September2007 Babies: Halfway to one, gettin' our move on!

[jodylovesscotty]

DisneyGirl~ Your welcome! We use desonide and it works great for Zoë, though at the beginning we used something a little stronger to get it manageable.

hmbay~ I can't believe they told you that. IF I have to use something more than 5 days in a row I have to go back to the ped. dermatologist. She said never to use anything longer than 5 days in a row. However, we are like you, usually within one or two days it is cleared up.

[jodylovesscotty]

One thing on the list, it said Burts Bee's is okay. It's not. If you look on the label it has fragrence in it which really irritates eczema and baby skin. We used it, but when I took it to the derm. she said stop using it.

[Taurus]

Ooh, that's not good. Never noticed bc I don't use Burt's Bees. Forgot to say I also cross-reference with the Environmental Working Group's cosmetics database (http://www.cosmeticsdatabase.com/), which is very anti-fragrance. Yes, it is crazy how much time I spend reading labels...and my kids don't even have eczema! ETA - the sites combined help me figure out what's most natural and non-toxic and non-irritating, since these two things are not one in the same.

[sabrespa]

Thank you Jody and Taurus for all of the info. I definitely have some research to do. I used the steroid cream on his inflamed spots and they had nearly cleared up within hours. Amazing! He told me to use vaseline on his trouble spots and if they flare up then use the steroid cream. It worked so fast, I don't see how you would need to use it more than a day or so.

Question for FF~ How much formula is your child drinking in a day? I got a handout from the peds office that said he should drink between 16-20oz a day + three meals. He drinks between 36-40oz + 2 (sometimes 3, depends if we're busy) meals a day.

[Boskie]

FF Question - DD generally averages 20 oz of formula a day when she has 3 meals. Sometimes it may be as much as 24 oz. Our Ped said she was right inline with where she should be.

[jodylovesscotty]

FF Question ~ DD gets around 30 oz. a day plus 3 meals a day. Her feeding schedule looks like this:

wake up: 7 1/2 oz. bottle
breakfast: 8 am 2 TBSP cereal w/ 1 TBSP formula and a tub of stage 2 fruit
snack: 7 1/2 oz. bottle 10:30
lunch: 1:00 tub of stage 2 veggie and 1/2 tub of stage 2 fruit
snack: 7 /12 oz bottle 3:00
dinner: 5:00 stage 2 dinner and other 1/2 of fruit
bedtime: 7 1/2 oz. bottle at 7:00

We can't do bottles and food together or she won't eat the bottle. This has worked for us.

[TracyDP]

FF Question: Ellie has about 20oz a day. 6oz bottle in AM upon waking, 4oz bottle before each nap, 6oz bottle in PM before bed.

I am going to start moving her bottles away from nap/bedtime soon so she can go to sleep without them. On occasion she has acted SUPER tired after Lunch or Breakfast and I've put her down after eating w/o a bottle and she just sucks her thumb and hugs her lovey bear. I think mostly she wants a full tummy, so after next week (my Mom is coming to visit so things will be kind of crazy) I"m going to start giving her the bottle about 20 min before bedtime/naptime then having a story, then she can suck her thumb and hug her bear. THis way when I start weaning off the bottle onto the sippy cup she can have her sippy of formula/milk then a little later go to sleep.

[sabrespa]

Zach's schedule:
5am - 6oz then back to bed
8am - 6oz
9am - 1/2 jar stage 3 and some Gerber Puff or Cheerios
11:30 - 6oz
12:30 - 1/2 jar stage 3 & some finger food
1:30 - nap
3:30 - 6oz
5:00 - 1/2 jar stage 3 & finger food
7pm - 10oz then bed

Maybe I should try the cereal with the babyfood to fill him up more?

[emschwar]

Man, Daniel must be a little piggy! I kid you not, the kid eats ~20 oz of solid food a day. Here's how it goes:
breakfast - a little more than 1/4 cup cereal mixed w/ prune juice
lunch - 2 jars of stage 2, or 1 jar of stage 3 (although he's always still hungry after just a jar of stage 3)
dinner - 3 jars of stage 2, or a jar of stage 3 and a jar and a half of stage 2.
After every meal he usually eats some cheerios or puffs to occupy him while DH/I eat. We're spending a flipping fortune on food for this kid!!! At least the breastmilk is free, otherwise we'd be broke!

How is it that my child eats 20 oz of baby food a day and still only weighs 14 lbs? :confused:

sabre - if you continue to have problems with eczema, try switching your laundry detergent to Charlie's Soap. I switched right after Daniel was born and both my eczema and Noah's is so much better. I can tell you where you can buy it locally, if you want. Just PM me.

[2 Crazy Pugs]

Sophia is boycotting baby food (basically anything from a jar)- she refuses to eat it. She wants "real" food. Which is good, but funny. Yesterday at daycare she had french toast for breakfast (they make it for the babies without eggs), for lunch she had grilled cheese, peas & carrots, and her snack was yogurt & cheerios. AND SHE HAS NO TEETH STILL! Good thing the food is all part of her tuition. I am glad she is liking food more, baby food is expensive, and I would rather her eat good food. Daycare has a nutritionist on staff who does the food planning for the school, we get the menu for the entire month so we can circle what foods Sophia can eat. They substitute peanut butter, citrus fruit, etc for the babies with something else.

So far so good. But she is adamant about grabbing our forks when we eat dinner because she wants our food.

[sabrespa]

Em~ I can't believe he eats that much food! Too funny!

[hmbay]

2 Crazy Pugs--the only one of my kids that ate baby food was my first. My 2nd and 3rd refused it beyond the initial taste. Sabrina refused a container of pears and a container of carrots yesterday but ate mashed potatoes and cake off of DH's plate. :rolleyes:

[2 Crazy Pugs]

I like that she is eating food, but I find myself planning meals around her. It takes me forever at the grocery store, because I am thinking "okay, can Sophia have this if we have this for dinner".... our lives are now completely 100% centered around her, which is the way we like it. A friend of a friend is having a baby in August, and she is convinced that it won't change her lifestyle- I keep trying to tell her that it will but she isn't convinced.

I have finally realized that my mom is right- no matter how old your kids are you always worry about them. She tells me that she worries about me, and I say "mom I am 37 years old you don't have to worry" and she always said to me- you wait until you have a child, you will see. Well she is right.

[jodylovesscotty]

This week Zoë has been refusing to eat her purees. So we have been offering her finger foods, but I have to feed them to her. She will pick them up but not put any in her mouth. Are you DC eating the finger foods by themselves? What finger foods are you offering?

[ptcrn]

David won't take finger foods at all. I have given him puffs a few times, and he just plays with them. Same thing with the "safe feeder". I'll put mango or apple in it and it's like he doesn't know what to do with it. He loves purees though, so I guess he's just not ready yet.

[Boskie]

Olivia won't eat finger foods either. I've given her puffs and she plays with them and then looks at me like now what? She still does pretty good with the purees, unless she is really tired and then she just wants a bottle. I hadn't planned on using Stage 3 food, just going straight to table food, but now I'm wondering if that would be an easier transition. I'll have to look closely at the food in the jars at the store this weekend.

[2 Crazy Pugs]

For finger foods, we give Sophia puffs and cheerios, and sometimes the baby goldfish (she gums them until they are really mushy), and fruit, which I cut in small pieces for her. She picks everything up herself and puts it in her mouth- she wants to use a spoon herself but hasn't quite figured that out yet.

[Jess71903]

Gage is refusing purees lately, too. t took a while for him to figure out that the stuff on his tray was good to go in his mouth, but now he eats finger food like a piggy. Your mamas with kiddos that won't do ff yet, just keep putting it on their trays. They'll figure it out!

Here are the things on his list:

chunky soups- he loves the ones with noodles. Still can't handle the meats, really. He tends to get a mouth full of them but can't get them down and ends up gagging. I usually get the veggie noodle and the chunky country veggie. Also Progresso chicken noodle has a lot of soft carrots in it.

Cheerios

Puffs

REFRIED BEANS! The kid LOVES refried beens!

baked beans

french fries- he likes to hold the whole thing in his fist

pomegranate and blueberry sauce (Mussleman's brand). It comes in those little cups. He's not crazy about it, but he likes it pretty well.

pureed prunes- we've got constipation around here :(

Finally figured out a straw cup and he really likes it. I think he got it because when we would go out to eat, DH and I would give him drinks of water from our straw by plugging one end with our finger and then letting a little at a time go into his mouth. Then he figured out how to suck it out.

[emschwar]

No real surprise, considering how much he eats, but Daniel loves everything! For finger foods, he's done cheerios and puffs, and tiny pieces of canteloupe, and last night he got little bits of bread and plain pasta, both of which he thought were fantastic.

qotd - has anyone started 1st birthday party planning yet?

We've booked the location for Daniel's party (a gazebo at the park) and I got all the party supplies this week. His theme is Teddy Bear's Picnic :)

[Boskie]

We've started doing some planning for Olivia's party. We'll be having it at my parent's house, they have a BIG yard and we have a LOT of family that will be there. I've got to get busy on renting some tables and chairs, there is no way we have enough for everyone. I'm also looking into getting a bounce house. Olivia will be the youngest one there, with one exception and all her cousins are 4-8 years old. I thought they'd enjoy the bounce house and it would be a great way for them to work off all the sugar! We'll be doing the basic BBQ - hamburgers, hot dogs, chicken with assorted salads.

[TracyDP]

Yesterday Ellie had an all finger food lunch for the first time, no puree. We had cut up pieces of nectarine, fresh mozzarella stick cut up (I found some soft fresh mozzarella sticks, like the soft mozz not the harder regular stuff), gerber chicken sticks cut up and puffs. She loves anything she can chew up, but still likes certain purees. I made some homemade sweet potato puree w/ rice and bits of chicken but for some reason it makes her gag. Not because of the flavor, she likes all of the ingredients, but I think all the rice and chicken bits IN the puree throws her off. If I give her a little gob of rice, or piece of chicken plain she chews it fine. She is used to being able to just mush and swallow puree, or chew solid...but not both at the same time. She is starting to get the hang of feeding herself but still tries to whole fist the stuff into her mouth. Yesterday she got 4 puffs and 2 chicken pieces in herself. She's working on pincher grasp but hasn't quite figured out to let go of the thing she picks up, so she puts it in her mouth, closes her mouth then pulls the food back out :rolleyes:

QOTD: I haven't even thought about her first birthday party and had no plans on doing anything more than a family dinner at Grandmas. BUT...she has a couple of play-date friends that it might be fun to have over so we'll see what happens. I would just do it at our house though, a BBQ..nothing fancy.

[hmbay]

QOTD--no plans. DD's b-day is 5 days after DS2's b-day and 6 days after a cousin's birthday and 7 days after another cousin's birthday. I'm sure her party will be combined with the joint b-day party we have for DS2 and the 2 cousins. Two years ago a local bakery gave away 1/4 sheet cakes for first b-days. If they still do we'll do that. It had "soap bubbles" of frosting and rubber duckies on it. I'm guessing they haven't changed the theme if they still offer the free cakes.

[ptcrn]

QOTD- We've done a little birthday planning. It is going to be a Curious George theme and I've bought all the plates, favors, etc. Every month we take a picture with his Curious George, so I thought it would be cute to get one of those frames with the first 12 months and display them at the party. It will mostly just be family and close friends with their kids, all of whom are just a little older than David. I'm getting excited, because we should be in our new house by then, so that will be our first party!

Here's his 8 month picture- I can't believe he will be 9 months next week!

http://im1.shutterfly.com/media/47b8d800b3127ccec43f0c091d3400000020O08AZtGTVy4ZOA e3nww/cC/f%3D0/ps%3D50/r%3D0/rx%3D560/ry%3D300/

We no longer sit quietly next to George. :rolleyes:

http://im1.shutterfly.com/media/47b8d800b3127ccec43e13f1fc2700000020O08AZtGTVy4ZOA e3nww/cC/f%3D0/ps%3D50/r%3D0/rx%3D560/ry%3D300/

[TracyDP]

We had our first trip to the zoo today:) Ellie had a great time, and grandma (my Mom) is visiting from out of town and she really enjoyed it too. DD didn't seem to notice the animals yet unless they were right there in front of her, mostly the fish and otters that were right by the glass made her flappy and got a reaction. She also liked the bird cage you can go into and feed the birds "juice". She got up close to some and got all excited. Otherwise, she LOVED the train ride and watching all of the other babies and kids going by in strollers.

This was our first try with napping while out and about, and we managed to get about a 40 min afternoon nap in her stroller after I gave her a bottle and hung a blanket over the front so it was dark, then walked around for about 10 minutes until she stopped moving and fell asleep. We got a drink and an ice cream and walked around while she slept.

She was acting wired and overstimulated when we got home so I was expecting the worst for bedtime. Luckily, once I gave her dinner and a bath she fell asleep in my lap by the time she was done with her bottle. Tired girl. I managed to hit the "sweet spot" just before she got overtired I think. 30 more minutes and she would have taken a lot longer to get down.

[jjohm]

hi all! been reading along, but just haven't posted in a while i guess.
QOTD: the first bday party is a big to do in the korean culture (think mini-wedding reception, haha). we rented the same restaurant we used for DS1's party though we will have fewer guests (50!) a couple of you already heard the story with DS1, but here is a picture to get an idea...
http://files.blog-city.com/files/J04/60871/p/f/908614325403_0_alb.jpg
time to start planning!

alex is growing just fine...nothing earth shattering to report. he has been a LOT of fun though, with all the exploring he does and interacting with his brother.
here is a pic of him and DH at the beach.
http://bp1.blogger.com/_sAlc9KUHBAY/SD-DdwSNX0I/AAAAAAAAAH0/38dmTrsEZcE/s320/47b8db06b3127cce98548b06bbdb00000047100Acs2TZq2ZtW Og.jpg
and at costco
http://bp2.blogger.com/_sAlc9KUHBAY/SDS0o01RgHI/AAAAAAAAAG0/_hWfOwl6NVg/s320/IMG_4608.jpg

[Taurus]

jjohm-you are brave, i have not tried the dual-shopping cart thing yet. actually, i avoid all grocery shopping of any kind with both if i can help it! DS2 is tiny though, and would probably fall through the openings without the cover i have! my boys have changed their interactions so much in the last few days. DS1 can make DS2 crack up, and DS2 is "counterattacking" too! i had never seen the value of a tandem stroller (vs side by side) until now

we took our first family plane trip this weekend and DS2 broke FOUR teeth over the weekend. miracle that it went as well as it did.

[Bucktown]

Hi everyone! I've been trying to read along but we've run into some issues here with both DS & DD.

Anna had her 9 mo appointment today and is 24lbs 8ozs and 29.5" long. Crazy. Still not crawling but is finally rolling all over the place.

B-day party planning~ Haven't started yet as we just had DS' 4th b-day party on Saturday and that was crazy. He had a hockey theme though. :) I'm not quite ready to jump into planning DD's yet.

[2 Crazy Pugs]

We have a full on crawler! And boy is she fast!

Her knees get all red though- any suggestions?

[sabrespa]

I think a lot of people use the babylegs to help protect their LO's knees. Congrats!

[jodylovesscotty]

Zoë's legs are all red too from crawling. We have hardwood floors in our entire house. Even wearing pants doesn't help. I guess it will make her tough.

On Friday she learned to pull herself to a standing position. Now besides crawling that is all she wants to do.

We had her 9 month well visit and she weighed 18 lbs 1 1/2 oz. and was 27 1/2 inches tall. They did a finger prick to check her hemoglobin. Does anyone know what that is for?

Today we start our babysitter. She is going to come over once or twice a week for 3 hours so I can run errands or do stuff around the house.

[Boskie]

Olivia's knees are red, too. I tried putting her in pants, but it is so hot (108 today) I hate doing it. Besides, she slips a lot more with pants on.

She is also starting to furniture walk. Not many steps yet, maybe 3 or 4 at a time, but she is getting faster at it.

[jjohm]

just a drive by to post a new pic!
http://bp1.blogger.com/_sAlc9KUHBAY/SGGs_NiO8JI/AAAAAAAAAKI/sg3D-PH5i08/s400/IMG_4821.jpg
mommy is mean...

[sabrespa]

Zach is starting to take a few unassisted steps! It's funny because of the three kids, he's the latest walker!

[Bucktown]

Wow Sabre, you've got some overachievers there! ;)

[2 Crazy Pugs]

We have hardwood floors also, so if I put her in pants, she just slides. I think the same would be true for babylegs.

[2 Crazy Pugs]

Did everyone see this about the crib recall?

http://news.bostonherald.com/news/national/general/view/2008_06_25_Federal_officials_announce_massive_crib _recall/srvc=home&position=recent

Our crib is on the list.

[DisneyGirl]

Damn, K hasn't even started crawling yet...Hes a slacker! LOL

[emschwar]

Daniel's a slacker too.

[Taurus]

Apparently I only make slackers.

[emschwar]

Apparently I only make slackers.

lol! Me too! Noah didn't crawl (and it was army crawl at that!) until 10.5 months, and didn't walk until 19.

[hmbay]

crawling? they're supposed to crawl? Sabrina just scoots around on her butt.

[Jess71903]

Jjohm- I LOVE both pics you took. The b-day party pic looks cool. Very festive. You will have to post Alex's pics after his b-day, too.

Gage started PT. MAN she worked him hard! He's definitely a lazy bones. She was trying to make him stay on his hand and knees while using his other hand to reach for something and he kept trying to straighten his legs to flop out on the floor before reaching. Turkey. She also had him on a therapy ball, which he wasn't really sure about. He didn't like not having that stability and kept grabbing at her to hang on. She was working on him getting from laying down to sitting up, which he doesn't do on his own. Overall, he loved it though. We were in a small therapy gym with a bunch of kids and therapists there. That's right up his alley. He stole one of her little toys...had it in his fist and I didn't notice until we were in the car. I watched Tues, but I am usually going to just let her do her thing. I know what it's like to have a parent breathing down your neck while you try to treat. I really think he's going to take off now with this extra help.

In other news, Gage has 2 more teeth. It took him 9 months to get any and then in one month he got 4! So far he hasn't tried to bite me, but I'm sure that's coming.

[Kiley]

Landen had his 9mo appointment - 21# 6oz, 28.5in and his head is the size of an average 2.5 year old at 48cm. No wonder all the baby hats from Preston don't fit him. I thought they just shrunk in the wash ;)

He crawls on his belly mostly, sometimes his hands and knees. He can pull himself up to his knees and sometimes his feet but he's pretty wobbly yet. His brain wants to but his body isn't quite cooperating. He has 4 teeth and has bitten me several times. Stinker.

He's finally getting the hang of eating Puffs. Loves them. We call them "baby crack". Preston used to love them too at that age and has rediscovered them so we're going through them like crazy. Darn, they are $$! But he still tends to gag on other things so we'll stick with purees for a bit. I make my own and have lots in the freezer yet so I'd like to use those up but I won't make anymore.

And sleep - he's finally STTN! It only took 9 months! We did have to do CIO though, it took 3 nights which wasn't too horrible. I'd say it was worth it. I really hope it sticks, knocking on wood. :)

[DisneyGirl]

Apparently I only make slackers.


LOL, LOL! ME TOO!!!

[Jess71903]

Gage went to Children's yesterday for a kidney ultrasound and to see the urologist. It was just a checkup. Everything looked good and we have to go back in 3 more months for the full work-up again (HORRID tests!). The good news is that, for the first time since he was 3 weeks old, he is not on daily antibiotics!!! YAY! We just have to watch for signs of UTI and get tested immediately if he has a fever with no obvious cause.

[hmbay]

Jess--YAY! That's wonderful news!

[DisneyGirl]

Jess Thats great news!!!

Heather Do you have any Similac or good start formula checks laying around?

[TracyDP]

QOTD: How anal are you all about caregivers keeping to DC's schedule when you leave them? I'm not so much talking about daycare since usually they have their own schedule that your DC has to adapt to, but more babysitters or leaving them for a weekend?

I leave DD with Susan every Tuesday and have never really given her specific instructions about when to feed or when to do naps. I usually drop her off right after breakfast before napping. It seems like most days Susan puts her down much later than I would for her nap (1pm vs. 11am), and she only takes one nap (but a long one 2.5 hours usually) because DD gets so wrapped up playing with Susans kids. Susan asked me to tell her my schedule for DD so she could keep to it and I told her not to bother. DD obviously isn't being harmed by having her schedule thrown off, and she does nap there and eat well, so I think it's good for her to be off occasionally to help her be more adaptable. If DD was coming back cranky or over-tired/hungry I'd be concerned but she seems perfectly happy every time I pick her up.

I also know Grandma does things quite differently than me. I just trust her to know when DD is getting tired/hungry and do what needs to be done. I always get a report when I pick her up and she does nap and eat so I don't ask specifics. When she spends the night DD has always slept fine (according to Grandma). Again, she seems happy and not over tired or over stimulated when I pick her up so I figure whatever Grandma is doing it works fine for them.

[hmbay]

Disney--nope. Haven't seen any in a while. :(

[jodylovesscotty]

Zoë had her first sleep over this past weekend. She stayed at IL's while we went to NY for a wedding. She did awesome!!! (Now we can do it more often:) ). We did leave a schedule and they stuck to it as much as possible, but my daughter doesn't really let you stray from it anyway (except at daycare, that is a whole different story).

[Taurus]

Tracy, in addition to the things you mentioned (she sleeps well there, eats well, doesn't get overtired or cranky), my only thing would be: does my kiddo easily go back to "our" schedule after a day "off" it? if so, then yes, i'd be totally fine with it and would be pleased with the flexibility and comfort level with non-family caretakers!

[TracyDP]

Tracy, in addition to the things you mentioned (she sleeps well there, eats well, doesn't get overtired or cranky), my only thing would be: does my kiddo easily go back to "our" schedule after a day "off" it? if so, then yes, i'd be totally fine with it and would be pleased with the flexibility and comfort level with non-family caretakers!

I have never noticed her have trouble afterwards. On the contrary, she usually sleeps late and takes a long morning nap the next day. Susan's kids wear her out. :p I usually only have trouble with Ellie going to sleep if I miss her "sweet spot" between not tired enough and too tired.

There have been a few times in the past month that she has just not wanted one of her naps and sits in her crib playing and talking to her bear for a LONG time. After about 45 min of that or if she gets full out fussy I just get her up and put her to bed earlier for her next nap or for bedtime. I have a policy that at this age I will only put major effort into getting her to sleep once a day, and that's bedtime. I'm not fighting with her for naps since I know she can still function and go to bed at night if she misses one. She gets 12 hours at night so if she misses a nap she will still survive. Luckily she hasn't missed BOTH naps yet. She is tired enough to take at least one a day still.

[jjohm]

I'm not anal about keeping to a schedule, but I do have the care provider (MWF, grandma, TTH, daycare) write down in a notebook every nap and feeding. This way, I know what to expect when I take over. I think it also helps them because I write in it before I drop him off too (what time he woke up and time/oz of his first bottle). they haven't complained, but do you think it's a bit much? with DS1, i stopped doing this at 5 months because he was so predictable. DS2, not so much. When he's w/ Grandma (at home) he does well with his naps, but at the sitter's he doesn't sleep well. It's getting a little better though, finally after 3 months.

he still does 2 naps, if they're good they're 1.5 in the am and 45 min in the pm.

[Bucktown]

I've been missing for awhile! Let's see, my now 4 yr old was refusing to go outside for fear of bugs. This carried on into his sleep to where he would wake up everynight around 1-2am and cry for 2-3 hours before passing out. His bed is in our room too! He's now seeing a child pyschologist and is getting better.

Anna then got a double ear infection which had her sleeping maybe 6 hours a night and 30 min naps before I realized something was up. Got her on the Z Pack (love it!) and her ears are good. But now she caught some virus that comes with a sore throat and diareah (sp?) but since she's so constipated it makes her poops normal. :p

We had a huge birthday party for DS with my P's coming in and staying for 4 days/nights. I miss them sooooo much.

Which brings me to now. Anna is doing well. She's so happy, even when sick. She let my mom hold her for 7 minutes without bringing down the house during my mom's last 3 hours in Chicago. Progress! :rolleyes: She's still rolling all over but not getting up on her knees at all. She is trying to pull up on things but I would image her nearly 25 lb body is holding her back some. :) I am just so in love with her (and my son!).

I believe we are gearing up to TTC again when Anna turns 1. I *think* DH is on board because he makes comments like 'we'll need to get a bigger car' or 'I have this knee available for another one'. I'm nervous but don't really feel I have lots of time to wait it out. I'm 37, DH is 41 and it took 11 months + clomid+IUI to get DD. We won't be doing any intervention this time so if it doesn't happen, it doesn't happen. If it does, I'll get my tubes tied during the c/s. I can't take hormonal BC due to past clotting & I'm sick of condoms. DH loves this idea!

Hope you all are doing well and your summer is going fantastically!

I took these 2 days ago:

http://i220.photobucket.com/albums/dd127/Croceil9/IMG_3685.jpg?t=1214960795
http://i220.photobucket.com/albums/dd127/Croceil9/IMG_3696-1.jpg?t=1214961541

[hmbay]

Bucktown--my 4 and 2 y.o. are afraid of bugs. I keep hearing "bug in house mommy kill it". :rolleyes: I thought boys liked bugs? Yay for DD letting people hold her. Mine is getting better about that too finally.

[TracyDP]

Bucktown super cute pics! Your DD is the dark-eyed version of my DD, so beautiful it kind of makes your heart ache a little :)

I posted this yesterday:

I have never noticed her have trouble afterwards. On the contrary, she usually sleeps late and takes a long morning nap the next day. Susan's kids wear her out. I usually only have trouble with Ellie going to sleep if I miss her "sweet spot" between not tired enough and too tired.

Famous last words :rolleyes: (sorry for the long description, I'm just a wordy person sometimes).

I picked DD up from Susans house this evening at 6pm. She had taken a nap from 12:30-2pm then spent the afternoon playing. She had a good dinner at 5:00 and she fell asleep in the car within 2 minutes of leaving Susans place. It's only 10 minutes to our house so I got her up when we got home, gave her a snack of some chunky puree of pears/peaches (she didn't poop at Susans so I wanted to help move things along). She was rubbing eyes and was obviously sleepy so I did the bedtime routine and by 7:30 she was cooled down with a bath, pajama'd and had a story with daddy. Normally I would have put her down at 8:30 (she woke up this AM at 8:30) but she was so tired I decided to put her down early at 7:30. We had bottle but after it she wasn't asleep and wanted to go in her crib. Well, it's 9:30 and she JUST NOW is quiet and (I'm hoping) asleep. I had to go back in twice due to much crying and both times she fell asleep on my lap, only to be woken up once by our ass-hat neighbor firing up his chainsaw at 8pm and the second time she woke up for apparently no reason when I put her in the crib (at 8:45). I just left her in there whining and after about 45 min I think she is finally asleep. Ugh. It's crazy how long it took for her to settle down tonight, especially since she was completely asleep twice, so she couldn't have been THAT wired anymore. Little stinker. :p -edited to add that she did poop after her bath, so I know that wasn't the problem...

[2 Crazy Pugs]

Well the full on teething has begun. One has popped through on the bottom, but it really looks like another one is coming through on the bottom and the top 2 are also- so 4 at once. No wonder Sophia is miserable. I have been giving her Motrin at night, but she just wants to chew chew chew on anything- I need to try the cold washcloth thing tonight, see if that helps.

[TracyDP]

Well the full on teething has begun. One has popped through on the bottom, but it really looks like another one is coming through on the bottom and the top 2 are also- so 4 at once. No wonder Sophia is miserable. I have been giving her Motrin at night, but she just wants to chew chew chew on anything- I need to try the cold washcloth thing tonight, see if that helps.

Try a toothbrush. My Mom was visiting and sitting in the back seat w/ DD one afternoon driving home from the zoo. DD was cranky and fussy and didn't want any of her toys. Grandma found the free toothbrush I got from the dentist a couple of weeks ago, unwrapped it and gave it to DD. Instant silence and baby happiness. She chewed on that thing for the rest of the trip home! It's one that has the nubby handle as well as the bristles so she turns it over and over chewing both ends.

I also re-introduced a paci and she likes to chew on that at night as she is going to sleep.

[sabrespa]

Bucktown ~ She is adorable!!

Zach has decided he's done with babyfood. I'm a bit sad because self feeding is a lot of work (for me). It's much easier when I can open a jar just shovel it in and we're done. ;) He's ready and he's refusing babyfood, so it's time for us to move on to the good stuff.

[TracyDP]

Bucktown ~ She is adorable!!

Zach has decided he's done with babyfood. I'm a bit sad because self feeding is a lot of work (for me). It's much easier when I can open a jar just shovel it in and we're done. ;) He's ready and he's refusing babyfood, so it's time for us to move on to the good stuff.

We are here too. Sigh...they grow up so fast...:rolleyes:

[jodylovesscotty]

I can still get Zoë to eat some baby food, but it is not easy anymore. She is really liking the idea of feeding herself. Though she isn't adventurous when it comes to foods. We tried blueberries today and that didn't go over too well but she loves them pureed. So far she eats:
* cheerios (cut in half, can't do the whole thing yet)
* puffs (cut in half as well)
* yogurt melts (cut into 1/4, she LOVES these, and they really do disolve)
* waffle (not a big fan, will eat some bites)
* potatoes
* noodles

Any other ideas? I want to make sure that she is getting the foods she needs. That is the one thing I like about purees. I am making other mixture foods for her. Today we had pasta stars with chicken and mango. She really liked that. Tomorrow we are going to have the stars with chicken and squash. Also, what do you do with the fruits? Do you cook it a little to make it softer?

[emschwar]

Also, what do you do with the fruits? Do you cook it a little to make it softer?
Daniel can handle uncooked apple bits and such. Most fruit is soft enough for him to do uncooked. But then he'll also shove half a Healthy Times arrowroot cookie in his mouth and chow down on it :) You can also roll the fruit bits in crushed cheerios to make them easier to pick up.


Fortunately for us, Daniel still loves his purees. He loves finger food too, but when he wants his food, he can't be bothered with feeding it to himself - the rate at which it gets in his mouth is just too slow for him. He insists his meals be shoveled into his mouth by us :) and after he's done w/ his 2-3 jars of purees, then he'll happily eat cheerios, crackers, cookies or whatever for 20-30 minutes while we eat dinner. This kid can really pack it away. He goes nuts when I open the cabinet where we keep the baby food.

He's still chugging along on the shrimpy side. Still fits in some 0-3 month clothes. :eek: (He needs 3-6m for length, but if it's summer wear, and doesn't have to reach his feet, 0-3m fits great.) He's working on his 4th tooth. He's just as happy as he can be, so long as he isn't tired or hungry.

Here's my latest favorite picture of him:
http://farm4.static.flickr.com/3258/2634950252_82ff5aaa62.jpg?v=0

[TracyDP]

Any other ideas? I want to make sure that she is getting the foods she needs. That is the one thing I like about purees. I am making other mixture foods for her. Today we had pasta stars with chicken and mango. She really liked that. Tomorrow we are going to have the stars with chicken and squash. Also, what do you do with the fruits? Do you cook it a little to make it softer?

I do almost all fruits uncooked now. Ellie can eat pretty much anything that can be mushed up good by her. I've done bits of cooked chicken (regular chicken), Trader Joes turkey meatballs cut up are a HUGE hit, she can't eat it fast enough. Mango, nectarine, banana, cherries, diced carrots, peas, steamed zucchini/squash sticks, sweet potato diced & steamed, tortilla w/ hummus spread, cheese of any kind. My rule of thumb is that most foods are cut up to the size of my pinky fingernail, unless its a slick fruit like mango, banana, nectarine or something like that which is slick enough she would't choke on it even if she swallowed the bit whole.

[Jess71903]

I forgot to post this here, and since we're talking about food, I thought it'd be appropriate. From my LJ:
http://i249.photobucket.com/albums/gg233/Jess71903/Oikos_6oz.gif
I just found this yogurt after reading Dr. Sears' article on yogurt (http://www.askdrsears.com/html/4/T045700.asp). I had no idea yogurts were so different, but this stuff is different than any I have ever had. I have always bought Yoplait, or something similar. It doesn't even compare! I tried the blueberry, which Gage and I both liked, and vanilla, which I thought was gross, but Gage liked. I am glad he does. Even though the urologist took him off of the abx, he has been on them for a long time and has bowel issues, so I think the probiotic benefits are especially important for him. Just thought I would share my product review!

[TracyDP]

I just found this yogurt after reading Dr. Sears' article on yogurt ("http://www.askdrsears.com/html/4/T045700.asp). I had no idea yogurts were so different, but this stuff is different than any I have ever had. I have always bought Yoplait, or something similar. It doesn't even compare! I tried the blueberry, which Gage and I both liked, and vanilla, which I thought was gross, but Gage liked. I am glad he does. Even though the urologist took him off of the abx, he has been on them for a long time and has bowel issues, so I think the probiotic benefits are especially important for him. Just thought I would share my product review!

Link didn't work, but I"m interested to read it. We are a YoBaby family, it's more expensive but boy is it yummy! Ellie can't get enough of it, and I like it too. I wish they made regular (cheaper) yogurt like that (if someone knows of some, let me know). I got some of the Trader Joes yogurt packs and they are pretty close, I especially like the banana flavor which I had only found with the YoBaby until the TJ's came around.

Sleep and fireworks: Ok, so apparently I have the heaviest sleeper on the planet. I was worried about all the fireworks people do down here in our neighborhood (personal fireworks are legal here) waking up Ellie or keeping her from going to sleep. It's 11:30 here now and it's been pretty crazy noisy since around 9:30, including a few earth-shattering cabooms (looney toons reference ;) ) and she hasn't even twitched. It is so noisy that my DH asked if he could finish cleaning out the hot tub with the shop-vac (we're changing the water) at around 10:30 and I said OK. I would NEVER have let him do that on another night but I want that hot tub working by tomorrow,and if the fireworks noise didn't wake her up I figured a shop-vac behind the house wouldn't either. It didn't. Normally I would also not want to be rude to neighbors with the shop-vac late but tonight I figured no one would notice. Ellie is spending tomorrow night at Grandmas and I really really wanted that tub clean and hot for tomorrow night :D

[Jess71903]

I fixed the link, Tracy. I think YoBaby is in the same category as the one I posted as far as being the "good" yogurt.

We shot fireworks last night, too. I took the monitor outside, fully expecting Gage to wake up, but he didn't make a peep! He did wake up in the night, though, and now I feel like a bad mama because I didn't change him when he got up. This morning he was soaked!

[DisneyGirl]

Fireworks are legal here so of course my DH and his friends shot firworks off for like 2 hrs(what a bunch of kids they are..LOL) and K didn't wake up or make a noise either. I swear hes such a good baby.

[jjohm]

Jess: a friend of mine introduced that yogurt to me a few weeks ago at our beach trip. She eats the plain kind every day with blueberries or some other fruit. It's really good! I think they have it at whole foods.

[Amuse Bouche]

Well at Madeleine's 9 month WBV she was 15 lbs, 12.5 oz. and 27". Yep, my kid is mini. She's also slightly anemic, which is unsurprising. Kid is just not that into eating. She won't eat baby food (doesn't like being fed anything) and is down to not eating much at all. Ugh. I have been giving her drinkable yobaby in her sippy cup, and she drank a LOT of Jamba Juice yesterday, but she's gone from being an OK eater to not eating much of anything. And she NEVER stops moving. Ever. I'm a little worried about her smallness, but I'm also tempted to say "Hey -- she's just small." Anyone else have experience with this?

[hmbay]

Amuse--is she losing on the curve or staying the same but just less than other babies? Reason I ask is my first, being a preemie, wasn't even ON the curve at birth. Once he got on the charts he stayed at a solid 5-10% until he was 3. Then he finally jumped up to 20%. My ped wasn't concerned because he stayed steady "on his own curve". However he was always in the 70th for height and she also said sometimes they grow "one way" and not another meaning he was growing height wise but not really pound wise. I guess since my first was so small compared to other babies I don't see an issue with small babies as long as they're growing. :) And if she keeps moving it's doubly had to get them to gain.

[emschwar]

Amuse - Noah was tiny - he was ~3rd percentile from 6 months until well after he hit 1. And Daniel, well, Daniel's so tiny he needs his own growth curve. I think he's a good 2 lbs below the lowest curve on the cdc chart. But he's following his own curve, and he's growing just fine - developing like he should (even if that big head makes him a little late on the motor skills), getting taller, and heavier, albeit slowly. That's really all that matters. So long as Madeline is growing (in length and head circ) and gaining weight (no matter how slowly), and meeting the important milestones, she'll be fine. Not all of us can be high on the weight charts! Just think of how much you're saving in diapers (since the smaller ones have more per pack)!

[TracyDP]

I've been thinking about routine today. I think I am getting too attached to some of the routines I have with DD to the point that I'm not letting things progress as much as they should. This is what prompted these thoughts:

I have been thinking about how to get DD off the bottle for naps and bedtime. Not immediately, but around her first birthday if I can. She often falls asleep in my lap with it, but sometimes she's still awake when I put her down and she can put herself to sleep. Sometimes it takes a few trips back in though before she crashes out. But it always begins with that bottle, in her dark nursery with her lovey bear.

So today I got her ready for morning nap but really had to use the bathroom before sitting down with the bottle so I put her in her crib with the bedroom lights on halfway (we have a dimmer) and she immediately started whining. I figured she could whine until I was done then I'd come in and do the bottle etc. I was in the bathroom for maybe 5 minutes and she whined....whined...sucked her thumb...whined...more thumb sucking...............silence... :confused: she can't be alseep? Seriously? I peeked in and sure enough, sound asleep hugging her lovey with the light on. No bottle, no sitting in my lap. Just OUT. About 10 minutes later the neighbor kids came out and were screaming...I mean SCREAMING and dogs barking. Nothing, sound asleep. She wasn't even acting that tired when I put her down, but we had a late breakfast so I know she wasn't hungry.

So, moral of this story is that I am apparently much more attached to our bottle/ snuggle/bed-naptime routine than Ellie is. On days I know she isn't hungry at naptime I think I'll try this again and see if 5-10 minutes of whining is all I will have to endure to start just putting her down for nap without a lot of hoo-ha and fanfare. It's good to know too that the dark room isn't an absolute necessity too.

[Amuse Bouche]

She's growing, but her curve is dropping. Of course, she was fairly steady on the curve until she started being mobile, and she moves FAST. She's also been teething for what seems like forever (8 and counting).

[Taurus]

N is in 0-3 month shorts too. 6-9 in sleepers and bodysuits though. he has not been weighed since 6 mos and was 16-13 then, he doesn't seem heavier to me but longer. we missed the 9 mos WBV and will go at 10 mos after our long vacation.

he still feels so young to me. he's not crawling or pulling up or getting himself into different positions, but his interests and ways of playing are typical for a 9 month old. eta: he just rolls like crazy and scoots backward on his tummy across the room. he gets tired 2-3 hours after waking up, just like a newborn! he eats well (solids) but still nurses a lot. sleep is decent, he goes to bed then gets a dream feed and then can go about another 6 hours straight usually. i am going to be away for a weekend without him just around his first bday and hope we'll be nursing less by then. his hands and feet are ALWAYS moving/twisting. if there hadn't been a thread about this i'd be worried about it!

[TracyDP]

Today we did both naps w/o a bottle! We had a 6oz bottle when she woke up, then she was acting tired after solid breakfast so I went in with her and she fell asleep on my lap just sucking her thumb & hugging her lovey. I tried it again with afternoon nap since it was after 2nd lunch (we have 2) and she was acting really tired. I took a bottle in the room, hid it under a blanket on the futon, just in case. She didn't need it. Fell asleep again with just her thumb and lovey bear.

Both naps I fed her the bottle after the nap and she drank the whole thing. I think this will be a normal naptime routine now, unless it's been a long time since she ate last, then I'll still give the bottle. Bedtime I may try giving her a bottle out in the living room in the recliner, then move to the nursery afterwards for the rest of bedtime. Unless she falls asleep on my lap in the living room in which case I'll just put her in her crib and walk away smiling :p

I'm trying to kind of remove the bottle from the sleep routine, just so I don't end up in a situation where she can't fall asleep without it as a toddler. She can have her milk before bed, but not need the bottle to go to sleep.

[Taurus]

That's great, Tracy! My older one was FF'd and he was off bottles no problem just after his first birthday. I was thrilled to have made that transition so smoothly.

[Jess71903]

Tracy- I was looking at yogurt at the store today, and looked at the YoBaby...I didn't realize that it's made my Stoneyfield Farms- the same company that makes the stuff I posted earlier. Gage just ate a whole thing of it for supper! I thought about getting the YoBaby, but it was more expensive for less yogurt.

[TracyDP]

Tracy- I was looking at yogurt at the store today, and looked at the YoBaby...I didn't realize that it's made my Stoneyfield Farms- the same company that makes the stuff I posted earlier. Gage just ate a whole thing of it for supper! I thought about getting the YoBaby, but it was more expensive for less yogurt.

I found that I get more for my money with the YoBaby mostly becaue we actually eat it. I've bought the larger tub of Stoneyfield Farms and it tastes great, but for some reason I just don't eat it as much and twice it's ended up going to waste. I really prefer the flavors of the YoBaby and since DD is mostly boycotting being fed anything with a spoon I can get about 1/2 of a container in her at once, then I eat the other half. 2 meals of this and we both get our container of yogurt for the day.

I could eat regular yogurts that are cheaper, but I just really really like the flavor of the YoBaby. I can't get banana or pear flavor in any other brand :p

[jodylovesscotty]

QOTD~ What is your childs nap schedule look like?

My question is because I am wondering if Zoë's needs to be changed or if it is just getting harder (in the afternoons) because she learned to stand and that is all she wants to do.

Zoë's naps are at 9:00- 10:30 and then 3:00 to 4:00 or 4:30. But today it took her 1/2 hour to fall asleep for her afternoon nap.

[sabrespa]

Zach has pretty much moved to one 3-4 hour nap in the afternoon. Some days he will take two, but usually it's just one long nap.

[TracyDP]

Zach has pretty much moved to one 3-4 hour nap in the afternoon. Some days he will take two, but usually it's just one long nap.

Holy crap! 3-4 hours? I would LOVE that. What time does he usually go down?

Ellie is still on 2 naps. Usually (+/- 30 min) 10:30-11:30 and 3:30-4:30. She does take only one nap at the sitters on Tuesdays, usually from 1:30-3:30, but she is a little tired and strung out when I pick her up, though she still goes down to bed pretty easy so it's not a problem. I don't think she's ready for one nap on a daily basis though. At the sitters she has other kids and things going on that keep her busy until she just passes out at 1:30, here at home its a little more low-key and she notices her tiredness more and gets cranky if she's not down by 11ish. Afternoon naps are sometimes car naps on the way home from town, about 45 min. Usually she won't sleep any more once home so we call it good. Her naps are still pretty easy, she goes to sleep without much problem most days. I only notice a problem if I try to put her down not tired enough, or if she is needing to poop :rolleyes: Poop days are short naps since she will wake up and then not want to go back down.

I wish she would take one long afternoon nap instead, it would work out better with the noisy kids next door who are inside for lunch/naps between 12-3:30. I really try to get her down before they come out in the afternoon otherwise she has a little bit of a hard time getting to sleep with the noise going on.

[sabrespa]

He goes down around 12:00-12:30, gets up around 4. It's nice because it gives me lots of time with my other two.

[jodylovesscotty]

How did you get him to go down like that, or did he just start doing it on his own?

[sabrespa]

How did you get him to go down like that, or did he just start doing it on his own?

Well it's normal to make the switch around a year. DS1 did it right at 12 months, DD did it around 10 months. He's pretty much done this on his own. I put him down for his morning nap every morning and 6 out of 7 days he won't go to sleep.

But we also have therapists here 4 days a week, for DS1, around 10am which would be morning nap time for him. That excitement may be too much for him to resist.



Have I mentioned that Zach is walking? I'd say he chooses to walk about 70% of the time and can make it all the way across the room.

[DisneyGirl]

Have I mentioned that Zach is walking? I'd say he chooses to walk about 70% of the time and can make it all the way across the room.


Walking??? :eek: :eek:

Our babies are growing up so fast!

[emschwar]

Walking?

My slacker isn't even crawling yet! He's got 6 signs though :) and 3 teeth

[TracyDP]

Not walking here yet either, but crawling like a maniac and standing on her own so it won't be long. Though I have a hunch she might be one of the ones that take longer to walk because she crawls so well. When I try to walk her holding her hands she takes about 5 steps then falls to her knees and wants to crawl. Fine with me, I'm in NO hurry to have a toddler getting into everything twice as fast as she does now :rolleyes:

I'm doing a bunch of baby proofing this week, putting stuff in rubbermaid bins and I'll sort it out later, as well as tethering a few taller pieces of furniture. Right now I have gates to keep DD in the living room, which is for the most part babyproofed already. She can have the run of the room as long as I'm in here and I don't have to worry too much. The kitchen is pretty safe too. She mostly just stands in front of the dishwasher and talks to her reflection..lol :)

Eating is going well. DD is not too interested in being spoon fed, but I can usually get a fairly good amount of whatever it is into her between her bites of finger food. So far she has eaten everything I've offered her as long as it's in bite size chunks. She lets me feed her bits of food, just doesn't want the spoon. She is even really good at picking up slimy/slick fruit chunks. We did Kiwi for the first time today, it was a big hit. It's nice to be able to put a pile of food on her tray and let her feed herself while I make or eat dinner. I am, however, finding vegetables to be a challenge since most of them still need to be cooked in some way before she can eat them. I find myself giving her a lot more fruit since I can just slice it up and give it to her without any other steps. I really need to get better with the veggies...

[2 Crazy Pugs]

Tracy- Sophia is doing the same with the spoon thing. She wants to do it herself, but hasn't quite gotten it yet. For veggies, she loves green beans, I get the frozen cut up ones, peas, asparagus, and carrots. I also love that I can put food on her tray and she feeds herself, its such a timesaver, and I can actually do something while she eats. She is doing great with her sippy cup....

Is anyone doing milk yet? My pediatrician said we could start around 11 months or so, and do 1/2 milk, 1/2 formula to start to see how she does. My goal is to be bottle free by the time she is 1.

[sabrespa]

I started 1/2 and 1/2 with my other two when they were 11 months.

[jodylovesscotty]

sabrespa~ Wow, that is awesome! I can't believe you have a walker. Zoë is sure trying her best.

Switching To Milk~ I am going to start at 11 1/2 months. I hope she takes to it, it will save us a fortune.

I really wish Zoë would eat more that we put on her tray. If it isn't hard she won't put it in her mouth. She will eat cheerios, puffs, yogurt melts, pancakes, and waffles. Everything else she touches and throws right back down. Then throws a tantrum to get the food off her tray. I try every meal (though my husband gets mad and says we are wasting food). She is starting not to want the purees anymore (except the dinners) so she better start eating more.

[hmbay]

naps--Sabrina still takes 2 most days. Somedays one and some days none. Here are usually 1-3 hours when she takes them.

crawling--we finally have a crawler. She's still getting her foot stuck under her a bit and hasn't actually figured out she can really truely move yet--so far she thinks it's a neat trick to get that toy just out of her reach. I give it a week or so and she'll be chasing everyone around the house

milk--I doubt I'll do it until 12 months since I'm BFing and have no formula costs however it would be nice to be done pumping at work.

food--still is interested in food but not the best with larger stuff. I need to get better and cooking things I can offer her to try to grind up with her one lonely tooth. :)

sleeping--anyone suggest any good sleep training books. I have a sleep monster. She will usually put herself down for a nap in her crib with minimal fussing but at night no way in h*ll. I have to nurse her down then get her in without waking her then once she wakes up usually I end up having to sleep in her room in the double bed with her. If I do that she goes right back to sleep with no fussing and will sleep 3-6 hour stretches. in her crib no longer than 3. It's not so horrible sleeping with her in her room but I'd like to sleep in my own bed with DH and she's fallen out of the bed once already so I'd really just like her in her crib. I am pretty sure I will have to do cry it out and it will be rough. I'm not sure if I should do the check on her every few minutes (which doesn't seem to sooth her anyhow), the sit with her (which just seems to upset her that mommy is there and won't pick her up), the just let her scream for how long it takes without going in or what.

sabre--Wow walking? DH said he was walking at ten months (and Sabrina is ten months tomorrow) but none of our kids walked before 14 and since Sabrina JUST started crawling (The boys crawled around 8 months) I am pretty sure she wont' walk until 14 months either.

[emschwar]

hmbay - with Daniel, we used the sleep lady (Good Night, Sleep Tight) to ST Daniel. I really liked it. Gentler than CIO, but not totally no-cry. (I read the NCSS w/ Noah, and no way was I going through all that!)

Daniel's so funny. He does "so big" and recently, he started playing peek-a-boo. If you say "Where's Daniel?" he'll take his hands and put them over his eyes, then pull them off and get so excited when you say "There he is!" It's the cutest thing.

[Bucktown]

sabre~ Congrats on the walker!

No crawling here yet either. She's trying really hard by pushing herself forward with just her toes and stretching out to grab what she wants. She is trying to pull up on things and loves to stand on her own but always lets go and doesn't understand why she falls down.

teeth~ We finally got a tooth! It broke thru on Thursday. I think the one next to it is not too far behind.

sleep~ We have to CIO with DD. Works every time with her. I always try to do the gentler methods first but it gets me nowhere except her sleeping with me in the guest room or me getting up a bazillion times per night. Within 2 nights of CIO she's back to STTN.

Naps~ We still do 2 although I'm pretty sure she can switch to 1. I'm just not ready. Probably in the fall when DS starts PK4, 5 days a week in the AM.

Food~ Anna will eat anything. Still eats her purees but loves her some mommy & daddy food. As for formula, we'll stick with it till her birthday then switch her over. She loves her sippy cup with water in it so I'm hoping the transition to milk/cup will be an easy one. She seems pretty disinterested in the bottle more & more anyhow.

Totally not baby related~ but I'm finally getting the peds to see that DS (my 4y/o) may have something physical going on with his sleep. We have a script for a sleep study to rule out sleep apnea at our Children's Hospital. He wakes up several times a night still and is a very noisy/active sleeper. We'll also have an x-ray of his next done to see if his adnoids are causing him problems. I'm just so thrilled that they are finally admitting to a problem with his sleep. It's affecting his behavior during the day and the impulsiveness is killing me. Only took 4 years! :)

[Boskie]

Sabre - Wow! I can't believe you have a walker already!

Crawling / Walking - No walking on her own yet, but I think Olivia is getting close. She is cruising around all the furniture quite quickly and will walk across the room with our help. I'm just glad we made it through vacation before she started on her own. She has just started standing unassisted, for a few seconds only, in the past week.

Teeth - She is up to 5 (3 on the top, 2 on the bottom) with another ready to come in at any time.

Sleep - Olivia is pretty much STTN, with an occasional wakeup. Finally! Although, now that I've posted that, it'll probably jinx it.

Naps - She SHOULD still be taking 2 a day, but MWF, when she is at daycare, she is much too busy to take the second nap. Which makes her really tired and cranky at night. Her regular teacher has been on vacation and will be back tomorrow. If I don't see a big improvement (two naps a day), I'll have to say something.

Food - Olivia is still eating all purees with absolutely no interest in anything else. I offer her things and if any of it manages to make it into her mouth, she gags on it, no matter how small. Anyone else have this problem?

Olivia has a few new games we've been playing lately. She loves to play Where's Olivia with the towel after her bath. If I let her, I think she'd play this for hours! She also has figured out when to clap when we sing "If You're Happy and You Know It". Very funny and I've been singing this song with her a LOT this past week.

[TracyDP]

Sleep - Olivia is pretty much STTN, with an occasional wakeup. Finally! Although, now that I've posted that, it'll probably jinx it.



Oy! Sleep...baby sleep is such an enigma wrapped in a mystery hugging a lovey bear. :rolleyes:

We had our first round of actual CIO last night. After almost 2 weeks of STTN without a peep, we have had 2 nights in a row w/ a midnight wakeup. First night it took about an hour and a 4oz bottle to get her back to sleep. I'm pretty sure it was gas problems since she wasn't trying to play and seemed genuinely frustrated that she couldn't fall asleep. Last night, again at midnight. This time it took 2 HOURS :eek: to get her back to sleep. After an hour of the same from the night before (snuggling on the futon, 4oz bottle, pass some gas, etc.) she fell asleep 3 different times but woke up when I put her in the crib each time and started crying. By then I'd had it and sent DH in. Then, she decided it was time to play :mad:. So, with her fed, changed, gas passed and her in a chipper mood at 1am I put her in the crib, put in my ear plugs and laid down on the futon. I played possum while she cried and reached for me through the crib. I wasn't looking at a clock, but I figure it took about 45 min of crying...then playing/talking to her bear...then laying down sucking her thumb and hugging her bear before she finally fell asleep for good. I gave her about 15 minutes after she stopped moving, then very very quietly went back in my room. If she woke up again I didn't hear it (ear plugs are great :D ) and DH didn't wake up either. If she does it again tonight I'm going to go in and make sure she is OK, change her diaper since she is usually pretty wet by then and give her one chance to fall asleep on my lap. If not, then it's in the crib to CIO.

I'm also going to feed her a nice boring menu today to see if I can avoid the gas issues. I think last night might have been due to Kiwi since it is the only new thing I fed her yesterday. Either that or she was just being a stinker :rolleyes:

[2 Crazy Pugs]

Does anyone know if DD can have fish? Has anyone given any type of fish to their little ones? I am trying to get her to try new things to eat. She will eat almost anything I give her, and I thought fish (something light, like haddock) would be good to try.

[emschwar]

If you have any history of allergies, it's recommended to hold off on fish. Until 3, I think. Otherwise I think it's fine.

[hmbay]

fish--my ped says 18 months for fish. Most other peds seem to say 12 months but 2 years for shellfish I think. We don't eat a lot of fish so I can't say I've paid that much attention other than remembering other kids were eating fish sticks before mine were.

[Boskie]

Now that I have Olivia mostly STTN, how do I get MYSELF to do the same?

After nearly a year of getting up at least once a night, now it is a habit I can't seem to break. The last three mornings, I woke up at 4:00 - 4:30, unable to go back to sleep. Not fair!

[Kiley]

hmbay - we are having the same sleep issues here. I think I might try that sleep lady book that Emily recommended. We'll see. Or more CIO. It worked for 2 weeks for us. It was something.

crawling - he's crawling, pulling up and starting to cruise. walking will be a ways off as he's not strong/stable enough yet. DS1 walked full-time at 13 months so I'm expecting the same.

food - he gave up all baby food last week and only eats table food in chunks. he came a long way because about 3 weeks ago anything with a texture was making him gag.

teeth - we have 2 top/2 bottom

naps - takes 2 naps per day, about 90 min each. his daycare will move him to 1 nap per day around noon when he turns 1.

bucktown - i'll be interested to hear about this sleep study. preston sleeps really bad too (restless, night terrors, sweats, etc.) and all our ped offered was meds :rolleyes: i think he's a little young for sleeping pills.

[2 Crazy Pugs]

I am starting to plan Sophia's 1st birthday party. She is fascinated by fish. She will stare and stare at them if we are anywhere near a fish tank, or aquarium. So I am thinking of doing a fish theme (cake, plates, etc.) and for little favors for the kids, getting small fish bowls and a goldfish for them to take home- what do you think? There will be about 6 kids there, Sophia will be the youngest, there will be a 1 1/2 year old, a 2 year old, 1 3 year old, a 4 year old, 6 year old, and a 12 year old.

I have already found a fish shaped cake, and a little smash cake shaped like a fish for her.

[Kiley]

Fish is a very cute theme!

I'm not sure I'd want a fish as a pet if I was one of the parents. I heard somewhere that goldfish make the worst fishbowl pets. What about a bar of soap w/ a fish in it for a favor? Maybe do a few betas in bowls as centerpieces and if guests want to take one home they can?

[Jess71903]

I am terrible about updating. I will try to remember all the bullet points:

sleep-much better at night, but I think he might be trying to drop the morning nap. He has PT at 1:00, so I'm not sure how this is going to go. Maybe 2:30 will agree with him.

food- We've done fish, 2 Crazy Pugs. I didn't think about it being an allergy risk. Gage has just had catfish, I think, and LOVES it. He's gotten a little pickier. He gags on peaches now. He decided he likes mango, but only if I feed it to him. He'll rub his hands in it but not put it in his mouth. He LOVES blueberry yogurt, like I posted before. I never thought he would, but he'll eat at least 1/2 of one of those big things of it at a sitting (the serving is bigger than Yoplait). Still loves his Cheerios but has figured out that it's fun to knock them off the tray onto the floor. He eats carrots and green beans pretty regularly and loves chunky soup with noodles in it. Still gags on things like chicken bits.

mobility- still nothing here. He is doing good in PT so it probably won't be long for him to crawl, but we've definitely slowed down on the development. He can't even get from tummy to sitting yet, so we've got some work ahead of us. The PT said that he was sweet yesterday. He'd work for a little while, then give her a little snuggle hug. He was excited to see me after they were done, but kind of reached back for her after I was holding him. I am so glad he likes it. He'll be looked at again in 4 months by the rehab doc at Children's and that's when they'll see if he's ready for braces yet.

social- LOVES to Patty Cake. Does it all the time. He signs "more" but it looks like clapping. Still signs "milk" just about every time he nurses. He has waved bye bye, but not in a week or so. He says "mama" and "dada" and I am pretty sure it means us. He seems to say "baba" when he wants to nurse, but that may just be coincidence. Also "nie nie" often...I say it means "night night" but he says it all the time.

milk-we'll probably hold off well past a year. I just don't see a need since we're still going strong with breastfeeding. I just don't see how people wean at a year. Gage nurses often and doesn't eat that much, so I think he would wither away if we quit! I know many babies have cut way down by now and eat a lot more, though.

[emschwar]

Fish theme is awesome! There's a really cute (and easy!) fish bowl cake at womansday.com. :)

[mb1197]

I haven't been around these parts in a while, but thought I'd pop in and post a quick update about my little one. :)

Crawling - Yep. She's been crawing since the beginning of June and in the last two weeks began pulling herself to a standing position. I think she'll start "cruising" pretty soon.

Teeth - Yep. She's got 7 of them!:eek: It seems like everytime I look in her mouth she has another one. We are very lucky though because she has shown very few signs of teething. A little cranky here and there and then another tooth appears.

Sleep - Devlin has been sleeping through the night since she was about 11 weeks old. Once in a blue moon she has a rough night, but not often. She has been on a schedule since she started sleeping through the night and goes to bed at 8:00 and gets up at 7:00. I put her to bed awake and she usually falls asleep within the first 20 minutes. She doesn't cry. I think she just likes to listen to her Ocean Wonders Aquarium and drift off at her own pace.

Naps - She takes 2 naps per day typically.

Food - She is and has been on a schedule since 3 months old. We just reduced it to 4 feedings per day - 8:00 am, 12:00 pm, 4:00 pm and 8:00 pm. She is now curious about whatever we have on our plates and has tried vegetables, chicken, turkey etc.

Milk - I'm not going to give this to her for about another month. At that time I'll mix it with her formula and go from there.

[hmbay]

pulling up--Sabrina is now pulling up and cruising along things (mostly our big sectional couch but she did let go of the couch and lunge for the recliner last night).

peek a boo--the other night in our bed after I gave up on CIO she was all smiles and happy that she was "rescued" from CIO. She pulled one of DS1's shirts (from the clean laundry piled on our bed) in front of her face and pulled it down and smiled and said "p-boo". She repeated the action but not the word. Next morning she pointed her her brothers tractor and said "ta-ta". DH has sworn she's been saying "bga" everytime she sees our dog (his name is Bongo) and "gee" everytime she sees DS1 (his nickname is "geek"). Bizarre. The boys barely talked at this age but they do say girls are usually quicker on the verbal stuff. Of course I bet those are the only "words" I'll hear out of her for the next 6 months. :)

sleep--we tried CIO this weekend. Was a failure. She is more persistant than I am. First night was an hour and ten minutes. The next I gave up at an hour and 40 minutes or so. I think I need to find a new method or combo of methods to try. My goal is to get some research done this week so we can start all over again next weekend.

[mb1197]

Have any of you moved your babies from their infant carrier to the convertible car seat yet? Devlin is getting too tall for her infant carrier and I'm shopping for a convertible car seat. Just wondering if anyone has a recommendation on a recent purchase? I looked at the car seat thread, but thought I'd ask here as well.

[2 Crazy Pugs]

mb1197- We moved Sophia into a convertible car seat once she hit the limit on weight for the infant seat. We got a Britax Roundabout, which I love. She likes it, it sits up higher, so she can see out the windows. She will be amazed once we can put her forward facing. I went to the Britax website and they have places to buy them- I got ours off Amazon for $134

[mb1197]

You found a Roundabout for $134! That's excellent! Do you have her rear facing still?

[Kiley]

Definitely go w/ the Britax Marathon!

BF babies - how many times a day are they Bfing? DS2 nurses about 6 times a day and has a feeding of 5oz from a cup (he weaned himself off the bottle) while I'm at work. DS1 ate way more than that so I feel like he's not getting enough but his weight is good and he's meeting milestones. DS1 was a comfort nurser though. It's so hard not to compare.

[mb1197]

Definitely go w/ the Britax Marathon!

I've been looking at those but they are really expensive. I am now looking into the Fisher Price Safe Voyage (made by Britax) and the First Years True Fit. Those are more in line with our budget. I haven't made it to BRU to check out size yet. DH has a VW Jetta so size is a concern for his car.

[Kiley]

I've been looking at those but they are really expensive. I am now looking into the Fisher Price Safe Voyage (made by Britax) and the First Years True Fit. Those are more in line with our budget. I haven't made it to BRU to check out size yet. DH has a VW Jetta so size is a concern for his car.

I don't know anything about those (weight limit, etc.) but keep in mind that the Marathon will last a long time so you won't need to buy another seat for a while.

[TracyDP]

car seat: We moved Ellie to a convertible seat about a month ago. She is too tall for her infant seat now, even though she still has 2 lbs to go on weight. We got a Britax Marathon since it will fit her longer than a Roundabout. DD took to it right away. She actually sleeps in it better than she did in the infant seat. I think the infant one was getting uncomfortable. We got a Cosco Scenera at Wal Mart for DH's car and she seems to like it just as well. The Marathon was probably more money than we needed to spend, but I wanted a nice seat in my car since it will be 90% of the transport for her. It is easier to install than the Scenera, which is something I guess.

As for rear or forward facing, I plan on rear-facing Ellie until either she outgrows the weight/height limit for the Marathon rear facing, or until she is old enough to really complain about it. I was all excited about being able to move Ellie to front facing at 1 yr because our car (honda element) is a HUGE pita to get her in and out of rear facing. Then I saw This Video about the safety of rear vs. forward facing (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=psmUWg7QrC8&NR=1) and it immediately changed my mind. PITA or not, it is SO much safer that I would feel like a selfish mom if I put her forward facing just for my own convenience. She doesn't seem to care at this point.

I've been looking at those but they are really expensive. I am now looking into the Fisher Price Safe Voyage (made by Britax) and the First Years True Fit. Those are more in line with our budget. I haven't made it to BRU to check out size yet. DH has a VW Jetta so size is a concern for his car.

All car seats have to pass the same safetly standards so get the seat that is the best mix of comfort and affordability that you need. As I mentioned above, I have both extremes with the Britax Marathon and Cosco Scenera. Both are safe, but the Marathon is definitely more cooshy and sturdy than the Scenera, and easier to install. I also bought a Scenera to use for my babysitter who watches Ellie 1-2 days a week, and for grandma who watches her overnight a couple times a month. It came with a plastic zippered bag so it's easy to haul around. I decided $40 for an extra seat was worth it since we tend to use DH's car if we all go somewhere together, or I take it if he is home and not using it because he has a Honda Civic and it gets way better gas mileage than my Element.
A Marathon would be a tight fit, but the Scenera fits in the center position just fine w/o interfearing with legroom up front.

[emschwar]

Honestly, your best bet is a seat that goes to 65 lbs. Seats like the roundabout and other 40 lb limit seats aren't worth the money, because most likely your child will outgrow them LONG before they're ready for a booster. (Don't forget - you can outgrow the seat for height long before you reach the weight limit, and most kids do.) The Marathon is the best bet for a 65 lb weight limit - it's expensive, yes, but it will last a long time.

We have a marathon and a True Fit for Noah. I like them both. The true fit is much wider than the marathon, so that might be an issue for some cars. It's a little trickier to use, and harder to install than the marathon. The true fit is nice, especially for the price, but the marathon is a better seat, IMO.

Next month, or sept, there should be a sale on britax seats. If your child hasn't already outgrown the infant carrier, that's the time to buy your seat, if you want a britax.

(Meanwhile, Daniel is nowhere near outgrowing his infant seat. He still hasnt' hit the 2nd shoulder slots!)

[emschwar]

I've been looking at those but they are really expensive. I am now looking into the Fisher Price Safe Voyage (made by Britax) and the First Years True Fit. Those are more in line with our budget. I haven't made it to BRU to check out size yet. DH has a VW Jetta so size is a concern for his car.

I'm not 100% sure on this, but I don't think the FPSV is made anymore. If that's the case, any FPSV you're going to get is going to have an old date of manufacture and will expire sooner. (Britax/FPSV seats are good for 6 years after the date of manufacture.)

[hmbay]

carseat--moved her around 4/5 months actually. I just moved S to DS1's old Triumph since it was still in good shape and not "expired". When I move DS2 to a booster I'll then move her into his Triumph until she's ready for her own booster.

I've heard rumors on other boards that people are finding Britax clearance deals at their local Targets. It's hit or miss but you might want to check that out for anyone considering a Britax.

[mb1197]

Thanks for the information. I was just reading some reviews on The Evenflo Triumph Advance. Sounds like a possibility also.

[mb1197]

I'm not 100% sure on this, but I don't think the FPSV is made anymore. If that's the case, any FPSV you're going to get is going to have an old date of manufacture and will expire sooner. (Britax/FPSV seats are good for 6 years after the date of manufacture.)

You're correct. I just found this out so I'm taking it off my list.

[emschwar]

Thanks for the information. I was just reading some reviews on The Evenflo Triumph Advance. Sounds like a possibility also.

The triumph advance is a pretty good seat. Depending on the size of your child, they may outgrow it before they're ready for a booster (bare minimum is 4, but really children aren't mature enough for boosters until they're 6. You can get more info at www.kyledavidmiller.org), in which case you'd have to buy another harnessed seat then. If it's within the budget, I'd highly recommend getting a seat that harnesses to 65 lbs, like the marathon or the true fit. (Remember, it could fit your child for 5 or 6 years, so when you figure the cost out that way, it's actually a really good deal, compared to 40 lb seats that get outgrown when kids are 2 or 3, and then have to be replaced with a 65 lb harness seat.) The triumph advance is still a good seat, and a much better choice than a 40 lb harness seat, but just remember that you might still end up having to buy another seat before your child is ready for a booster.

[mb1197]

All good points. I'm going to check out the link and see what additional information I can gather. I called the Targets in my area and none are having sales on Britax right now. Bummer!

[emschwar]

The britax seats that are cheap at targets right now aren't on sale, technically. They're on clearance. So it's hit or miss whether you'd find one, and you'd probably have to go in person to see if they have any. (And chances are they won't.) How close are you to outgrowing the infant seat? Do you have time to wait until the big britax sale in aug or sept?

[mb1197]

Devlin is tall and I believe at this point she is about 1 inch from the top of the infant seat, but hasn't yet reached maximum weight. We are going to a wedding about 6 hours away at the end of August so I wanted this to be taken care of by then. When does the August Britax sale start?

[emschwar]

I'm not sure when the sale starts. Bombedier may know. You could ask her. I'll let you know if I see any britax deals in the meantime. You can find them, sometimes, as long as you're not too picky about cover color.

[Taurus]

BF babies - how many times a day are they Bfing?

We are kind of all over the place. I wish we could get a 'schedule' already, but DS NEVER wakes up at the same time (overnight OR in the morning) and never naps at the same time or for the same amount of time consistently. He also sometimes eats well and sometimes is just distracted/plays so I don't know whether to try again in a bit or just wait another 3-4 hours. It's so frustrating! I guess we are about 7 times per 24 hours or so (??). I don't think I've ever had three days or nights in a row the same with this little guy!

[mb1197]

I'm not sure when the sale starts. Bombedier may know. You could ask her. I'll let you know if I see any britax deals in the meantime. You can find them, sometimes, as long as you're not too picky about cover color.

No, definitely not picky about cover color at all. That's just cosmetic. DH and I discussed it at length last night and he has left the decision up to me. I am leaning towards getting the True Fit for my car and the Evenflo Triumph Advanced for his. My car is what we use the majority of the time and even with the EFTA the weight limit is higher than some as it goes to 50 pounds. I would get the LX as I read that the difference between the LX and DXl is nothing more than cosmetic. That one is about $115 which isn't bad in the event that I do need to replace it later on.

[emschwar]

No, definitely not picky about cover color at all. That's just cosmetic. DH and I discussed it at length last night and he has left the decision up to me. I am leaning towards getting the True Fit for my car and the Evenflo Triumph Advanced for his. My car is what we use the majority of the time and even with the EFTA the weight limit is higher than some as it goes to 50 pounds. I would get the LX as I read that the difference between the LX and DXl is nothing more than cosmetic. That one is about $115 which isn't bad in the event that I do need to replace it later on.

I think those are good choices. We were going to do the same thing when we got Noah's convertible seats (well, except replace the marathon for the true fit, since it wasn't out in 2004!), but the EFTA didn't fit Noah, so we switched to a RA that we found a good deal on.

[mb1197]

I think those are good choices. We were going to do the same thing when we got Noah's convertible seats (well, except replace the marathon for the true fit, since it wasn't out in 2004!), but the EFTA didn't fit Noah, so we switched to a RA that we found a good deal on.

Of course now I'm finding reviews stating that the EFTA is a tight fit for a Jetta. Will the True Fit be any better? I'm so confused...There are so many conflicting reports.

On another note, Devlin is doing well with feeding and trying new things. She ate more chicken and brocoli last night. She seems fearless when it comes to trying new foods. The only thing she really turns her nose up at is green beans.

[emschwar]

Of course now I'm finding reviews stating that the EFTA is a tight fit for a Jetta. Will the True Fit be any better? I'm so confused...There are so many conflicting reports.

On another note, Devlin is doing well with feeding and trying new things. She ate more chicken and brocoli last night. She seems fearless when it comes to trying new foods. The only thing she really turns her nose up at is green beans.

How tall/heavy is Devlin? I haven't seen a EFTA in person, so I can't comment on how it'll fit. Nor do I have a Jetta. :) You can go to BRU and they will let you take the seat out to your car and see how it fits.

The True Fit is a big seat. It's a little less tall (I think) than the marathon (I haven't compared the 2 side by side), but it's much wider. But if you're only dealing with one car seat in the car, I don't think it'll be an issue. The nice thing about the true fit is that the headrest can be removed for smaller RFing infants. It has to be put back on when your child's head reaches the top of the seat w/o the headrest or she weighs more than 22 lbs. But w/o the headrest it'll fit in smaller spaces. (Which is a little silly, IMO, because you're just going to have to put it on when they get bigger, and most people won't have a different car by then.)

Another option for you is to buy the EFTA now, and just have one seat until whenever the britax sale is, and then buy a marathon then for your main car. Of course, I have no idea how cheap the marathons will be then, but it's something to consider.

[mb1197]

Devlin was 28 inches at her last pediatrician visit a month ago. I know she's grown since then. A girlfriend of mine says it looks bulky but I would imagine that part of that is due to the higher weight limit than the one she has which is only up to 40 pounds. I think I'll just order it and see how it fits and go from there.

[Suzlywoozly]

Gosh I can't believe Andrew is going to be 11 months tomorrow!:eek: I have no idea where the last year has gone. We are in full birthday party planning mode around here. We are doing a sock monkey theme and I just finished making the invitations last night.

We are having some major eating issues... Andrew refuses to eat anything but fruit purees, puffs, yogurt melts and those Gerber mini fruit pieces. I try giving him other stuff but he refuses to let me put it in his mouth and if I get lucky and sneak it in, he starts to gag. The other night at dinner, he reached over to my plate and grabbed a piece of lettuce. Before he even got it to his mouth, he started to gag. I have no idea what to do since he should be eating mostly solids now. Anyone else dealing with this?

Sleep in another issue:rolleyes:... he is still waking up 2-3 times a night screaming. I try to calm him down by holding him or patting his back. All he wants to do is have a bottle. What the heck am I suppose to do in a month or so when I need to wean him off the bottle?

Wow, I am so suprised that some are still using their infant carrier. Andrew hasn't been in his since early April. He loves being in his Boulevard vs the snugride.

[mb1197]

Gosh I can't believe Andrew is going to be 11 months tomorrow!:eek: I have no idea where the last year has gone. We are in full birthday party planning mode around here. We are doing a sock monkey theme and I just finished making the invitations last night.

We are having some major eating issues... Andrew refuses to eat anything but fruit purees, puffs, yogurt melts and those Gerber mini fruit pieces. I try giving him other stuff but he refuses to let me put it in his mouth and if I get lucky and sneak it in, he starts to gag. The other night at dinner, he reached over to my plate and grabbed a piece of lettuce. Before he even got it to his mouth, he started to gag. I have no idea what to do since he should be eating mostly solids now. Anyone else dealing with this?

Sleep in another issue:rolleyes:... he is still waking up 2-3 times a night screaming. I try to calm him down by holding him or patting his back. All he wants to do is have a bottle. What the heck am I suppose to do in a month or so when I need to wean him off the bottle?

Wow, I am so suprised that some are still using their infant carrier. Andrew hasn't been in his since early April. He loves being in his Boulevard vs the snugride.

Suzlywoozly - Devlin will be 11 months on Sunday. Time is flying by. We're starting the birthday planning process as well.

As for feeding, we went through a similar thing when we tried the stage 3 foods with her. She still tends to gag on the thicker varieties, but doesn't mind chicken or anything else we want to feed her from our plate. Our pediatrician told us at our 9 month visit to allow her to go at her own pace. Try something and if they don't like it try it again in a week or so. Eventually they all catch up.

As for the snugride, Devlin was a preemie so she had some catching up to do. Now she's actually tall for her age!

[Bucktown]

Just wanted to offer it here first.

I have a $10 check for ENFAMIL NEXT STEP LIPIL TODDLER FORMULA. It's not good for infant formula.

PM me and I'll mail it out tomorrow.

[Boskie]

We are having some major eating issues... Andrew refuses to eat anything but fruit purees, puffs, yogurt melts and those Gerber mini fruit pieces. I try giving him other stuff but he refuses to let me put it in his mouth and if I get lucky and sneak it in, he starts to gag. The other night at dinner, he reached over to my plate and grabbed a piece of lettuce. Before he even got it to his mouth, he started to gag. I have no idea what to do since he should be eating mostly solids now. Anyone else dealing with this?



YES! I can not get Olivia to eat anything other than Stage 2 purees and yogurt. She won't even eat puffs, although I haven't tried yogurt melts. I tried some banana over the weekend. Cut it up into tiny, tiny pieces. She let me give her a piece, which sat in the center of her tongue. I think I got about 4-5 pieces into her before she gagged. Her daycare tried cereal yesterday and she played with it, but also gagged if any got anywhere near her mouth. I don't have any advice, but wanted to let you know you aren't alone! I'm just going to keep trying and keep offering it to her. She'll get it eventually right? I told her at this rate, she wouldn't get any birthday cake at her party.

[hmbay]

Carseats at Target--just made a Target run on my lunch for diapers and every carseat in the place was on clearance. I got a price adjustment on the booster I just bought for DS2. The Triumphs they had left were $78 and the one lonely Marathon they had left was $129. Yes $129. It was a damaged box but I'm sure it was fine. If I didn't already have a carseat for Sabrina I would have threw it in the cart. I thought about buying it and craigslisting it but I'm too busy.

So the point of my rambling is if you still need a carseat for any of your kids RUN to your local Target and see what they have left.!

[jodylovesscotty]

Suzlywoozly ~ You are not alone (singing Michael Jackson, lol). Zoë will not eat anything solid food wise unless it is hard like puffs, cheerios, yogurt melts, pancakes, or waffles. If we dare put it on her tray she screams, rubs her eyes, and then won't even eat her purees. We even tried the stage 3 purees and that is a no go as well. She will take a few bites then won't eat anymore. She doesn't gag, just won't eat them. So I figured she will eat other food when she is good and ready (though I know I am ready not to lug around jars of food). She figured everything else out, this will come too.

[TracyDP]

I'm sorry to hear about those of you having eating issues. That's one thing we don't have trouble with DD. I have yet to find a food that DD won't eat if it's cut up into bite size pieces and put on the tray in front of her. She may spit back out the bits she doesn't like (ex: She will eat cut up prune pieces, chew and suck out the gooey inside then spit out the skin :rolleyes: Whatever...as long as it helps her poop) but she will try it. Her hands-down favorite is fruit...all kinds of fruit. She will eat as much cantelope, honeydew, watermelon (also helps her poop), cut up grapes (a favorite), nectarine, peach (w/o skin), banana, pears, apple, and plum as I will give her. I am really bad about veggies though because I forget to thaw out some frozen ones, and you have to cook most others for them to be soft enough. Fruit I can just cut up and serve. I really need to work on veggies. As for meat, she LOVES cut up turkey meatballs from TJ's, deli turkey, Gerber Chicken/Turkey sticks, ground turkey, bits of cooked chicken. I fed her bits of spicy chicken and spanish rice from a burrito the other day and she couldn't get enough of it.

1st birthday: I'd really love to have a BBQ at our house with some friends and family, but I'm just really lazy and our house is a disaster. I may just have to send Ellie over to Grandmas house for a weekend between now and her b-day and just clean house all weekend. Or, we could just have the BBQ at Grandmas house ;)

[Boskie]

1st Birthday - We're having Olivia's party at my parent's house. We just don't have the room and we've invited a ton of people (I have a HUGE family). We are doing your basic BBQ - burgers, hot dogs, chicken and a bunch of different salads. The invitations are all done, I'm just waiting until mid-August to send them out.

[Kiley]

1st Birthday - will be a brunch at our house. I'm working on his slideshow now. Oh, the memories! :)

[ptcrn]

BF babies - how many times a day are they Bfing? DS2 nurses about 6 times a day and has a feeding of 5oz from a cup (he weaned himself off the bottle) while I'm at work. DS1 ate way more than that so I feel like he's not getting enough but his weight is good and he's meeting milestones. DS1 was a comfort nurser though. It's so hard not to compare.

My DS BF's about 5 times during the day, and is waking at least 2 times a night still to eat. He is so distracted by playing during the daytime that sometimes I forget he hasn't eaten in several hours! Your DS sounds right on track.

We are kind of all over the place. I wish we could get a 'schedule' already, but DS NEVER wakes up at the same time (overnight OR in the morning) and never naps at the same time or for the same amount of time consistently. He also sometimes eats well and sometimes is just distracted/plays so I don't know whether to try again in a bit or just wait another 3-4 hours. It's so frustrating! I guess we are about 7 times per 24 hours or so (??). I don't think I've ever had three days or nights in a row the same with this little guy!

LOL,Taurus, this is so like us! My days are all so different!

[Suzlywoozly]

YES! I can not get Olivia to eat anything other than Stage 2 purees and yogurt. She won't even eat puffs, although I haven't tried yogurt melts. I tried some banana over the weekend. Cut it up into tiny, tiny pieces. She let me give her a piece, which sat in the center of her tongue. I think I got about 4-5 pieces into her before she gagged. Her daycare tried cereal yesterday and she played with it, but also gagged if any got anywhere near her mouth. I don't have any advice, but wanted to let you know you aren't alone! I'm just going to keep trying and keep offering it to her. She'll get it eventually right? I told her at this rate, she wouldn't get any birthday cake at her party.

I am so glad to hear I am not alone in this!! I have tried everything under the sun to get him to try real food but he absolutely no interest.

1st birthday party- Andrew's party is 3 weeks from this Saturday.:eek: I can't believe it is already a year. We are doing a sock monkey theme and I just finished making all the invites. I am just waiting on the sock monkey address labels that I ordered before I send out the invites. We are inviting around 30 people which seems absolutely nuts to me. I tried to cut the list WAY down but between our good friends and family it leaves us at 30. I am having it catered so at least I don't have to cook. We are leaving on vacation to Disneyland the next day so I don't want to have to worry about cleaning up after the party.

So besides the food issue, I am kind of freaking out about getting Andrew off the bottle by a year old. He will drink water out of his straw sippy cup but refuses to take formula anyother way besides a bottle. My ped really stressed to me that he should be weaned off the bottle by a year old. Most nights the only way we can get him to sleep is by giving him a bottle while laying in our bed. I must say that I cannot wait to get rid of the bottles!! I am so sick of washing all the parts and pieces that come with the Dr. Brown's bottles.

[Jess71903]

We're still using the Safeseat. I got it specifically so it would last longer. It hasn't left the car since Gage was 2 months old or so, though. I really want a True Fit. I am holding out since Gage still has a little room left, though.

[emschwar]

we're still using our safeseat too, but Daniel's a little shrimpy and will probably be in it until he's 2 or older. (I'm not kidding. At 10 months, he's only 14 or so pounds (he was 14,2 at his 9m check up) and his shoulders are still between the 1st and 2nd slots. We've got a lot of growing to do before he outgrows that seat! I can't imagine putting him in a convertible now - he's just so tiny!

[Amuse Bouche]

Madeleine's still the the Snugride -- she was under 16 lbs at her 9 month WBV, and I don't anticipate she'll grow out of the Snugride for another few months, although she's nearing the height limit. It's so darn convenient.

She'll also eat almost anything -- she's been on table food for a while. But she doesn't eat MUCH of anything. Favorites are freeze dried strawberries and apparently ham. And I made french toast this morning and that went over very well.

[emschwar]

Madeleine's still the the Snugride -- she was under 16 lbs at her 9 month WBV, and I don't anticipate she'll grow out of the Snugride for another few months, although she's nearing the height limit. It's so darn convenient.

Remember, the height limit number doesn't matter (I think the snugride is 29" or something?). What matters is where her head is. She needs 1" of room between the top of her head and the top of the car seat. Some kids are longer in the legs than others (like my kids!) so they can be much longer than the "official" height limit before they outgrow the seat.

[Taurus]

Remember, the height limit number doesn't matter (I think the snugride is 29" or something?). What matters is where her head is. She needs 1" of room between the top of her head and the top of the car seat. Some kids are longer in the legs than others (like my kids!) so they can be much longer than the "official" height limit before they outgrow the seat.

Thanks for the reminder on this. You'd think I'd remember seeing as how this is my second kid and second Snugride, but I immediately went to take a look and sure enough we just barely have 1 inch left, despite DS being less than 18 lbs. I was so caught up wanting to get through all our summer air travel before moving up since it was easier to travel with the Snugride! Time to get a Marathon for DS1 ASAP so I can move DS2 into DS1's Roundabout.

[ptcrn]

I keep meaning to do a big update, but I'll get into it and the baby wakes up, or something else happens. He is napping now, so I'll try.

Car seat- We have the Safe Seat too and I was so excited that it would probably fit for a year or more, but my kiddo must have a tall torso, because he is nearing 1 inch from the top, despite being only 27 inches tall at his last appt. I would love a Marathon for my car and now I'm kicking myself that I didn't get it during the last sale! Maybe I'll look into the True Fit for DH's truck and use that until the next sale.

Sleep- We have been doing sleep training for a couple of weeks now, and for the first time last night DS slept for 8 hours straight (plus 3 hrs before that stretch)! I feel like a new woman! :D He has been waking twice a night to eat and last night only woke once around 10:30. I have read every sleep book under the sun and have tried a mishmash of approaches. We've done some CIO, but mostly sitting by the crib and rubbing his back periodically. The crazy thing is, before we started ST he napped great, and now his naps are terrible! I've been having to take him in the stroller or car seat to get him to nap; he will NOT sleep in his crib during the day.

Development- I can't believe how fast he is growing! He has been standing and pulling up on furniture for about 6 weeks now, and last week really started cruising around on the coffee table and his little activity table. He stands alone for about a minute before he comes crashing down. :) I don't think walking is too far in our future! And he's only been crawling forward for about 2 weeks now. He waves, says dada and "gigi" for kitty; signs milk (I have to work on more signs) and has 4 teeth (2 top and 2 bottom.) He was 19 lbs 9 oz at his 9 month appt.

Food- David still doesn't like much other than purees. I tried giving him watermelon last week which he choked on. I felt like such a bad mom! I then tried putting it in the mesh feeder, but he hates that thing. He will eat puffs and cheerios, and cottage cheese; but everything else has to be mashed really fine. I'm not concerned about it though, I'm sure he'll do it when he's ready.

1st Birthday- We are starting to do a little planning, even though it is 2 months away. We are going to do a Curious George theme, I got a lot of cute things from the party store. I'm hoping we will be able to have the party in our new house, which is almost done. I think it will be fairly small with just family and close friends & their kids. I'm hoping the weather will still be nice so we can have a BBQ outside.

Here's a recent picture of David with his Grampa on some heavy machinery ;)

http://farm4.static.flickr.com/3220/2702134278_c213cc1fe9.jpg?v=0

[Jess71903]

So cute ptcrn!

[jjohm]

stopping by to post a pic of the kiddo.
http://farm4.static.flickr.com/3263/2709566902_e514854aef.jpg

[ptcrn]

So cute ptcrn!

Thanks Jess!

That picture is adorable, jjohm!

[jodylovesscotty]

All the babies are just too cute.

Well Zoë has been such a stinker lately. The "Badatude" is sometimes more than I can stand. Where do they learn to throw such tantrums???? And then she is also boycotting eating in all forms. She is down to only eating about 5 oz. a bottle (4 x a day) and refused to eat purees now (except mac and cheese). She is starting to eat more finger foods, but won't eat fruit or veggies, or anything without a hard texture. I am going to have to find a way to sneak in the fruit, maybe in her yogurt which she loves now. She will eat an entire YoBaby container of yogurt. She now eats:
* Cheerios, puffs, yogurt melts
* Turkey Meatballs
* Veggie Sausage Patties (morning star)
* Yogurt
* Pancakes
* Waffles

I am going to try chicken nuggets today for lunch. Any tips for getting them to eat????? I am afraid she is going to starve.

[Kiley]

I'm soooooo glad to hear that Zoe is having tantrums! Landen is too. I forgot what it was like with Preston so I just thought he was having them because he sees his brother having them all of the time. :rolleyes:

He throws himself on the floor and arches his back, screams and cries. About what? Who knows?

He's also very picky about what he eats/likes. And is nursing way less (he gave up bottles at daycare a month ago). So I worry about that but I guess he's fine. I don't think they can actually starve themselves.

[Jess71903]

Jjohm-what a cute pic! Did