually might have a problem... I just looked at the top of our stairs. The previous owners put fancy moldings around all the doors and Aaron's door is right at the edge of the stairs with his molding directly across from the banister. I don't think we can use any hardware securely in the molding.... I know we're upstairs a lot, like when I bathe Jackie & Seth, and will need a gate up there. I'm not sure what to do....

Here's a pic going up the stairs. Aaron's room is on the right (ignore the boxes, we need to put his 3-6 clothes in the attic still! LOL)
http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v410/eliezrah/DSC04220.jpg

Here's a close up of the molding so you can see why I don't think we'd be able to screw anything into it...
http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v410/eliezrah/DSC04222.jpg

[sparkle&shine]

Lisa - You should look into this gate: Kiddy Guard (http://kiddyguardgate.com/) You can use an instillation kit for one side and a wall mount on the other into the wall just on the other side of the molding. We have one and it is great since it retracts and it has a 'combination lock' of sorts to open it. Since it retracts you can put it sort of at an angle with no problem. Love this gate!
http://kiddyguardgate.com/images/kg_wherecanuse03.gif

[Rosebud]

You ladies are awesome!! :)

Thanks so much for the advice on babyproofing and starting solids. I really appreciate it! Sashi, I just ordered that book from Amazon-- thank you for the recommendation. I am still probably going to wait a little bit to start giving him real food, mainly just because I'm unprepared and haven't done my research yet. But I'm excited to get into it and can only hope it'll make him sleep better at night.

[Eliezrah]

Sparkle, I know it says you can use it on the stairs, but does it seem secure enough for the top? Thanks for letting me know about it, it looks like exactly what we need!

[sparkle&shine]

Sparkle, I know it says you can use it on the stairs, but does it seem secure enough for the top? Thanks for letting me know about it, it looks like exactly what we need!

That's actually where we bought it for. We purchased it because it was one of the safest to put at the TOP of stairs. It doesn't swing and it has no toe hold or hand hold to be able to climb it. It can also hold a ton of weight if pressed against. My DH put his weight against it and it held just fine. Plus it has a lock that kids won't be able to figure out and it can actually make a noise when being opened (although you can work around that if you have a sleeping baby in your hands). The other nice thing is that it is completely out of the way when not being used. It was a bit pricey but worth every penny to us.

One thing to think about though is who will be opening it. If you want your older kids to be able to open and close it without you that probably won't happen as I had adults that couldn't figure it out ;)

Oh and shop around that. You can find this gate all over the web and in some stores. It's called the Lascal Kiddy Guard gate.

[Sashi]

S&S - That gate looks great, thanks for sharing!

Eliezrah - Good luck with the gate purchase, we'll have crawler's soon enough!

Oliver is now sitting up unsupported for over 5 minutes at a time. He only 'falls over' when he wants something out of his reach. more to attain his goal than because he can't support himself. I can't believe how fast it happened. I honestly can tell you he 'practiced' it for a few days, 2 or 3, and is now an expert. What can I say, my child is a genious! J/K Or as my grandmom says, "He's gonna go to college before he goes to school!" hahahahahahahahahhahahahaha. I'll post pictures soon, I took them last night (and video of course).

I feel like we are uncommitted to the video camera and i feel wierd turning it on for 2 minutes of footage at random times. I guess this is because my family only used the video camera for parties or recitals and such, not to track our daily life. How does everyone use their video cameras with their babies?

I wonder how DelSol's vacation went! We booked a vacation to go to Florida November 19-23rd to visit my grandparents and DH's cousins. Should be fun. MIL and a friend are going too (that's not so fun!) haha

YAY! Rosebud -- let me know how you like the book.

[Eliezrah]

Sparkle, thanks again! I think we're going to get it. There seems to be no other option. Even if we were to go through the molding with a swing gate, it would block Aaron's room if we left it open since his door is right there. We only need to close it if Aaron is upstairs (not sleeping in his room) and Jackie & Seth go up and down on their own. If we had a gate kept closed, they would have to open it. I found it on Amazon with the wall and banister kits and shipping for $126!

Sashi, way to go!! YIPPEEE for sitting!

[Eliezrah]

So what is everyone up to this weekend? We have a VERY busy weekend planned! Tomorrow we're leaving at 9 to go visit my Nana (an hour + drive) for a bit and then we should get to my parent's around noon for lunch. After lunch will be nap and then we're going to the pool at the community center. Jackie learned how to go under water 9she was terrified just a few weeks ago) and how to float w/ help at camp and she can't wait to show us. Then it'll be back to the house for showers, dinner and bed. Sunday we have a family team kick off event at a bowling alley near my parent's for the JDRF walk-a-thon we're doing in October. After that it's over to Brooklyn. We'll miss my cousin's son's bris, but will get there afterwards to see everyone. Then we're in for a LONG drive home. Oh, and Scott needs to mow the lawn at some point... He was going to do it tonight but there's a town carnival this weekend, starting tonight, and we really wanted to take the kids from 5-7 (starting time through bedtime!)

[mcgwigan]

Sashi Yay for Ollie sitting up. Wyatt's getting there-he seems to enjoy practicing! I don't have a video camera, but I would record a few minutes here & there with it if I did....DSS has one (pathetic I know) so I may try it out this weekend while he's away at his mom's house. I have no idea what the quality is like or anything.

Lisa No big weekend plans here...I'm hoping for either some great night time sleep or at least a nap at some point! Oh, I think that I may have green beans ready to pick in our garden - DH just about turns into a farmer during the summers! LOL!

Wyatt took a nice 2 hour nap this morning. He hadn't pooped for about 3 days (and it wasn't much when he went last time). He finally went as I was talking about getting him some suppositories while I was visiting on my lunch break - whoo, hoo! Who knew I'd be excited over poop! Does anyone know - do babies spit up more when they are "backed up"? He's been so spitty-uppy & i can't think of anything that I've eaten that would make him like that!

[Brady]

sashi- go ollie! that's great, and love your grandmother's quote. As for videotaping, I am a terrible mother- I have not recorded anything on my video camera of Drew. I have taken some short clips on my camera, but quite honestly- I don't even know where my video camera is. ;) I'm sure I'll regret it some day.

Drew ate an entire container of green beans tonight! I was shocked and fully expected him to be spitting the first bite out. I seriously think this kid will eat anything I give him. He has not disliked anything yet. My older son gagged on green beans the first time I gave them to him. I know he's only 5 months, but he is giving me hope that just maybe he will not be as picky an eater as his older brother .. lol. I'm going to try peas next and I think he may have tried all the stage 1 veggies after that. I'm pretty sure he may have tried all the fruits at this point also.

As for the weekend.. we are still at the Cape, my DH is coming down tonight and we'll probably go to the beach tomorrow. Not sure about Sunday and Monday I have Drew's appt. in Boston with the Neurosurgeon. I so hope he does not need a helmet! I feel like he already has enough for people to stare at with his birthmarks on his head, I'll just feel so badly if he has a helmet on top of that..:(

[tgoody03]

Tripp is 5 months old today! Wasn't he the last one born in this thread? I can't remember. If he wasn't the last, he was second to last. Declan could have been last.

We were supposed to start solids tonight. I think that Tripp is hungry at dinnertime, but not enough for nursing. He loves nursing, but has started only snacking between 5 - 7. I think he needs something else. So, I'm going to go ahead and start solids and see if I'm right. I wanted to wait a little longer, but I know there is nothing wrong with starting now. I decided to start with avocado. I've said it 1,000 times before, but I refuse to do rice cereal because it totally stopped DD up ... and DS has his own issues with reflux and passing gas so I don't want to rock the boat. Well, DH didn't get home until late so we weren't able to start. He wanted to be there for the occasion. Tomorrow night we will definitely start.

Tripp has been having some serious difficulty sleeping in the last week or two. I thought it might be related to the heightened reflux that happens at this age, along with hunger, being sick, and who knows what else. Basically we put him down and within an hour he's awake. He's definitely tired and falls asleep easily, just doesn't say asleep. It takes at least another 1 - 2 hours to get him down for the night. Last night was the absolute worse. He was up until 10:15 (by up I mean put him down and he woke up 5 mis later ... that happened for 3 hours). But I think I found the beginning of a tooth in his mouth today. Yikes! This is exactly what would happen to DD the week before she'd get a tooth. It might also explain the runny nose, weird poop, and fussiness which was at its peak yesterday and today. I'm not exactly sure, but there is a little white dot on the gum that felt sharp. We'll see! To be totally honest, I hope it's not a tooth. I love the gummy smile. Oh, the tooth would be in a weird position ... the 3rd one on the left from the center. Um, that would totally be a weird 1st tooth. LOL. :rolleyes: Plus, DD didn't get teeth until she was 9 months old and they say siblings are usually have a similar pattern (I got mine late like that as well).

Although he hasn't been sleeping well at night, he has been napping good. A definite pattern is emerging. He's typically ready for a nap at 10 and 1. I think he would really benefit from a short late afternoon nap around 4, but he fights it.

[tgoody03]

Brady – It must be so nice to be able to pack up and go vacation at The Cape. I hope you are enjoying your time. Your older son sounds like my DD! She hated all green veggies and still does. I’ll be trying peas or green beans before any fruit. LOL. Good luck at Drew’s dr. appointment. I think he’ll do well there and won’t need the helmet. I bet your dr. just wants to be conservative. I will tell you that I have a friend whose DD is 2 and I swear I can still see her flat head. Maybe she should have worn the helmet. Drew is a cutie! I know I’ve told you that in your LJ. I don’t even notice his birthmarks.

McWigan – Awesome about the nap. Hmm … I don’t know about the constipation/spit up question. I’d venture to say one probably does not have to do with the other, but I could see why you might think it does! Prunes always helped best when it came to constipation. Have you tried those yet? Water and juice also. You can give apple juice diluted in water at this age if you really need to do so. Thanks again for you help on the boiling and making baby food. LOL. I appreciate it!

Lisa – You sound like you have a busy weekend in store! We have been like that for the past month. Last Saturday we had 2 birthday parties and one housewarming on Saturday alone. I personally do not like to have such busy weekends. Sounds like yours is packed full of fun things though. That is so great that Aaron is sleeping so well. I’m happy for you! I’m a Giants fan by default. My dad grew up in Jersey and loves the Giants, so that’s always the team I pulled for growing up. Plus, I love Jeremy Shockey (although I think he’s a punk at times .. he played at UM which is my DH’s fave college team) and I also loved Tiki Barber.

S&S – Where were you when I was trying to find a gate for the top of the stairs? LOL I hate the one we have. It works, but I hate it. I would love to have one I could keep open once DD was asleep for the night.

Sashi – Where will you be visiting in FL? Can’t wait to see the new pics of Ollie. That’s great that he’s sitting up. Bittersweet, right? I think I have a book by that author that you posted. I’ve been looking for it, but can’t seem to find it. I think my sister gave it to me. If I can’t find it, I may just go by it. Thanks for the recommendation!

LaMer – Obviously I’m not a big cook either – LOL – but I loved making DD’s food. I didn’t make as much as I should’ve because it just got overwhelming since I didn’t know what I was doing and I had that crazy book. I’m glad I have you girls in here to share this with. You’ll feel really great about cooking Leo’s meals from scratch. I’m starting with avocados, too! It was the 2nd food I gave DD. She hated it. Hopefully DS will be the opposite.

As far as feeding at day or night, I’ve heard both are the best times. Some say start new foods at breakfast so if there is a reaction to food it 1. Won’t be in the middle of the night and 2. The dr. will be available if you need him/her. Others say start food at night, because you aren’t as rushed as you would be in the a.m plus you tend to have less milk in the p.m for feedings than in the a.m. That’s true for me. I started at night with DD and will do the same with DS because I am sure DS needs more food at night, while he doesn’t seem to need it in the a.m. It’s so weird how DD and DS are so similar. They both like to be up at least 30 – 45 mins or so before even entertaining the notion of eating breakfast. So weird. Good luck! Can’t wait to hear how the first feeding goes.

[pgbg]

As for videotaping, I am a terrible mother- I have not recorded anything on my video camera of Drew. I have taken some short clips on my camera, but quite honestly- I don't even know where my video camera is. I'm sure I'll regret it some day.

Ha -- I'm exactly the same! I blame the not finding the videocamera on the fact that we moved, but, um, it's been over a month. I too have short clips on my camera and that's it. I also feel really guilty b/c we did tape Emma right after she was born, but it didn't work b/c I used an old tape that had DS on it and it got all messed up. Poor thing -- I've done so little for her compared to DS!! (I joke that she'll think she was adopted b/c w/ DS I had pictures of my pregnant belly every week and with her I have like 1!). I actually looked for the video camera last night b/c Emma was CRACKING UP at everything DS did. I'd never heard her laugh so hard, it was soooo cute. She loves to watch him and when he laughs, she laughs. I'll tickle him just to make her laugh! He likes to do silly dances in front of her and say goofy things to make her laugh. I love it (I did get some video on my camera...don't know how to post it though).

So much to catch up on! The last time I was here I was so frazzled from all the bad stuff going on, but it's gotten better. DS's nose is healing, it's a red line but I'm hoping it will really fade. We're finally settling into our house too, although I ended up just putting some boxes away in a closet and will unpack them someday. I'm on call tonight (hence the 1 am post -- I'm going to go sleep soon, at least for a little bit) but we actually get paid a lot now to take call so it makes it a bit more bearable. I'll still be really tired tomorrow though so would rather not have the money and get to sleep more!

We planned 2 trips: next weekend we're going to Austin (TX) for a long weekend! We've lived in Houston about a year, and haven't really been anywhere around here. Austin is supposed to be really great. I found a resort on a lake with a great big pool so it should be fun. Then in October we're going to Club Med Ixtapa for a week. We went about 2 years ago when DS was not quite 1 and had a blast. They recently redid the whole resort and it's even better now. They have daycare that starts at 4 months, so the babies play indoors in the air conditioning, and get to nap and be fed. The other kids are in groups by age and do all sorts of fun stuff. And DH and I can relax on the beach, swim, do sports, whatever. I can't wait!!!!!

tgoody I always love reading your posts!! :) I too am a very basic cook, but you're kind of inspiring me to start making baby food (but then I think about how little time I have to actually do much at all and realize I probably couldn't do it). Looking forward to hearing about Tripp's avocado! DS loved those when he was a baby but now won't touch most vegetables at all. I'm hoping I can get DD into them! I also love football -- I was a 49er fan growing up, but now love the Steelers. DH loves the Jets. We now live in TX though so it's hard for me to follow my teams.

Lisa Based on your recommendation I got this exersaucer:
http://i104.photobucket.com/albums/m199/bcgol/exersaucer.jpg
Emma loves it!! She actually plays the piano which is so funny to see. DS started pushing her around in her seat around the table, but he did it a little too fast so I told him not to (that was actually very funny too!). He also likes to play with the little toys. I like it because she can use it once she starts pulling up and I can just get rid of the seat.

Sashi Back to your video camera question, with DS I ended up with lots of very short, random videos but they're so great to have to look back on. I burned them all onto DVDs that I can play on the TV, and also used them in a big slide show that I made for his 1st birthday (intermixed with pictures). I need to start doing more!!

Solids Emma likes applesauce and pears so far, and I tried a bit of sweet potato last night but she wasn't so into it. I had been doing rice cereal mixed with them, but started doing just the fruits/veggies alone. With DS I had these very strict guidelines from my pediatrician (each grain in order, then "yellow" vegetables like carrots and sweet potato, then green vegetables, then meats. I don't remember what we did with fruits!) I've only done it at night but just the last few days they gave her some at daycare too. She's back to sleeping all night, in general (occasionally she'll wake up and I'll give her a paci; last night I hadn't fed her that much and had missed an earlier pump session, so when she woke up at 4 I fed her because I was so sore!)

Here's Emma in her Bumbo w/ her big brother (see the scar on his nose?):
If someone can tell me how to make the pictures from photobucket smaller please let me know!

http://i104.photobucket.com/albums/m199/bcgol/PICT0015.jpg

Here are some other cute pics:

http://i104.photobucket.com/albums/m199/bcgol/DSC_0124.jpg
http://i104.photobucket.com/albums/m199/bcgol/DSC_0086.jpg
http://i104.photobucket.com/albums/m199/bcgol/DSC_0178.jpg

[Eliezrah]

10 hours last night!!!!!!! The night before was 8 hours. I knew the 11 1/2 wasn't a new trend, YET, but he seems to be working towards it!! YIPPEE! (Sorry to those of you with sleep issues still. I'm just overly excited since we had MAJOR sleep issues with Sethy until 16 months!)

We went to a local carnival last night and had THE BEST TIME EVER! OMG!! I'll post pics next week when I upload them. Jackie & Seth went on the kids swing ride and this one went FAST and HIGH and they were cracking up! We went with a friend of mine whose DD is in between JP & Seth's ages so they are good friends, and who's DS is 15 months. Our DHs get along as well so it was great fun!

We're off to see my Nana once Aaron wakes up from his nap. It's weird that he's napping at 8 am but he got up at 6 and was VERY tired!

~~~

Megan, don't use anything to help him go unless the doc says to. Babies can go for a week + sometimes and be fine. My ped always told me if it's not red (blood) or rock hard then they are not constipated. Aaron was having issues like that before solids. He'd go once a week maybe. With Seth, he was truly constipated and even then the doc had strict orders for how often and how much of a suppository to use on him (one brand I had to use 1/4).

Brady, good luck with the appt next week. Enjoy your weekend!!

Tammie, I hope the sleep gets better soon!!! Where in jersey is your dad from? I've lived here most of my life and was Giants fan my entire life until I met Scott. He got my entire family routing for the Steelers as well as the Giants now! LOL

pgbg, I'm glad things seems to be getting better. Those trips sound great! Isn't that exersaucer fabulous? Aaron loves the piano and the fish part now too! Great pics!

~~~

Video camera: we definitely have less of Aaron than Jackie & Seth, but we are trying. Even if it's only for a few minutes, we'll try to break it out ot get him playing or laughing, etc.

[mcgwigan]

Lisa Yay for the continued good sleep! Seems like you're on your way to STTN! I wouldn't have done suppositories without calling my ped first - thanks for the input on them!

pgbg Glad to hear that things are better. I'm sure the scar on your DS's nose will fade with time...it will get smaller as he grows, too!

tgoody Yep, Wyatt had prunes the other night & I gave them to him yesterday morning too...he pooped while I was visiting him on my lunch break, they definately did the trick! Wyatt is also developing a napping schedule of atound 9 & 1...like you, he'd really benefit from a small nap later in the day, but fights it. Have fun with the food tonight....it's funny that you had to wait to start because your DH got home late...the same thing happened with us!

Brady Yay for Drew liking the green beans - sounds like he's doing really well with his eating! How's he sleeping for you?

Wyatt was up last night at 10:30, 1:30 and 4am - he stayed up at 4 :eek: - DH got up with him & couldn't get him back to sleep. I'm going to blame it on the 2 2 hour naps he took yesterday! Ugh, I feel like we'll never STTN again! So far for naps today he's had a 30 min one at 7:30, (before i was aware that he'd been up since 4), a 45 min one at 9 and now he's down at 1:00.

Wyatt had oatmeal this morning. I think that I'm going to try to feed him solids twice/day morning & evening to see if it will help with his sleep. He doesn't eat much more that 1 to 2 TBLSN at a time, so maybe twice a day will help.

My niece is coming tonight to spend the night and since my Dad was going to bring her up, I told my mom to just wait til later when she can some too and so they are coming for dinner (and picking up my Grandma on the way!). Yay -company! Sometimes I feel like I'm anti-social, because I really don't have much social interaction outside of work - I really don't have time! Oh Sashi, I'm going to make those apple dumplings for desert - I'll let you know how they are!

[DelSol]

Hi Ladies! I'm back from vacation. It was ok, I'm hoping next year is better.

I promise to do some catching up soon.

I think someone in our group did a ocean themed nursery or something with decals/wallies. Who was it? I'm looking at some wallies to do Addison room in. DH bought her a windsock in a fish, it's below and I'm looking at wallies in a ocean theme. She giggled at this fish like you couldn't believe so DH had to buy her one.

I remember whoever did it their nursey, I really liked it and I thought they got it from ebay.


http://i72.photobucket.com/albums/i164/danamartin/peacock.jpg

So far I've found these on ebay:
18 OCEAN SEA CREATURES BIG WALL STICKERS DECALS WALLIES (http://cgi.ebay.com/18-OCEAN-SEA-CREATURES-BIG-WALL-STICKERS-DECALS-WALLIES_W0QQitemZ280250088972QQcmdZViewItem?hash=i tem280250088972&_trksid=p3286.m14.l1318)

or

Pottery Barn Kids OCEAN CRITTERS WALLIES Set of 10 NEW (http://cgi.ebay.com/Pottery-Barn-Kids-OCEAN-CRITTERS-WALLIES-Set-of-10-NEW_W0QQitemZ130241749175QQcmdZViewItem?hash=item1 30241749175&_trksid=p3286.m14.l1318)

[tgoody03]

We fed Tripp avocados tonight and he seemed to love them. He was cracking up when the spoon would come close to his mouth and even when it was in his mouth. It was hilarious. We videotaped it, but we are laughing so hard that we look stupid. LOL. I'll post a pic once I get them uploaded. All in all, the feeding went well and we'll feed him avocado for 3 more days. Then onto sweet potatoes! And, to follow-up on the video camera discussion, we brought ours to the hospital, used it, and promptly lost the charger. So we have only been taping small segments on our digital camera ... sounds like we are all the same in here! LOL! :)

Dude, I'm so stupid. I was writing out my DD's 2nd birthday party invitations last night. We are having the Tumblebus come over so we are holding the party at a Pavilion in our neighborhood where the road is flat (we live on a hill). I spelled pavilion wrong on all but 3 invitations. OMG! I can't even believe it. I just feel stupid. I spelled it pavillion. Would you guys notice that error? I asked a few people and most initially thought it was spelled with 2 "l"s before they realized it was just 1 "l". Ugh. Why me?

pgbg - Ha! I'm glad you like my posts. I'm pretty honest so I know I sound kind of silly sometimes, but oh well. I can't help it that I didn't know you could boil veggies. LOL :rolleyes: Let me know what you cook. Oh, and I like the term "basic cook." I think I'll use that for myself from now on. LOL :D

Glad things have settled down for you. I was thinking about you and wondering how you were doing. Those vacations sound great, especially MX. I always wondered how it would be going to an all-inclusive with 2 kids. Do you worry about them during the day, or do you feel the staff is very trustworthy? We were thinking of doing Beaches or something similar, but definitely wanted to hear experiences of people who have been before and left kiddos with the sitters. You are going to enjoy MX!! We may be going in April, but without the kiddos. All depends if my DH wins "Club" with his company. Fingers crossed - it's an all-expense paid 3 night, 4 day trip.

Emma is absolutely beautiful! She looks petite, but not young. Does that make sense? Your DS looks like he absolutely adores her.

Lisa - My dad was born in Jersey City and moved to New Providence when he was young. He didn't move from there until college. When I went to NYC in November, I stayed in Jersey City 2 nights and went and visited NP. Very nice, quaint town. Are you familiar with those cities? I'm not sure how any NFL fan could convert to another team. Wow! Your DH has some power of persuasion. LOL

McWigan Yay for poops!! ;) There was never a time I thought I'd be so excited to see a poop or that I'd walk around with spitup on me. LOL. What is it with our DHs? Don't they know how important the first feeding is? LOL. My DH was actually sitting in the car in the driveway for 2 hours. He got stuck on a conference call and couldn't come in. It was driving me nuts that he was sitting out there, especially because DS started having a meltdown and DD followed suit. I wanted help and it stunk knowing my help was sitting in the driveway.

Delsol - Well it doesn't sound like you had the best vacation, but I hope you did! Post some pics when you have time.

[Brady]

Tammie- I def. would not notice that spelling error! If it makes you feel any better for my son's second birthday I wrote "March 8, 2006" on ALL the invites when the year was 2007. Talk about feeling like an idiot!! ;)
So glad Tripp liked the avocados!! I haven't tried those yet, personally I don't like them hence my hesitation, but I need to get over it. lol.

Megan- Drew's sleeping is good, I'm very grateful. He will usually sleep about 10 hours at night, he's just an early bird though, up usually around 5-6am for the day. He was starting that pattern before food though, so it didn't really make a difference with him. I've tried putting him to bed earlier and later and it just seems that's how he is programmed. My older son is the same way.. they'll never be any sleeping in at our house! :) I think that's why he ends up with so many little naps throughout the day, his first one is usually by 7:30-8am! I hope Wyatt's sleep improves for you soon!

PGBG- Emma is so adorable, and like Tammie said- so petite looking. I think my kid though is the size of an 8 month old, so most average sized kids look so little to me, ha.
Oh- and to get smaller pictures from Photobucket- when you upload them, before you do, there is a little drop down box that you can set the size of the images you want to upload. So, choose something in the middle, like 320x400 (I forget the specific).. then upload your pictures. HTH

[mcgwigan]

DelSol I think that it's La_Mer with the ocean themed nursery.

tgoody Yay for avacado going well. We haven't tried that yet - I looked at them in the grocery store yesterday, but there were all really hard so I didn't pick one up-I should have, though, since I gave him oatmeal starting on Saturday & so wanted to wait until today or tomorrow to try something new.
I would not have noticed the spelling error in the invitation-first of all, I would have looked up how to spell it for sure, so if anything, I may have wondered, but probably not! I wouldn't sorry about it!

Brady Glad he's sleeping well for you - I wouldn't mind the early wake up if he'd sleep all night! DSS used to get up really early all the time, but now that he's older he's learned to sleep in a little & will sometimes sleep til 8 (that's really sleeping in at our house-even before the baby. We're all pretty much early risers, I myself rarely sleep past 7).

I'm going to try to read up on the sleep thread today-Wyatt gets up at least twice a night-I told DH this morning, that there's no way he's waking up because he's hungry when he wakes up at 10:30-11:30. He will not take a bottle from DH at that time and just wants me (ugh!). So last night he was up at 11:30, then 4:30. I took him back to bed with me at 4:30 and he slept until 7:15!:eek: I'm going to try to swaddle him again to see if he still needs that. They way he was breaking out of it though, it seemed like he didn't want it anymore!

[Sashi]

Hey Girls -

McGwigan - I made the apple dumplings, everyone loved them. I did however deviate and sometimes put more than one apple slice in the roll, good but I seriously don't know how to fold up a crescent roll. They were so juicy they fell apart when trying to get them out of the pan. I will definitely make them again! How did yours turn out? Good luck with sleeping! :(

Tgoody3 - Yay for the avocado! Someone bought me those mesh feeder bags and i was reading something this weekend that sad you could put in slices of avocado and have them just suck on it. I might try that with Ollie later this week. Just to see how he likes the mesh feeder bag. Good luck with sweet potatoes. I thought Oliver didn't like them, well I had two feedings frozen and he ate one last night, HE LOVED IT! I'm so happy that he seems to like everything so far!

Oliver is doing okay, we had a great weekend but we can definitely tell he is teething again (or going through a growth spurt). Both at once would be horrible but also good to get them overwith. He has been eating a lot more often, hardly holding off every 3 hours during the day. I'm not sure if that's because he doesn't eat at night anymore or because of a 6 month growth spurt. We resorted to Tylenol last night and it seemed to help a lot. He slept a lot too the last two days (naps here and there) so I'm assuming it's more of the growth spurt.

Next post from me will be a picture post as I took a ton of him sitting this weekend.

[mcgwigan]

Sashi Yep, the dumplings were a hit. I bought the really big apples & just put one slice in each roll-I didn't do anything fancy, just rolled them up. It only took me about 10 minutes to throw it all together - I'll definately be making them again! Oh, they weren't overly juicy. I bought 1 16oz bottle of Mt Dew to use and I think only used about 1/2 of it - next time I'll use a whole 12 oz. We could have used some more "juicy" to put on the ice cream!

Glad Ollie liked the sweet potatoes..sometimes you may think that they don't like something, but they just may not be used to it. I read that you may have to introduce a food up to 10 times before they decide if they like it or not.

Can't wait to see pictures of Ollie sitting up. Wyatt's been doing so much better at it - the babysitter was impressed when I showed her this morning!

[Sashi]

Some pictures of Ollie sitting up and at daycare:

This was Friday night in his crib after they told me he started to sit up really well at daycare:
http://i72.photobucket.com/albums/i186/sashi0604/Sittingup2.jpg?t=1217266124

This is him in his bath doing what i've repeatedly asked him not to do which is ANYTHING TO GET HIS TOY! He loves the thing attached to the bath so he will maneuver himself any way to get it. He looks like i caught him in the act:
http://i72.photobucket.com/albums/i186/sashi0604/Bath1.jpg?t=1217266165

Sitting up on Saturday in his playplace:
http://i72.photobucket.com/albums/i186/sashi0604/Sittingup1-1.jpg?t=1217266234
http://i72.photobucket.com/albums/i186/sashi0604/Sittingup3.jpg?t=1217266264

This is what he looks like when my husband feeds him, he LOVES peas:
http://i72.photobucket.com/albums/i186/sashi0604/peas.jpg?t=1217266291
Please note the peas on his nose, my husband i guess thinks he should wear his dinner instead of eat it.

[Sashi]

Daycare activities, they sent me some pictures. Sorry they are huge, it's how they sent them.
He does NOT look 5.5 months old in this picture but he's fingerpainting:
http://i72.photobucket.com/albums/i186/sashi0604/atdaycare2.jpg?t=1217266346

Please let him take his time crawling!!!!!!
http://i72.photobucket.com/albums/i186/sashi0604/atdaycare10.jpg?t=1217266384
http://i72.photobucket.com/albums/i186/sashi0604/atdaycare12JPG.jpg?t=1217266411

Water play with friends! This is how he learned to splash the entire tub with water (thanks daycare!):
http://i72.photobucket.com/albums/i186/sashi0604/atdaycare8.jpg?t=1217266449

The irony that they put this bib on him (they have 100's of bibs and when they are teething they keep bibs on them so they don't ruin their outfits). We are fighting with his uncle regarding a lot of things but most of all, being his g-dfather.
http://i72.photobucket.com/albums/i186/sashi0604/atdaycare7.jpg?t=1217266591

I don't know if I mentioned, Ollie's Baptism is on August 10th. He had a bris and now he will be baptized in the Roman Catholic religion in which he will be raised. My husband also wants to carryon the jewish tradition of not cutting his hair until he turns 1. Now it seems he won't need one but still............the child is going to be highly confused! haha We invited about 25 people and will have food delivered to the house afterwards. As of now it looks like we'll be the only family there which i'm ecstatic about. My whole family is Jewish and I honestly think it will be the first time they've ever been in a church, should be interesting. His g-dparents are our best friends and i'm happy about that.

[DelSol]

Just a fly by with some pictures:

Here's the link to our vacation pictures:
Addison's 1st Vacation (http://s72.photobucket.com/albums/i164/danamartin/Ocean%20City%20MD%207-2008/)

[mcgwigan]

Sashi I like the pictures of Ollies - he looks like he has a fun play place & a fun daycare!!

DelSol It asked me for a password :confused:

[DelSol]

DelSol It asked me for a password :confused:

Hmm, I'll have to see what it is because I didn't set one.

I have to make sure my other albums aren't viewable only this one, once I figure it out, I'll post the password again.

[mcgwigan]

DelSol I like your pics - especially the ones of Addison & your DH on the beach with the sunset & her playing in her ducky-so cute! I like the last one too!

[DelSol]

mcgwigan ~ thank you. That's my DH's favorite one also, he made me crop it and change it to B&W. Can you tell it was all about Addison? LOL

[la_Mer]

Happy Monday everyone.

S&S That baby gate looks great! It's good to know you can put a lot of weight against it, I have a feeling we are going to need the strongest thing out there to contain Leo.

Sashi Thanks for the Sweet Potato advice, I think I'll get some rice cereal to use as a "mixer". We borrowed a video camera when Leo was first born and then bought our own when we had to give it back. We bought one because we didn't like that we were limited to about 1 minute on our digital camera but now that we have it we realize we usually only take about 1 minute of footage at a time anyway. Oh well. Great pics of Ollie sitting, what a handsome guy.

Lisa Sounds like you guys are busy as always. I'm glad to hear that Aaron is giving you some great nights of sleep, you need it with all you have going on.

Brady Let us know how Drew's appointment goes. Vacation on the Cape sounds lovely. I was there a few years ago but I was working and didn't get to do much sight seeing, although we did drive out to P-town one day (I was staying at Woods Hole).

pgbg LOVE Emma's bright blue eyes. She is so sweet and petite. I'm so glad to hear you have some vacation time coming up, you really deserve it! Those trips sound great.

megan Sorry to hear you are having sleep issues. It's more frustrating when you know they can sleep more, but they just won't. I hope this passes soon.

DelSol Yes, I have an Ocean themed nursery. I used the wall decals from Wee Gallery (http://www.weegallery.com/wallgraphics.html). I'm not sure if you can get them on E-Bay or not. I also needed a password to see your pics :(.

tammie Yay for avocados. It sounds like you had a lot of fun with the first feeding. I can't wait to see the pics. I have to laugh about your DH being stuck outside on a conference call, this happens all the time at our house (except DH is usually downstairs). It's so frustrating to have help so close yet not available.

So we gave Leo avocados a few times over the weekend. He is a big fan of the spoon, but not so much what was on it. He made this face of utter disgust when I put the spoon in his mouth, but when I take the spoon out of his mouth he would grab it and shove it back in and then make the same face. Silly boy. He probably only ate about a teaspoon worth of food. I think I might give up on the avocado for now and just go on to sweet potatoes.

We have been having trouble at night with Leo leaking out of his diapers. He will wake up screaming around 4am because he is soaking wet. It only happens when he sleeps on his belly, which is now his favorite position. Last night I put a g-diaper insert in his regular diaper (we tried G-diapers early on but I never liked them) and it worked like a charm! He was even leaking out of the Huggies overnight diapers so I was getting desperate!

He is also working on getting ready to crawl. He can scoot his legs up underneath him and pushes up into an A position. I can't believe how fast they develop.

[DelSol]

password is cosmo to see the pictures.

[Sashi]

LaMer - You should try using the mesh bag with the avocado in it, a different way of getting used to the taste maybe?

[mcgwigan]

La_Mer I've heard of putting a maxi pad on the top of the diaper (I guess inside at the waist) to prevent leaking out the top when they sleep on their tummies. I've actually been changing Wyatt when he wakes up anytime after 3am because I think he sleeps longer & it doesn't usually wake him up so much that he can't go back to sleep.

[mcgwigan]

I swaddled Wyatt for bed tonight in hopes that he'll sleep better. It's the only thing that I can think of other than maybe he just is having a really hard time getting back into the swing of things from being on "vacation" for a week.

Just thought I'd post a picture too! This is Wyatt "swimming" out on our deck a couple weeks ago -DH thought the tub was perfect for the baby!
http://images.photos.walmart.com/232323232%7Ffp43286%3Enu%3D3248%3E99%3B%3E%3B%3A2% 3EWSNRCG%3D323337889772%3Anu0mrj

and sitting up a couple weeks ago, also!
http://images.photos.walmart.com/232323232%7Ffp4327%3B%3Enu%3D3248%3E99%3B%3E%3B%3A 2%3EWSNRCG%3D32333788%3A44%3B%3Bnu0mrj

[tgoody03]

Brady - You made me feel so much better about the invites, thank you! :p We both are dorks for making those mistakes. I made sure to send my friend who is the English teacher one of the invitations with the correct spelling. So you are a Boston girl. What's going on with Manny R? Oh, and I don't like avocado either. LOL.

Sashi - Oh my goodness. I LOVE all the pics of Ollie!! What a sweet boy. I love the bath picture. Tripp is also all over his bath like that - the same tub, too! And his school just looks fabulous. Look at all the things they do. It's been so hot here that they aren't really taking the babies out. Today was a code orange day - basically that means the air quality sucks so don't go outside if you don't have to. I think it's great they are finger painting and playing in that tub. DD use to finger paint when she was young all the time, but I don't think they have done it with Tripp yet. I'll have to check.

Dana - Love those pics. Addison looks really beautiful in the pictures with her hat. Adorable! And, I'm actually really glad to hear you say it's all about Addison ... that must mean your DH has come around and is really loving his little girl. That's great! I hope all is well with you guys!

LaMer - I know! My DH works from quite a bit and the days that I don't work and have DD home, she always wants to see him. If he leaves the office, but doesn't stay and play with her all he** breaks lose. LOL. Plus, I hate it when he comes out and goes back to work when he here's crying. LOL. Oh, all of a sudden he has to work. LOL

I'm not sure Tripp was in love with the avocado either. But he tolerated it. I think he really dug the spoon, like Leo! I think it's pretty normal for the baby to only eat 1 tsp or so the first few weeks. It's all about practice. I'm doing sweet potatoes next. Sounds like we are on the same feeding schedule!

I can't even believe that Leo is working on crawling. Wow. It's doubly hard to hear this when it's your 2nd baby (or, Lisa, your third?) because it means the babies are growing up so fast and you may not have another. It sure is bittersweet.

The name Leo may be making it's comeback. I don't know if you've ever read Emily Giffin books (Baby Proof, Something Blue, Something Borrowed), but she has a new novel out and the lead character is named Leo :)

McWigan - OMG!! Wyatt is just too dang cute in that bucket. I love the baby boobs. Tripp has them, too, and I love them!! :) I can't even tell you how much he looks like you in that picture. When I saw it, the first thing I thought of was your belly pictures you used to post. He's your twin and he's so cute!!

The avocado I bought wasn't ripe either. I put it in a cabinet so it would ripen faster. You could also put it in a paper bag for the same effect. And, if you put a banana in the same bag it will ripen even faster. I know you are supposed to feed the same food 4 days in a row, at a minimum, but do you think 3 days is ok with avocado? People aren't even allergic to that, are they?

[Brady]

Megan- I should have put a disclaimer about Drew's sleep. lol. It is definitely not every night, and it seems more often than not lately he has been waking at like 4am and needs his pacifier replaced a couple times before he goes back to sleep...Love the pictures of Wyatt!

Sashi- Great pictures of Ollie, that looks like such a wonderful daycare!!

As for us, we had the appt. with the neurosurgeon yesterday for his flat head issue. First, I will say- I just loved the Dr., he was SO nice and patient (so much better than his dermatolgist!!!), anyways- they did some measurements and he came out with a number that he said his patients that are wearing the helmets actually stop treatment at. I guess another thing they look for is face symmetry. If their features have become asymmetrical then that is another sign that helmet treatment will be beneficial... but, Drew's features were all symmetrical. So, he is pretty much a mild/borderline case. With his age, he said that by 6 months it would most likely be the "worst" it is going to be, since Drew is so close to that age already- he recommended just trying to reposition him on his left side for sleeping (which is so hard to do, since he obviously favors the right so much and just rolls back). But, he wants to check him in 6 weeks as at that point he'll still be young enough to have the helmet be successful should his head get any worse by then, but he's optimistic that he wouldn't need it and it should round out on it's own. If that all makes sense! I feel good as Drew is sitting up now and when home, spends the majority of his time on his belly or in his exersaucer, etc. I'm going to try to keep him in the Bjorn more on outings with his older brother also... So, that's that. Now this week, I have to go back to repeat his blood test to see if his anemia has improved. He's been eating cereal and taking an iron supplement since the last test, so I really hope it comes back clear. I would just like to get to a point of only seeing Dr's on only WBV's.

[mcgwigan]

Brady Oh, that's good news about Drew's flat spot - you must be relieved. I really thought they only used helmets in severe cases. Thanks for the sleep disclaimer - I know you're trying to make me feel better!:) We cross posted- I like the pics of Drew-he's so cute! It's so funny that you have him in his stroller like a big boy-I was just talking to my daycare provider yesterday about my stroller & I have always left him in his car seat in the stroller -she told me she had him in it with out the car seat & he did really well. What do I know...this is my first time at all the baby stuff! I'm excited to take him somewhere in his stoller now though!

tgoody Thanks for the compliments! I just love it when people tell me that he looks like me - I can't see it, so it's nice to hear! I thought that it was 3 days for the same food-I can definately be wrong though! Avacado is on the list of non-allergenic foods, so I think you're safe.

Wyatt has a spot of eczema that broke out on his cheek this morning. Now I have to figure out if it's because of an allergy-I gave him oatmeal for the first time Saturday & Sunday-he didn't have any last night. OR I ate a pb&j last night around 9pm with Strawberry preserves so it could be that-I'm sensitive (allergic) to citrus & had been avoiding all that stuff, but caved last night in search of something to eat. I'm not sure if it would cause a reaction in him that fast from my breastmilk though- he was up nursing at 12, 3 & 5 -so yep, still in sleep he!L.:rolleyes:

[Brady]

Megan- Drew loves to ride forward facing in the stroller. He is such a people watcher, we went for walks everyday on vacation and he was just as happy as a clam in there! I put him forward a couple of weeks ago when I knew he had the head strength to sit up. If Wyatt is sitting up for you at home, then he's def. ready! I wish I had some advice on the excema, is excema a sign of an allergic reaction? I'm really naive on all that stuff.

Speaking of strollers, this picture is another fave of mine. I just love his face, he was just chilling out in here while we waited for his brother to do "one more cannonball" in the pool. :)
http://i11.photobucket.com/albums/a190/lisaro/IMG_3915-1.jpg

I need to get a move on. When Drew wakes up, we are off to go get his blood test over with!

[mcgwigan]

Yes, eczema can be a sign of an allergy. I just posted in the sensitive food thread-the ladies there I'm sure will be able to guide me on that one! Good luck with the blood test:o

[Eliezrah]

My cousin's new baby's name is Shmuel. We didn't make it to the Bris on Sunday, though... I'm asking for everyone's prayers please for FIL. We were at my parent's on Saturday when MIL called my cell phone (she never does that) to tell us FIL was rushing to the ER. He's overweight and diabetic and has neuropathy on his legs and feet. Well it turns out he had black puss oozing out of his right foot. At 1 am MIL called us again to say they were doing surgery first thing Sunday morning and we weren't sure if he's lose his whole foot or not... he had gangrene! My parents took the kids to Brooklyn with them for the Bris (and to play with their 2nd cousins) while Scott & I took Aaron to the hospital in Edison. FIL lost his big toe and the one next to it along with a small part of his foot where the toes were. He's not out of the woods yet, though. He'll be in the hospital for about 2 weeks and then rehab for several months. He can't put any weight on that foot for about 2 months (I have an idea of how hard that is since after my 2nd knee surgery I couldn't put any weight on my leg for 2 weeks and was on crutches for over 6 weeks!). He's depressed right now (who wouldn't be) and his foot is still infected. If he doesn't 1000% listen to the docs, he still might lose the foot eventually.

Aaron's been sleeping 9.5 - 10.5 hours pretty much every night so I think I'm going to call it.... he's STTN at 5 months!! WOO HOO!!! 11 months earlier than Sethy did!!!

His 2 bottom teeth should cut through today or tomorrow, they are that close, and his top left should be through probably by the end of the week or early next week. Yuppers, my poor baby is cutting 3 teeth at once! Jackie & Seth would ALWAYS get 2-3 at a time as well.

~~~~

Megan, I hope the solids help with his sleep. It did with Aaron so I'll send some sleep vibes your way! I can't get over his chubs! WOW!! I'll look for your post in the food thread in a bit, but I might be able to help a bit since we deal with Seth's allergies and eczema. Aaron has eczema now but we believe it's environmental related form the heat and drooling. His started after we gave him pears so we stopped the pears but it would get worse outside and it didn't itch or bother him so the allergist said it probably wasn't a reaction to the food.

Dana, welcome back! Great pics!

Tammie, I can't wait to see the avocado pics! I've heard of the Tumblebus, it sounds like fun!! I just made Seth's bday invites yesterday. His party will be in the backyard this year. I haven't heard of NP but Jersey City is well known in Jersey. I'm still a Giants fan, but it's hard not to route for the Steelers as well since it's ALL OVER THE HOUSE and in my yard too! He has one of those inflatables he puts up when the Steelers play! LOL I can't even believe that Leo is working on crawling. Wow. It's doubly hard to hear this when it's your 2nd baby (or, Lisa, your third?) because it means the babies are growing up so fast and you may not have another. It sure is bittersweet.It's really bittersweet for me since he's our last!

Sashi, wow lookit him sitting!!! Great pics!! If you want to be really traditional with the hair cutting, it's not until they are 3 years old!

la_Mer, we are ecstatic about him STTN. Life here is always crazy and busy and we deserve a child who sleeps! LOL I'm glad you figured out the leaking problem, that always stinks! For our kids, that meant it was time for the next size up.

Brady, yippeee for the good news!! Cute pic!

[mcgwigan]

Lisa Oh, I'm so sorry for your FIL - hopefully he'll listen to the doc. It's so hard with diabetes - one of my friend's father would not listen to his doc regarding his lifestyle/diet & he lost a toe-he sure listens now. Saying prayers for him that he has a fast recovery and no more gangrene!

[Eliezrah]

Thanks, Megan. It's really hitting home for me since my brother passed away due to complications from his diabetes and he also never took care of himself. August 13, 2 days after my anniversary, will be 6 years since we lost him. My wedding was the last time anyone saw him. Now I'm watching FIL be stubborn (he WALKED to the bathroom yesterday!) and it's so hard!

[tgoody03]

Here are a few recent pictures of Tripp!

The first pic is Tripp sitting up all by himself. He loves that giraffe toy. The second pic was taken just before church on Sunday. His legs are so chubby, I couldn't push the right one down into the Bumbo. LOL. The last are of him eating his avocados.

[mcgwigan]

tgoody He looks so happy to be eating his avacados. I can't put Wyatt in the Bumpo seat-he hates it-his legs are too chub-chubby for it!:D

[la_Mer]

sashi That is a great idea, I bet he would like it better if he could feed himself. Your daycare looks great! I would never have though to have babies our kids age finger paint, but it looks like he really enjoys it!

megan That pic of Wyatt in the tub is great! I might try a maxi pad when I run out of G diapers, but I had a lot of them left over so I might as well get a use for them. It's going to have be a super absorbant pad, the G diaper inserts are totally soaked in the morning!

tammie I haven't read those books but that is interesting to hear. My name (Meredith) is also turning up more and more in pop culture (Grey's Anatomy, The Office) and it's so weird to hear it everywhere. Tripp looks so happy. I would never know he wasn't partial to the avocado.

brady I'm glad to hear that Drew doesn't need a helmet. He looks so chill in that pic. I love the little baseball hat, but it really makes them look like little boys and not babies which is bittersweet.

Lisa Sorry to hear about your FIL, I hope this is the wake up call he needs to start paying attention to his health.

Since Mcgwigan posted about the eczema I've been wondering. After we gave Leo avocado he had some funny diapers (runnier than usual) and then he had a mild case of diaper rash, which he hasn't had in a long time. Could this be caused by the avocado?

[Eliezrah]

Tammie, too cute! I also have trouble getting Aaron's legs in the Bumbo but I feed him from it when I'm too lazy to bring his high chair in here for the meals we eat in here! LOL

la_Mer, it's possible it's an allergic reaction. Was there anything else different? I'd say try the avocado again and if it happens again, stop themfor a week.

[Brady]

laMer-I've actually been asked numerous times if Drew is a girl, lol. Hence why I try to have a baseball hat on him to avoid the question... (well that, and for the sun, of course) ;)

tgoody- Love the updated pictures of Tripp! He looks so happy, and it cracks me up about how the kiddos legs are too big for the Bumbo. Too funny.

Lisa- Your FIL will be in my thoughts. Awesome about Aaron's sleeping!

I had actually screwed up posting pictures, I am going to have to come back later and try the ones from my vacation again. I went back to edit something in my original post and ended up deleting them all. Oh well. We went for his blood test today, poor kid- he was such a trooper. They gave him a snoopy bandaid and little maraca rattle for being so brave! I am triple crossing my fingers everything comes back clear so I don't have to take him back for that again anytime soon.

[PookiePrincess]

Hey ladies! We're back from vacation and I'm catching up on things. I'm hoping to upload some pictures before I go to bed tonight and post to LJ and some here. We had a good time!

Sounds like everyone's been busy! Our babies are growing so fast!

[mcgwigan]

Whoo-hoo! Wyatt only woke up once last night! I'm thinking that he hadn't been getting enough bm/formula during the day. Yesterday he had 18oz in bottles at daycare, plus nursed the usual 4 times. He just woke once at 1:30 and I had him back down in 20 minutes. Of course his diaper leaked so bad I had to change the sheets :rolleyes:.

Anyway, I'm staying home today, DSS has a temp of 103, so we going to the docs at 10:15-but I can't take him to his sitters with a temp like that (not to mention, he'd rather be home-poor guy!)

[Eliezrah]

Megan, yippee!! I hope DSS feels better.

[JBB]

Okay, I am so going to try and be better (I know I'm a broken record)

We started Julia on rice cereal. She's okay with it-not great. Here's a picture from the first day:

http://i8.photobucket.com/albums/a13/Bethiinyc/RiceCereal007.jpg?t=1217462785

The first try with the rice cereal we were at my parent's home in NJ so we used the Bumbo seat.

And now back at home we are using her high chair:

http://i8.photobucket.com/albums/a13/Bethiinyc/highchair008.jpg?t=1217462315

The one thing I am changing is that instead of using breastmilk I am going to use formula with the rice cereal. Basically it stresses me out to pump because I produce so little. I have enough for Julia but not any extra. So I'm going to mix rice cereal with formula.

[mcgwigan]

JBB It's probably better to make the rice cereal with formula-the breastmilk makes it all runny. You can get it to the right consistancy, but it'll never stay! Julia looks like she likes her high chair & spoon! Wyatt always puts the spoon way back in his mouth and gags himself - I can't let him hold it because he does it every time right off the bat!

Lisa Thanks-he is feeling better! They think it's viral rather than strep & they're probably right, because his fever has gone down quite a bit.

Whoo-hoo. We had a good day here. Wyatt took good naps & drank good bottles for me all day - I'm still breast feeding, but since the bottle strike was such a struggle, I have been giving him bottles when he is home except for first thing in the morning, nap (sometimes) and evening, after 5. It works out pretty well, I have also cut my pumping down to just one session in the morning & know I don't produce as much now because of it, but that's fine, I'm OK with supplementing with formula. Anyway, I'm pretty sure that he'll sleep pretty well tonight since he ate so well during the day-I really think that's key for us.

Hope everyone is doing well...looks like it'll be back to work for me tomorrow!

[Eliezrah]

JBB I agree about not using BM, especially if you are having trouble pumping enough. I used water for Aaron's and once he had apples I used a touch of applejuice (100% pure). Now I sometimes just mix it with another food.

Megan, glad he's doing better. Yippee for better sleep! Eating was the key for Aaron. He kept waking up cuz he was hungry@

[mcgwigan]

Lisa The funny thing is, that even with solids, he'll still wake up to eat at night if he doesn't get enough bm/formula during the day. It's so weird! Also, I don't think it was ezcema on his face afterall-looks like a scratch-like maybe he tweaked his cheek & scratched himself.

[Sashi]

Pookie - I had no idea you were on vacation, stupid me! Where did you go? Can't wait for the recap!

McGwigan - It seems like he might be waking at night to nurse for comfort. I don't know how to break him of that..........GOOD LUCK!

JBB - Julia looks adorable in her highchair, she seems to like it in that picture! I agree with Meghan that you need to keep adding rice with BM because it gets really loose after a little bit. Maybe try oatmeal if she doesn't continue to like it. I've heard a lot of babies prefer oatmeal over the rice.



I'm convinced Oliver will eat ANYTHING that's in front of him. I'm going to be cooking up some butternut squash this week. There are two ways that the book says to do it, boil or bake. i'm going to try baking it.......there is a first time for everything!

[Eliezrah]

Can I just say how glad I am that no one in this thread is self centered, bitchy, nasty, or condescending.... I'm part of a buddy group in here for Seth's birth month and they are getting horrible in there! I've kept my mouth shut on CC about them since who knows where people lurk, but now I could care less if they see this.... I always though buddy groups were places to talk about what your child is going through, to vent, to share the good and the bad, etc. Well apparently I can't talk about anything having to do with Seth in there! He has having major constipation issues related to potty training and so I was discussing it in there, the place where I thought I was "allowed". When he got better and actually peed at camp in the potty and I posted it, no one said a word about how great that was. After over a week of no one posting I asked where everyone was and I'm getting replies such as they don't care about the poop talk or don't like talking about potty training or constipation or suppositories (all meant for me since that's what he was going through). Someone even just now posted that I should go to the "late" potty training thread since they'd have answers for me there. First of all, training a few months before turning 3 is not "late" by any means (I don't force my kids to go like some of these girls, I wait for my children to be ready and to tell me they are ready and even the ped says that's the way to do it and even 4 is not considered late now). Second of all, this is the buddy group for kids born in Seth's month, aren't these buddy groups meant to talk about everything that child is going through both the good and the bad? It would be like me telling those of you with sleep issues with your babies not to post about it in here since I'm tired of it and to find a sleep problem thread instead. I'd never do that since it's part of what you are going through with your child who yo are in this group for! Plus you never know who else in here might be going through the same thing and you can be shoulders for each other, etc...

I'm sorry for the off topic vent here, I just needed to let it out. All their comments are definitely meant for me, like they don't want me in the thread. It all started with that restaurant thing last month that I think I posted in here, how we were kicked out because of Seth's allergies, and they got nasty to me in there and were telling me i was wrong for being upset about it, etc. I was even blasted for calling allergies a disability when, by Federal law, it is a hidden disability, and he has the same rights as anyone with a visible disability. I stopped arguing with them, let them get the last word, and moved on to other things about Seth, and the thread pretty much died. Part of me now feels like if they don't want to post with me, they should just stop posting. There's no need for veiled comments about me and what I'm posting about, which is all on topic for a birth buddy group!

How much do you want to bet that when I post about Seth's allergy appt next week I'll be told to go to the allergy tread? I'm curious what they'd say would be ok to post about.... I almost want to keep posting about Seth in there to show them that I have every right to be in there and post about my son who was born in Sept 05...

Again, I'm sorry for the off topic rant.....

[Eliezrah]

Megan at least you figured it out and now know to make sure he drinks enough during the day!

Sashi so you have a piggy too huh?

Kudos to all of you who actually make the baby food! I'd never be able to do it, I have enough trouble finding time to make dinner each night for the other 4 of us! LOL

[ladybug777]

"Feb 2007 mama delurking for a sec"

Eliezrah: Wow, that really sucks. Hmmm, I wondering...I know in our thread, we usually just post general updates about our kids and what they're doing and what milestones they're hitting, etc. Stuff that is a common thread for everyone. For more specific and detailed stuff, we usually post that kind of stuff in our personal journals. I know for us, because we have so many mommas, it keeps the thread flowing and prevents any one person from getting called out. Just a suggestion.

"back to lurking..."

[Eliezrah]

Thanks Ladybug. Our thread is pretty small and slow moving, we actually merged 2 of them together. Everyone who doesn't want potty training talk already went told us about how great their almost 3 year old is doing. So it seems they think it's ok for them to discuss but not for anyone who isn't trained yet. I don't have a journal and all my other birth month buddy groups we talk about everything, the good the bad and the cute. The funny thing is that I stopped talking about it over a week ago and they are still going on and on about how they are tired of it! Oh well. I'll just keep posting my updates and stuff about Seth and let them say/ do what they want. I no longer expect any support from that group...

[Eliezrah]

Back on topic....

Aaron seems to have dropped 1 nursing session. The past few days he only nursed 6 instead of 7 times. I knew it would happen when we went up to 3 meals a day, but I was hoping it wouldn't! LOL

[mcgwigan]

Lisa Sorry about the other group! Sometimes I feel like I shouldn't post about all the sleep wonderings I have in here, thinking others would get tird of it & maybe I should just start a journal. I don't really feel like taking the time to journal, so figure I'll just bore you guys with it...FWIW - DSS was not potty trained until after 3 (just trying to make you feel better, you're right about some children being older). I also throw things in here everynow and then about DSS because I have never really felt comfortable posting in any of the big kid threads & don't belong to a mommy group for him-I can imagine the replies if I tried to join a mommy group for my DSS! This place can get snarky-try to ignore it! I know-hard to do when it's supposed to be your mommy group!

Lisa, I also hear you on having a hard time making dinner - we have football season starting on Monday, DSS has to be there at 6 or 6:30 every night Mon-Thurs-I don't get home til 5:15, so I'm now having to really plan ahead!

[mcgwigan]

lisa I wanted to also add that if Aaron dropped a nursing session, maybe you should still pump at that time. I'm sure you know, since this is your 3rd, that missing that session may start decreasing your production.

[Brady]

Sorry to hear about that Lisa. I hear you though, my son wasn't trained until after he turned 3 (and he is still not #2 trained). So, I don't think it's late either! That really stinks though.

I also am with you on giving kudos to those that make their own baby food! I know I *could* do it, but I just feel like I can't even cook my own food, lol.. never mind the baby's. :) So, Aaron is at 3 meals a day now? Drew is just about there too, he usually always has 2 and most days 3.

We got Drew's blood test results back today and all looks good! The low white blood cell count seems to have resolved itself and his anemia is now just borderline. I'm going to just keep him on the iron supplement until his 9 month appt., per his Ped's rec. So, no more blood tests anyways!

[Sashi]

Eliezrah - Yes I do! He started on jarred food at daycare (organic). I had to get over my own internal struggle with it and i'm fine now. He likes it and that's all that matters. I'm so sorry about the other thread. I hope this thread doesn't turn into that because i don't know what i'd do sometimes without the other Feb 08 momma's. Maybe that will change as we progress as new mom's but still, it's great to know you have support from people with babies the same age. Sometimes it's difficult for me to talk about things with my friends because 1. they all have girls and 2. they are all older kids. Good luck!

Quick Question - has anyone that's making their baby food tried peaches? How would i cook them? They want to give them to him at daycare but we haven't tried it for 3-4 consecutive days so i don't want to just say yes. I guess i would just process them? Or maybe use the mesh bag?

[sparkle&shine]

Sashi ~ What a good eater you have there! Good luck with the squash.

Lisa ~ Sorry to hear about your issues in the other group. You would think that is what they are there for. I know that my group from Andrew pretty much just died which is kind of sad.

Brady ~ I forgot to post but Ethan has a bit of a flat spot also. I am glad that you don't have to go with a helmet. I was a bit worried that E might need one but his is mild and is actually getting more rounded out now. Andrew didn't get potty trained until after Ethan came and actually still wears a pull-up at night and he is a bit older than yours so the #2's will probably follow soon! I am glad that Drew's bloodwork came back good!

A friend came over with her 6 week old and he looked so tiny even though he's actually quite the chunker! I told her that I have already forgotten Ethan being that small. I know that sounds crazy but the first weeks are such a blur to me. You really do forget just how little they really were.

Ethan held his own bottle yesterday. DH called me up and told me that E took the bottle out of his hands and held it himself. I was shocked. Andrew never wanted to hold his bottle especially since DH holds them while they eat.

[sparkle&shine]

I was just thinking about Halloween yesterday and see today that a thread was bumped in the infant area. Just a heads up that it's not too early to start thinking about costumes if you do them because they really do sell out! Plus if you are crafty you have enough time to make one.

[mcgwigan]

S&S I saw that the Costume thread had been bumped up. Will have to think about that for a bit - I know that I'm looking for an elf costume for him, so I can do Christmas Cards with DSS as Santa, the dog with reindeer antlers & Wyatt as an elf & we'll probably just throw the cat in a stocking for good measure!:p I should start working on that!

Sashi I haven't made peaches yet & will probably be one food that I'll wait a while on since I had a really bad reaction to them a few years ago & haven't been able to bring myself to try them again! I'd probably be tempted to cook them like I do apples-with just a little water, so that they will mash easy. Oh, by the way, I tried my hand blender with apples yesterday and I actually like it better than my food processor! Who would've thunk!!

Brady Yay for the good results & no more blood tests!

Overnight Diapers OK, I haven't looked for things like this yet so know nothing about them. Do they really work better than regular diapers? What am I supposed to look for in these, I think the only ones I've seen are Huggies Overnights...are there other kinds? Wyatt's diaper leaks through unless I change him in the middle of the night, which I have been doing & usually he goes back to sleep pretty easily. last night he was up for an hour though!

also Changing crib sheets Is there any easy way to do this? I basically have to take the mattress out to do it!

[Eliezrah]

Thanks for letting me vent,guys!!!!!!

Megan, IMHO you venting about Wyatt's sleeping belongs in here. It's a buddy group for him. I feel BGs are for everything, not just "hey my kid's better at this than yours," ya know? As for you posting about DSS, I know it doesn't bother me. It's all part of parenting. Just like when I post about Jakie or Seth. I know this isn't "their" thread but it's part of my being a mom and thins with them affect Aaron as well.

As for pumping, I really should pump more. I actually haven't in several weeks. I did take out a bottle for Scott to give him tonight just to make sure he doesn't forget how to drink from it! LOL

Brady, thanks. Jackie trained at 3 years, 5 months and even the ped said not to worry until they are over 4. YIPPEEE for good blood results! Yeah, my little piggy eats 3 stage 1 containers a day and usually finishes them all! The ped was right, he did need extra and unless I wanted to nurse every 2 hours, which I didn't want to do, solids it was....

Sashi, I'm curious and I may have missed a post somewhere, but what is it about the jarred food you don't like?

Sparkle, thanks. I also hope we don't turn into that. I love our group here!! TOo cute about Ethan holding the bottle!

~~~~

Halloween: Well Jackie wanted to be Violet and Sethy wanted to be Dash (from The Incredibles) so I'm going to TRY to make Aaron a Jack Jack costume! I figured it would be easiest to get a red shirt, red pants and black socks. Then I'll look for the Incredibles logo online and maybe print it out and safety pin it to his shirt! LOL

[Eliezrah]

Megan, we cross posted.... Overnight diapers: we had to use them with Jackie but not Seth (I think, well we used them with 1 of them and not the other! LOL) I did find they were more absorbent than regular daytime ones. We only use Huggies since Jackie was allergic to something in every other brand so we just stuck with Huggies for all 3, so I can't tell you about any other brands. As for changing crib sheets, I also have to take out the mattress and I hate it! LOL

[mcgwigan]

Lisa Thanks -for the crib sheets, I just wanted to be sure that someone didn't have some special trick up their sleeve that I was missing.
I did take out a bottle for Scott to give him tonight just to make sure he doesn't forget how to drink from it! LOL

Ha! I'm sure your little guy isn't going to forget! He sounds like he just gobbles up everything!!

jarred food Just thought I'd input here too. I'm not against jarred food & have bought it and will for things that I'm not sure of how to make. The things I've made are super easy and just about free-squash from our garden, 2 sweet potatoes made about 16 cubes (i've been freezing in ice cube trays) and yesterday 3 apples that I got tired of seeing in the fridge made about 10 cubes. 1 cube is about a feeding for my little guy for now! I think that Sashi wants to make sure her little guy is getting the best from mom!

[PookiePrincess]

Megan: I hope Wyatt's sleep continues to improve. It's amazing what uninterrupted sleep can do for you! Glad your DSS is better. Your schedule is going to get crazy with football practice! That's a lot of practice!

JBB: Good luck with the rice cereal! She looks so happy in her high chair!

Sashi: I guess you know where we went on vacation, since you saw my LJ post! That's so great that Oliver is such a good eater. My older niece is a picky eater and it's such a pain. The child won't even eat a sandwich!

Lisa (and everyone else): I'm sorry about the other thread. Seriously, I think maybe our thread is different. We really can talk about anything in here and I doubt anyone would outright be ugly to anyone else. I don't get tired of hearing about sleep issues or food issues or whatever. Maybe it's because several of us are first timers, but I feel like everything is a learning experience. So don't stress and I'm glad I have you guys for support and help when I need it!

Brady: So glad Drew's results were good! Hopefully no more special trips to the doctor for him!

S&S: I know this sounds weird, but I'm glad Ethan has a flat spot, too! I've been stressing over Kassidy's when I'm sure it's fine. It seems so much more noticeable in the bath though when her hair is slicked down. I'm trying to keep her on her belly or upright as much as possible and will make sure to ask the ped about it at her 6 month WBV.

I used to not believe it when people would say they can't remember when their babies were tiny. Even at 5 1/2 months, it's so hard to believe how small Kassidy used to be. It really wasn't that long ago! We have friends that are having a baby in October and I can't wait to hold a newborn baby again!

Thank for the heads up about Halloween. I'm thinking DH and I should get some ideas and do some shopping!

[PookiePrincess]

Megan: I think I saw somewhere else that you can put two crib sheets with a mattress pad or layer of plastic between them. That way if the top sheet gets messed up in the middle of the night, you can take it and the mattress pad/plastic layer off and have a clean sheet without taking the mattress out.

[Eliezrah]

Megan, true but Sethy went on a bottle strike when he was a few months old and refused to take them afterwards, so I guess I'm just nervous about it! LOL Thanks for replying about jarred vs homemade food. I definitely give all food makers tons of credit!!!

Kristi, thanks! I definitely felt better after my vent. I've learned not to let anyone have the power to make me really stressed out. No one out there is worth me getting myself sick over, ya know? If I'm in a due date buddy group and want to post about the child in the group, I'll do so! If they don't want to hear about what I have to say, the mature thing would be to not read and not reply instead of telling me not to post. But I'll keep posting since I have every right to!

[DelSol]

also Changing crib sheets Is there any easy way to do this? I basically have to take the mattress out to do it!

Uggh, I was just thinking I need to do this. I don't think there is an easy way. I hate taking the mattress out to do it.

Kristi ~ I think I read that somewhere. I use to put the lap pads down but now she moves all around they are useless for me, well not totally I used them for the changing table.

[motownmamma]

Can I just say how glad I am that no one in this thread is self centered, bitchy, nasty, or condescending....

I'm a member of this "other" thread. Why not say how you really feel over there?

[mcgwigan]

Kristie Yeah, I think I did read that somewhere. It's a good idea.

DelSol I use those pads on my changing table too - much easier than a sheet type cover, I think. When one gets messed up, I throw it in the laundry and stick the other one on - I've also just flipped it over if I need it clean, quick! Then I can just wipe the changing table pad off later!

[la_Mer]

I have to make this short but I wanted to respond to two things...


Lisa I think we should be able to talk about all issues going on in our lives as parents, good and bad. I'm not here to just learn stats about other babies, but to get advice and share advice on what has worked or not worked for us. Of course our kids are going to do things at different times, so we might discuss the same issues more than once. I would hate for someone to feel like they couldn't bring up an issue just because their kid is "late" or "early" on particular milestone.

Megan We tried the Huggies overnights and he still leaked out of them. I've heard other people liked them (and that was the only brand of overnight in infant size that I could find). They also sell diaper doublers, which is an insert like the ones I've been using. I haven't had any leaks since we started with the inserts.

[sparkle&shine]

Kristi ~ You can totally see Ethan's when his hair is wet too! He really preferred looking the right when he was younger. He has always had a strong neck so even when I would lay him down at night facing the other way he would just turn his head right back. It is a lot better and the ped looked at it at his 4 month appt. and said that if it didn't bother us not to worry about it. It has gotten better and I am sure it won't be noticeable much longer.

Megan ~ Yup, you can double deck sheets so that if one gets wet you can just peel it off. I would either try going up a size at night in diapers or using doublers. They really work well and are very cheap. I have a set that I got from Albertson's grocery store.

I am not sure if any of the sizes would apply to anyone here but there is a great sale at the Disney outlet stores (http://disneyshopping.go.com/webapp/wcs/stores/servlet/CategoryDisplay?storeId=10052&catalogId=10003&categoryId=13587&langId=-1&NsChanged=0&Ntk=p_categoryID&Ntt=13587&N=0&Nu=p_productID&Ns=p_currentPrice%7C0) online on costumes and swim stuff oh and Pajamas for $4.99 (http://disneyshopping.go.com/webapp/wcs/stores/servlet/CategoryDisplay?catalogId=10003&storeId=10052&categoryId=14496&langId=-1&N=0&Ntk=p_categoryID&Ntt=14496&Nu=p_productID).

[PookiePrincess]

S&S: Kassidy's the same way! Her's is on the right because at night she sucks her thumb on her right hand, so her head is always turned to the right. I do try to go in and turn her head after she's asleep, but if she wakes up at all, she sucks her thumb to put herself back to sleep! I'm just trying to keep her off it unless she's sleeping. Her ped didn't say anything at 4 months, so it must not have been bad.

ETA: I have a question. I know we talked about bumpers in here. I still have Kassidy's in because she doesn't roll in her bed and hardly ever moves at all. But when does the crib mattress need to be moved down? I'm hoping I'm good for a while!

[Eliezrah]

Dana, I also hate taking out the mattr