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

[September2007Mommies]

Welcome to the September 2007 Mommy group
Congratulations to all our Mommies!




26 Mommies & Babies:




User name: 2 crazy pugs
Me: Tracey, 35
DH: Mark, 32
Married: 6/30/06
Any other children: no
Its a: Girl, Sophia
ADD: 9/7/07
N/B stats: 8 pds, 8 oz. 20 in
2 week stats: 8 pds. 6 oz. 20 1/2 in

User name: Amuse Bouche
Me: Amuse Bouche
DH: K
Married: 3/1/03
Any other children: Just the dog
Its a: GIRL, Madeleine
ADD: 9/23/07
N/B stats: 8 lbs, 3 oz. 22 inches long
1 Month:

User name: Bluejeanbaby
Me:Sandi
DH:Norm
Married:Jan 4, 2003
Any other childrenS, Tyler July 16,2004
Its a: BOY! Brayden Charles
ADD:Aug 31, 2007
N/B stats:9 lbs 1 oz 21 in.
1 Month:10 lbs 21.5 in

User name: Boskie
Me: Cathy
DH: Brett
Married: 5/13/06
Any other children:
Its a: Girl - Olivia Grace
ADD: 9/15/07
N/B stats: 6 lbs, 10 oz, 18 inches
1 Month: 8 lbs, 15 oz and 20 1/2 inches long.

User name: Bucktown
Me: Jen, 36
DH: Tony, 40
Married: 3-15-03
Any other children: Niko 6/23/04
Its a: girl, Anna Carmella
ADD: 9/21/07
N/B Stats: 8lbs 4oz, 21 inches
1 Month stats: 10 lbs 13 oz, 22 1/4 inches

User name: DisneyGirl
Me: Jenn
DH: E
Married: 6/15/02
Any other children: DS & DD
Its a: BOY
ADD: 8/29/07
N/B stats: 8lbs 2 oz,
1 Month: 10lbs, 21 inches long
2 month: 11lbs, 4 oz, 22 inches

User name: Emilie
Me:Emilie
DH:Randy
Married:9/28/02
Any other children: Just a fur baby, Truman the golden retriever
Its a: Girl - Elizabeth Jane!
ADD: 9/7/07
N/B stats:7 lbs, 1 oz, 19 inches long
1 Month: 8 lbs, 2 oz, 21 inches long
2 month: 10lbs, 8oz, 23 inches long

User name: emschwar
Me: Emily
DH: Josh
Married: 12/7/02
Any other children: Noah, 4/21/04
Its a: Boy - Daniel Edward
ADD: 9/13/07
N/B stats: 6 lbs 13 oz, 20 inches
1 Month: 8 lbs 11.5 oz on 10/11

User name: filmgirl7
Me: Carrie
DH: Jeremy
Married: 1/7/06
Any other children: nope
Its a: Boy - Spencer Joseph
ADD: 8/30/07
N/B stats: 5 lbs, 6.6oz, 18 inches
1 Month: 7 lbs, 4oz, 19.25 inches
2 Months: 10 lbs, 8 oz, 21 inches

User name: Heidi
Me: Heidi, 28
DH: Jason, 34
Married: 8.23.03
Any other children: none
Its a: boy
ADD: 9.16.07
N/B Stats: 8 lbs 3.5 ounces, 20 inches
1 Month stats: we also have 2 wk and 2 month appts. - will post 2 month when we go

User name: hmbay
Me: heather
DH: jon
Married: 5/3/01
Any other children: DS#1, Colin 11/7/03, DS#2, Alex 9/15/05
Its a: Girl
ADD: 9/27/07
N/B stats: 7lb 10oz, 20.25 inches

User name: isign
Me: Julie, 27
DH: Brian, 26
Married: 12/12/03
Any other children: furbaby, Emma
Its a: Boy, Austin Phillip
ADD: 8/20/07
N/B stats: 6lbs, 8.oz 19.5"
2 week stats: 6lbs 10oz 21 1/2"

User name: Jen309
Me: Jen, 29
DH: Kevin, 29
Married: 9/28/02
Any other children:Matthew, 1/9/06
Its a: BOY, Nolan James
ADD: 9/15/07
N/B stats:

User name: Jess71903
Me: Jessica, 28
DH: Tony, 27
Married: 7/19/03
Any other children: just furbabies
Its a: BOY, Gage Anthony
ADD: 8/28/07
N/B stats: 7 lbs, 15 1/2 oz. 22 in.
2 Months: 14 lbs, 6 oz. 24 inches

User name: jjohm
Me: julie
DH:simon
Married: 10/4/03
Any other children: DS#1, Ryan 1/19/06
Its a: BOY
ADD: 9/18/07
N/B stats: 8lb 5oz, 21 inches
1 Month:

User name: jodylovesscotty
Me:Jody
DH: Scott
Married: 8/30/03
Any other children: None
Its a: Girl
ADD: 9/21/07 3:39 am
N/B stats: 8lb 5oz 21 1/4 inches
1 Month: n/a

User name: kate2l
Me: Kate
DH: Chris
Married: 11.12.05
Any other children: no
Its a: Girl - Nora Kathleen
ADD: 9.19.07 at 1:10 pm
N/B stats: 6 lbs. 13 oz.
1 Month: 9 lbs.

User name: mobe63
Me: Bethany
DH: Morgan
Married: 6/3/06
Any other children: no
Its a: Boy-Parker
ADD: 9/19/07
N/B stats: 7lbs 9 oz 20.5 in
2 week stats: 8 lbs 0.5 oz

User name: pam27
Me: Pam
DH: Ryan
Married: 07/27/01
Any other children: Taylor 1/10/02, Colin 5/4/05
Its a: Girl - Grace
ADD: 10/1/07
N/B stats: 7 lbs3 oz, 20 inches
1 Month:

User name: ptcrn
Me: Jen, 32
DH: Gerry, 31
Married: 7/30/05
Any other children: none
Its a: Boy, David Parker
ADD: 9/26/07
N/B stats: 7 lbs, 9 oz. 18 1/2 inches
2 week stats: 7 lbs, 10.8 oz.
1 month: 8 lbs, 12 oz. 21 1/2 inches

User name: Sabrespa
Me: Sabre
DH: Tony
Married: 4/7/2001
Any other children: Isabella & Anthony
Its a: Boy - Zachary William
ADD: 9/06/07
N/B stats: 9lb, 20 3/4"
2 Months: 13lb 7oz, 23 1/4"

User Name: scubasam
Me: Jen, 33 (34 on Halloween!)
DH: Todd, 35
Married: 11.03.01
Any other children: Carter, 2 yrs
Its a: Boy! Reece Christian
ADD: 9.10.07
N/B Stats: 7lbs 8oz, 18 3/4 in
2wk Stats: 8lbs 7oz, 20 in
2 Month stats:

User name: shushyk
Me: shoshanah 31
DH: steve 39
Married: 8/31/03
Any other children: DS 10/12/05
Its a: Girl, Cici
ADD: 9/14/07
N/B stats: 7 pounds and 19.5 inches

User name: Suzlywoozly
Me:Suzlywoozly
DH:
Married:6/15/02
Any other children:
Its a: BOY! Andrew William
ADD: 8/23/07
N/B stats:6lbs 19inches
1 Month: 9lbs 6oz 22inches (5 week stats)

User name: Taurus
Me: 29
DH: 32
Married: 4/12/03
Any other children: T, 1/06
It's a: Boy, N
ADD: 9/25/07
N/B Stats: 7 lbs 13 oz., 19.5 in.
1 month:

User name: TracyDP
Me:Tracy
DH: Doug
Married: 6/18/05
Any other children: None
Its a: Girl
ADD: 9/6/07 8:16pm
N/B stats: 5lb 11oz 18in
1 Month: Around 7lbs, no official weight/length yet.




First Tri: http://www.constantchatter.com/forum/showthread.php?t=28688
Sec Tri: http://www.constantchatter.com/forum/showthread.php?t=30845
thirdTri: http://www.constantchatter.com/forum/showthread.php?t=33225

[September2007Mommies]

Our Mommies & Babies

Boskie
Olivia Grace
http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v255/Boskie/Olivia3.jpg

Emschwar
Daniel Edward
http://images.costcophotocenter.com/232323232%7Ffp%3A%3B%3Dot%3E2326%3D42%3C%3D528%3DX ROQDF%3E23239%3C7%3C69462ot1lsi

ptcrn
David Parker
http://im1.shutterfly.com/procserv/47b7ce20b3127ccebca71e7b43a600000025108AZtGTVy4ZOB

[September2007Mommies]

SAVED

[September2007Mommies]

New thread is now open! Post away!:D:D

[Bucktown]

Thanks again Disney!~ Also, I just wanted to offer my help again if you'd like it!

[emschwar]

Thanks for the new thread, Disney! I'll close the old one.

[TracyDP]

Woo Hoo! :D Got in first, yay me. (though by the time I post this someone else will have snuck in)

How about we start this thread out with some updates on our DCs.

Solids: Ellie is loving almost everything I feed her, eating solids 3 or 4 times a day. She is eating enough that I have noticed her formula consumption is going down a little bit. We are starting on chunkier foods and so far no gagging or choking. So far so good.

Crawling: She's still working on it. Lots of scooting and rolling, some hopping and shuffling. Not pulling herself up on anything yet, and can't quite figure out the horizontal-to-sitting manuever yet.

Communicating: She is getting so much more responsive to sounds, songs, other things around her. It's fascinating to watch. She babbles all the time, still with the high pitched screaming when excited. Nothing resembling a word yet. She is really checking out the cat, who she didn't even notice before. She will sit in front of the sliding glass door in her high chair for 30 minutes at a time just watching the rain/birds/wind in the trees/cats wander by while she chews on one of her teething toys. It reminds me of "Rear Window"...lol.

Teeth: Nothing even close. She doesn't even act like she's teething anymore. The little "bohns noduals" she had on her gums are almost completely gone though.

Medical issues:I have an appointment with the opthamalogist Wednesday to find out if she needs to keep wearing the glasses. I hope not because keeping them on her is almost impossible now that she's on the floor all the time. She just pulls them down around her neck, or they get knocked crooked as she's rolling around on the floor. I don't notice the eye wander at all any more so I think she'll be ok with out them until she needs them for school. Since she's near-sighted she will be ok without them until then.

Random tidbit: I got a Baby Bjorn little potty and Ellie's been using it after almost every diaper change, and has pooped in it 4 or 5 times (she is really obvious about when she is getting ready to poop). It's saved several cloth diapers from being poopy so it's worth it to me! Hopefully it will help when she is ready to potty train that she is used to sitting on the potty already.

Updated picture

Ellie and Dad at the Waterfront Park (1st 70* day we've had)

http://farm4.static.flickr.com/3133/2432947422_24b33a3733.jpg

Happy girl!

http://farm3.static.flickr.com/2168/2432133687_2944407008.jpg

[emschwar]

I'll update.

Daniel's turned into a bear of late. Ped suspects teeth. Great. Because he's already KILLING me with the 2 little razors he's got on his bottom jaw now. Seriously, kid, my boob is not a teething ring. He started scratching at his ear like mad on saturday, so we dragged him into the ped today. No infection, just the biggest glob of wax you've ever seen. OMG, it was insane. Hopefully he'll stop scratching up his ears now.

Daniel eats everything. Seriously, the only thing we've tried that he didn't like was jarred turkey. He was fine w/ turkey and sweet potatoes mixed though. He LOVED food and eats quite a lot. If I let him, he'll go through 6 or 7 jars a day. I've started making his food. His favorite is mango.

Sleep is shit. He still wakes up 2x a night on a good night. Last night it was 6 times, hence our trip to the ped for the suspected ear infection today.

He's getting really close to sitting on his own. He can do it for a second or two if he holds himself up with his hands, but falls over before too long. I suspect it's hard to balance that giant noggin.

He's still a shrimp. He was weighed today w/ clothes and a slightly wet diaper and was 13 lbs 2 oz. So he's probably slightly under 13 lbs naked.

We're still battling constipation. It's been going on, off and on, for over a month now. Ped wants us to get more water and juice into him, and if that doesn't help, then we're on to miralax. Poor kid.

I think that's the major points. I'm exhausted, so I'm off to bed, but first I'll drop off this picture. It's my latest favorite of Daniel, and I just swoon every time I see it.
http://images.costcophotocenter.com/232323232%7Ffp43239%3Enu%3D3235%3E33%3B%3E437%3EWS NRCG%3D323335%3B3%3B3%3A95nu0mrj

[hmbay]

subscribing. Can someone change my stats up top--Alex's b-day is the 10th, Sabrina's is the 15th.

update--no teeth but she's definitely teething. so so on solids. I keep forgetting to feed her any so so far we've only had sweet potatoes and squash. Sleep is better but still crap (it's 11:30 pm and she's still up--as soon as I put her down she starts screaming). no crawling. She won't stay on her stomach long enough to try anything--she immediatley rolls over. Will sit for a long time as long as you keep handing her toys to keep her busy. Lots of big smiles for daddy. Longest stretch of sleep is 4-5 hours.

[jodylovesscotty]

Solids~ Zoë is on 2 meals a day and I am thinking she is ready to try 3 here soon as she is getting hungrier. She will eat anything in the stage one but her favorites are peas, pears, squash, and carrots. We tried a stage 2 mixed vegetable the other day and she ate all of it, so I am thinking it might be time to move on once the stash of stage one are gone. She hasn't had any of the meat meals yet. I am wondering do I do one at a time for a few days like I did when she first started veggies?

Crawling~ Not yet, but I can tell it will be soon. She can get up on all fours. She has figured out how to move around to get what she wants. We will have to babyproof the house soon.

Communicating~ She babbles and screeches. The only real sound that sounds like a word is "dadadada". We sign to her but she hasn't really done it back yet. She laughs all the time which is just so cute to see.

Teeth:~ None have come through yet, but we can feel one coming through and she has been a bear so hopefully it will break through quickly. I tried to get in there and look last night after she ate and I must of gaged her because she threw up on me, yuck.

Medical issues~ We are still dealing with the eczema though it has gotten much better. We have the whole body cleared up. The eyes are the only thing we keep dealing with. She makes them worse when she rubs them when she is tired or wants a change of scenery. She also grabs and scratches her ears when she gets upset.

I can't believe my little one is already 7 months old. She is such a joy in our lives. Only 36 more work days and I will be home for the summer with Zoë. We have so many fun things planned for the summer. I am hoping though that she starts getting on a better nap schedule as that is so irratic being at daycare.

[Jess71903]

What a sweet boy I have. I would love to update!

*Sleep-If you had asked yesterday I would have said horrible. He was getting up at least 2 times a night. That's not really so bad, but for months he was sleeping 10 to 12 hours at a time. Then last night he slept all night...teeth, I guess

*teeth- I can feel 3 but none are through yet. He's been working on a top one for several months now.

*he loves being outside. Yesterday I sat him on a blanket, gave him a stick and he played for an hour while I messed around in my flower beds.

*we found out that he does indeed have a latex allergy. Up to 70% of people with spina bifida do.

*development-Gage is really doing much better than I ever expected! I really thought we would be WAY behind all of you by now, but we're not! He is sitting unassisted for as long as I'll leave him now, even pretty well on uneven surfaces. I can put him down on all 4s and he will rock and stay there for a while, but no forward motion yet. He can turn around and scoot backwards on his belly. He is SUCH a social little boy! I really expected to go through that stranger anxiety thing, but we haven't. He will go to anybody. He definitely prefers me and wants me if he's sleepy or hungry, and he always has an eye on me if he's with someone else, but he just smiles and laughs at anybody.

He bangs everything he gets in his hand. We call him Bam-Bam. He LOVES his puppy dog and pulls and yanks on her. She is so patient with him. He likes to jump in the Johnny Jump-up, which is something I wasn't sure he would be able to do. I am going to cry typing all of this out. We have just been so blessed!

*food- a switched flipped and he went from hating everything to loving it all. He's eaten pureed pears, peaches, squash, avocado (oops- shouldn't have given him that due to the connection with latex allergy) and prunes. From our plates he's had refried beens, potatoes (the squishy part of french fries), sweet potato, green beans, tiny bits of chicken, and applesauce. Basically if I have something on my plate soft enough for him to handle, I let him try it.

And now some pics:
http://i249.photobucket.com/albums/gg233/Jess71903/IMG_1258.jpg

http://i249.photobucket.com/albums/gg233/Jess71903/IMG_1172.jpg

Yeah, I think he's cute nekid, so I take his pic a lot without clothes on!

[jodylovesscotty]

Jess~ He is such a cutie:) I am so happy that everything is going so well for him. I always keep him in my prayers. Children are truely a blessing.

[Taurus]

Thanks for starting a new thread.

N will be 7 months on Friday. I can't believe it.

He's really long and lean, which is funny since T was sooo different. All the 6 month pants are too big around the waist, but too short in the legs. Hand-me-downs are out since T really stretched out those waistbands!

Sitting/Crawling He is sitting up well but is only just beginning to push up on his arms when on his tummy as opposed to flailing around. I don't even think about crawling until I read about it here as T did not crawl for a long time!

Food He is getting two meals/day. I'm not sure how to tell if he's ready for 3, I think it will happen more when I can get more organized with our schedule! I'm home all day with both boys (no school for T yet) so our days are all about getting naps and meals in! So far I have made him sweet potatoes, winter squash, pears, peas and green beans. I am really looking forward to all the fruits that will come in season soon. I remember making the most delicious peach-plum-type blends for T! N also gets rice and oatmeal cereal.

Sleep I never thought I'd have a terrible sleeper, but I do. I'm mostly at peace with it since I'm not getting up to go to work outside the home and DH is actually getting up more than me (we are trying to wean from all the night nursing). I think I might go out and get The Sleepeasy Solution today. My ped recommends it. Has anyone read it?

Challenges We know that N is nearsighted so we'll see how long we can keep him out of glasses. Or perhaps we'll have a mini miracle and it will get better, unlike T, who has a pretty strong Rx. In the words of MY eye doctor though, medically speaking this is a total non-issue--their eyes are healthy, it's primarily a cosmetic thing.

For that and so much more, I am grateful and blessed. Looking forward to a busy spring and summer with my ever-engaging boys.

Here he is patiently allowing someone's rubber-stamped hands to stick vehicle stickers on his legs while Mommy runs around trying to get everyone out the door:

(Pic removed)

[hmbay]

speaking of pictures here's one I took last week (yes I'm committing a major no-no by having her bumbo chair up on my kitchen counter and yes she's playing with a toaster oven.... It's unplugged....) she can sit without the bumbo. I had just popped her in it to be by me when I was cooking since I couldn't find the tray to the high chair and she sits contentedly in it and doesn't try to squirm out so I figure I can get a little bit more use out of it yet before putting it up on craigslist.

http://media3.dropshots.com/photos/113947/20080417/161325.jpg

[Taurus]

Great pictures. Lots of blue-eyed babies in this thread! T's were blue until he was about 18 months old, and now they are hazel like mine.

Jess, my older son had those same rolls and thighs that you just want to take a bite of! He still has the thighs!

[TracyDP]

speaking of pictures here's one I took last week (yes I'm committing a major no-no by having her bumbo chair up on my kitchen counter and yes she's playing with a toaster oven.... It's unplugged....)

I saw a segment on the news the other day about nanny-cams and some lady who saw some things she didn't like. It was funny because as I watched this I thought "OMG if I watched myself on a nanny-cam I'd fire me!!" I do so many things that would look bad if seen by other people. I came into the living room from the kitchen the other day and Ellie was wrestling with the surge protecter that DH's laptop is plugged into :rolleyes: Had to tuck that away.

Great pictures. Lots of blue-eyed babies in this thread! T's were blue until he was about 18 months old, and now they are hazel like mine.

Both DH and I have blue eyes, and our families have mostly blue eyes. If DD came out with anything else DH would have had to have a long talk with me ;)

Jess, my older son had those same rolls and thighs that you just want to take a bite of! He still has the thighs!

Ellie has some serious thunder thighs. I need to find the onsie I saw online once that said "I make thunder thighs look good".

Jess Gage is adorable! I really can't wait until it's warm enough to go outside here. It's still in the 50s and raining a lot

[hmbay]

Tracy--both me and DH have blue eyes as well. All 3 of our kids have blue eyes. Mine are darker and more greenish than DH who has lighter blue ones. It's been interesting to see who gets whose eyes. :)

mommy crimes--yep in our house people would freak at some of the stuff my kids play with. :)

[Boskie]

Thanks for the new thread Disney!

Update on Olivia -

Sitting / Rolling Over / Crawling - She has been able to sit for a long time, probably because her head is so small (7th percentile). She can roll over, but since she prefers to sit rather than lie down, she doesn't roll often. She is working on starting to crawl, but won't get up on all fours yet. She will be up on her arms, but still flat on her tummy. She tries to go forward, but ends up scooting backward and getting frustrated. I figure she'll be army crawling soon. What she can do, and loves to do, is bounce to move herself around. Not the quickest way to do it, but it does work!

Talking - She babbles all the time. Dadadadadadada and babababababa are very common, plus a host of other things. She also likes to "sing" with you. Apples and Bananas and the ABCs are her favorite songs.

Food - She consistenly has 2 solids meals a day. Sometimes 3. She likes everything now, but did not like peaches and green beans the first couple of times she tried them.

Teething - Ugh, this has been a nightmare for us. She has two teeth on the bottom and is working on getting two on the top. She has had a tough time with getting the teeth, with the worst being the week she also had her 6 months shots. Bad timing. I'm hoping after the top two come in, which look like they could be at any time, we'll have a bit of a break.

Sleeping - She has regressed in this. She started sleeping really well, early on. Only getting up once a night from the time she was about 2 months old. For the last 3 weeks she has been getting up 2-3 times a night to eat. I started doing a twilight feeding at 10:00 pm on Saturday night and after 3 days of doing this, she is now back to only waking once per night. I'm hoping this continues - I am exhausted! I'm pretty sure the problem is she is so busy trying to move around and so busy watching everything around her during the day, she will only take enough from the bottle to barely satisfy her. Then, at night, when it is dark and there is nothing going on, she is hungry. That is why I started the twilight feeding.,

Here are two pictures taken last Friday. She hasn't really ridden the rocking horse, but she loves to sit on it!

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v255/Boskie/OliviaRockingHorse.jpg

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v255/Boskie/OliviaRockingHorse2.jpg

[Taurus]

Both DH and I have blue eyes, and our families have mostly blue eyes. If DD came out with anything else DH would have had to have a long talk with me ;)


Neither of us has blue eyes and none of our four parents do either, so with babies with such blue eyes, we have (jokingly, of course) had that talk! :)

[2 Crazy Pugs]

TracyDP- I saw the baby bjorn little potty at BRU and wondered about trying it- how did you start with Ellie with it? Any suggestions?

[Bucktown]

Ok, I'll have to come back later but this has me busting a gut!

yes I'm committing a major no-no by having her bumbo chair up on my kitchen counter and yes she's playing with a toaster oven.... It's unplugged....

Freakin' hilarious Hmbay! You rebel you!

[Jess71903]

Jess~ He is such a cutie:) I am so happy that everything is going so well for him. I always keep him in my prayers. Children are truely a blessing.
Thank you so much Jody! How sweet of you!

Jess, my older son had those same rolls and thighs that you just want to take a bite of! He still has the thighs!

I love me some fat baby rolls!



Jess Gage is adorable! I really can't wait until it's warm enough to go outside here. It's still in the 50s and raining a lot
Thank you!
We actually just went to the park with some friends today! I am loving spring! I hope it warms up for you soon!

mommy crimes--yep in our house people would freak at some of the stuff my kids play with. :)
Oh yeah- I've done many of the "nono's" My Bumbo has gone in the shower with me and sat up on the bench part. You do what you gotta do!

Sabrina is so cute! I am glad she's doing so well these days!

Boskie-Olivia is so cute! She's changed a lot since your avatar pic!

Taurus- what a patient little brother! That's a cute pic!

[Taurus]

Thanks, Jess.

Re: baby rolls...when I took my older son to visit family around 8 mos old, my cousin's 6 year old took one look at his arm rolls and said, "whoa, he has really big muscles!"

[Amuse Bouche]

Ooh, new thread! I'll update, too. Madeleine will be 7 months tomorrow!

Solids: I am a super loosey goosey solids feeder - we mostly just feed her bits of whatever we're eating (except eggs and nuts). She loves all forms of bread and will spend a long time gnawing on a bagel or a piece of baguette. Rice is also a big favorite, as is avocado. Most fruits she could take or leave - especially if they're pureed. She prefers small pieces. Also wants to feed herself all the time, and we bought her a sippy cup since she's a water fiend. Weirdo.

Crawling: Definitely scooting -- better on a slick surface (ie hardwood floors) than on the blanket on the floor. Starting to get onto all 4s.

Communicating: I swear she's starting to use a few signs - sleep and eat and milk being the ones I'm thinking of. When she's hungry, she says Mamamamama -- she also tends to adopt a consonant of the week and babbles in that for a few days. Last week it was all Dah! Dah! This week it's Vvvvavvvavvva and sometimes fffaffaffa.

Teeth: 2 teeth on the bottom, no more. Doesn't seem to be teething, but everything goes in her mouth.

Sleeping: I think she sometimes STTN -- we still cosleep, and she has dream feeds, but given that she's still a peanut I don't mind -- I barely wake up. She's also pretty good about being put down awake -- at bedtimes usually and sometimes at naptime. She doesn't have a consistent nap schedule.

Updated picture
This is actually a few weeks ago:
http://farm3.static.flickr.com/2271/2386878284_36bf1d2a5b.jpg?v=0

[Bucktown]

Oh I love all the updates! And the pictures are soooooo cute. Definitely out of the infant phase and looking more like toddlers. Yikes!

Here's our update:

movement~ None. Ok, she can turn herself a full 360 degrees but it's usually screaming while doing it. She won't roll over any way during the day but I know she can cause she saves it for bedtime. I think she may be using the bars with her feet to get her completely over though. I know she wants to move because she'll dive bomb from my arms to get something or use her hands while sitting to pull herself to something. She doesn't get far but it's pretty funny to watch. :p

Talking/communication - The kid never shuts up. She gabs all the time. Yesterday I heard mama but I'm sure it was a fluke. Sounded so nice though. Funny how with DS I could never tell what the boy wanted (he was speech delayed but didn't gab alot just screamed). With Anna she communicates very well. She does this thing with her legs when she wants something. She kicks them both out at the same time. This past weekend she was in her highchair waiting to be fed and she kicked so hard she kicked a full can of soda off the parent tray and onto the floor. She's pretty strong that one. Today she started to wrap her arms around my neck and squeeze, like a hug, then she kept giving me open mouth kisses. I was floored and weepy both at the same time. :)

Food - Oh my Gosh, she loves her some food. If she even sees the bowl or her spoon she starts kicking and yelling at me. Can't come fast enough. I started giving her biter biscuits while I'm trying to cook dinner to keep her occupied. She loves them till I take them away. Then she's pissed.

Teething - None. DS didn't get any till 10 months and she's showing no signs of it either. She's always got something in her mouth but she always has.

Sleeping - Dare I say FANTASTIC! Most nights down at 6:30p not up till 6:30am. Occassionally she will wake 2x's (10:30p & 4:30a) for a large bottle but it's usually because she refused a few bottles during the day. I don't mind at all. And before anyone shoots me for having a sleeping baby, don't worry. My just about 4 year old is still waking 1-3 times per night so he's really sticking it to me. Soooo not fun.

*******

Jess~ I was so happy to hear your update on Gage. He sounds like he's doing so well and is right up there with the rest of our kids. Give yourself and your husband a big pat on the back cause you're doing a great job!

Em~ Daniel must have a lightening quick metabolism to go thru all that food and still be a mini! I think you mentioned constipation? We are/were having some problems with that as well. Sunday I had to give her a glycerin supp to help her out. It worked but nothing great. Yesterday I bought Earth's Best Organic Whole Grain Multi-Grain Cereal from Target. I fed it to her this morning with apples and wouldn't you know, she blew out her diaper this evening. I haven't seen a blow out like that since the early days. :o Maybe worth a try before the meds?

Eyes~ No blue eyes here! Both DH & I both have dark brown. DS & DD both have brown, though Anna's eyes are alot darker than ours. I think she has more of the Sicilian genes in her because her skin tone is very olive and she's already tanning and we've only been outside this past week or so.

Roll n roll n roll n! This pic will come down fast since she's in the tub but I think we have you all beat on rolls! Her thighs are pretty impressive but check out the belly! Whoah baby!

****

Keep them coming ladies. I love reading about the babies!

[TracyDP]

Now THAT's a budha belly! So cute!

2 crazy pugs/little potty: I just randomly went into the EC thread and got curious about early potty training so I decided to get a potty seat. Ellie has a habit of peeing about 5 seconds after taking her diaper off so I would just leave the old diaper under her until she was done. After reading over the EC thread I got to thinking that she would do well with a potty seat since she is so predictable with her post-diaper change peeing. She is also hilariously obvious when she poops so I figured I could try that too. I've been using it for about a month now and its working pretty good. The first time I put her on it she peed like it was nothing. The next day I was changing her and she got that poop-grunt look and so I put her on the potty and sure enough, she pooped in it. She seems to like sitting on it and uses it about half the time I put her on it. She seems to be getting out of the habit of the post-diaper change pee, but I still catch about half of her poops and get her in there in time. I keep it next to the changing table on the floor with a waterproof changing pad under it in case of accidents.

[emschwar]

Em~ Daniel must have a lightening quick metabolism to go thru all that food and still be a mini! I think you mentioned constipation? We are/were having some problems with that as well. Sunday I had to give her a glycerin supp to help her out. It worked but nothing great. Yesterday I bought Earth's Best Organic Whole Grain Multi-Grain Cereal from Target. I fed it to her this morning with apples and wouldn't you know, she blew out her diaper this evening. I haven't seen a blow out like that since the early days. :o Maybe worth a try before the meds?

Thanks for the suggestion! I'll look into it. Unfortunately, Daniel is soy intolerant as well as dairy, and I don't think earth's best cereals are soy free. I know they don't say soy free on the front of the box, which most soy free cereals say.

[Bucktown]

em~ I just checked my box and it doesn't say No Soy anywhere but the ingredients do not indicate it.

Ingredients~

Organic whole oat flour, organic whole millet flour, organic brown rice flour, organic rice bran extract, Vitamin E, Alpha-amylase (enzyme), electrolytic iron. May contain trace amounts of wheat.

My Gerber box lists soy in the ingredients.


Now THAT's a budha belly!

Right?! I think this is why she's having a hard time rolling and getting on all fours. Lots of extra cushioning! ;)

[emschwar]

Bucktown - Thanks for checking! I'll have to pick up a box next time I'm at target.

[Jen309]

Solids: Doing ok here. Still trying to finish the box of EB rice cereal, then I'll start making my own, a la Super Baby Food. Fortunately, no probs with constipation here... my older son has enough of those for 4 babies, so it's only fair ;)

Crawling: Soooo close. He gets on all 4s and rocks and slides one knee up but then can't quite get the other one and flops forward on his belly. He can cross the room in seconds though by using his arms and sliding on his thighs. He gets around way too well outside too. Actually, he pulled up for the first time today and stood for a few seconds by himself yesterday. I'm blown away.

Communicating: Not too much here. He still says mamamma, but mostly when he wants something like fed or picked up. He also does it when DH has him and he can't see me. Cute, but I can't get anything done! We don't do signing at all... I'd never be sure if the movement was random or not.

Teeth: Bottom two are about to come in; the first one is just barely cutting today. I hope it improves the sleep. He naps pretty well and goes to bed between 7 and 8, but he gets up at dawn. No joke, I check the weather and the time given for sunrise is literally the minute on my clock when he wakes up. It's been consistant for 2 weeks now, and if you don't know, the sun comes up earlier every day. :mad: I'm a zombie.

Medical issues: His burn healed really well. It was a PITA to keep it bandaged up for 2 weeks, but now the bandages are off and it's just a little red looking where the burns were. I'd have been safer if I'd just let him play on the floor with the power strip or toaster oven :rolleyes:

Random tidbit: It's been Soooooo nice to get outside, although keeping the grass and various ground things out of his mouth has been a challenge. Since he's learned the mobility thing, he refuses to be held on a lap.

Sorry everybody, shout outs are going to have to wait... little pumpkin just woke up!

[Jess71903]

Jen-I'm glad he's healing well. As much as I love seeing him do new things, I think I can wait on the fully mobile gig. It's going to make my job a lot more difficult!

Bucktown-Thanks for the back pat! I think we all need that sometimes! I am so proud of my baby boy!

Taurus- one of our friends kids said the same thing about Gage's "muscles". Too funny! He has edible thigh and arm rolls! I love it!

Gage got up 3 times last night after sleeping 10 hours the night before. What's up with that? He only nursed once. He snuggled and went back to sleep at 11:30 (I gotta say, I love to snuggle!). Ate at 2:30, then I think the thunder storm woke him up at 5. I just held him for a minute and put him down in the PnP by our bed that time.

[hmbay]

sleep--no idea what is up with Sabrina. I think it's a combo of teething and separation anxiety. She hasn't been eating for DH lately so pigging out when I get home. I dragged a twin mattress from the daybed in our guest room into her room and it seems the nights I just snuggle in there she sleeps better. Perhaps she can sense I'm in the room (separation anxiety?). too bad the bed is too soft for my taste but at least it's sleep even if my back kills in the morning. the last two nights she's gone down around 9pm, been back up around 1 then again at 2 then down until 8 or 9 (but I get up for work at 6:30). I need to find a way to move her bedtime earlier so perhaps we can get that one waking about the time I'm heading for bed and I can get a stretch of uninterruped sleep--however DS1 and DS2 need to cooperate for that to happen and well I'm not holding my breath.

[Jen309]

So, not really baby related but I'm so excited right now! My DH just got offered a new job and he's going to take it, which means that we're moving back to my home state of Michigan!! It's going to be crazy trying to move with 2 LOs a dog and a cat and oh, yeah, us... but :D:D:D

[Taurus]

That's great news Jen!

? Is anyone else's LO doing the high-pitched screeching thing? I know DS1 did this for a quick phase (as if he had just discovered he could make this sound) but I don't remember when he did it. I'm trying to figure out if this is just "that phase" or if it is something else!

[emschwar]

Congrats, Jen! That's great!

That's great news Jen!

? Is anyone else's LO doing the high-pitched screeching thing? I know DS1 did this for a quick phase (as if he had just discovered he could make this sound) but I don't remember when he did it. I'm trying to figure out if this is just "that phase" or if it is something else!

Daniel LOVES to screech!

Last night was amazing! Daniel didn't STTN, but close! He woke up at 9 pm, but I wasn't home and he wouldn't take a bottle from Josh and then he went back to sleep and didn't wake again until 7:30 this morning! Wow! I feel so rested.

[TracyDP]

? Is anyone else's LO doing the high-pitched screeching thing? I know DS1 did this for a quick phase (as if he had just discovered he could make this sound) but I don't remember when he did it. I'm trying to figure out if this is just "that phase" or if it is something else!

It's "that phase". Sometimes when I am holding DD she will kick and let out a high pitched squeal that will make my ears ring. She does it all the time when she's in her jumper.

Friday she started going "Mumumumumumum". Her first actual sound besides aaaaahhhhhh of varying pitches and squealing.



Daniel LOVES to screech!

Last night was amazing! Daniel didn't STTN, but close! He woke up at 9 pm, but I wasn't home and he wouldn't take a bottle from Josh and then he went back to sleep and didn't wake again until 7:30 this morning! Wow! I feel so rested.

Congrats Emschwar! I hate to tell you this, but I think you can call 10 hours straight STTN! Great feeling when you finally get the full night sleep! You get too used to it and then when they DO wake up you end up stumbling and groggy when you go soothe them. When DD was waking up regularly I just expected it and it was weirdly much easier. Now its actually harder for me to go back to sleep after getting up with her since it only happens 2-3 times a week.

[Jen309]

Oh, yes. LOTS of screeching. Yet another vast difference between #1 and #2. :p

[jjohm]

we have a screecher here, too. he has just recently started saying "bbuuu". unfortunately, no "m" sounds yet. it's great to watch DS1 and DS2 just scream at each other. once DS1 gets started, Alex laughs so much.

Alex went to his first baseball game today! (It was DS1's first time too) and they LOVED being there. On top of that, the Nats won! if any of you live near DC or come visit here, i highly recommend checking out a Nationals game. it's really family friendly.

eta:
Emschwar - congrats on STTN!

[emschwar]

jjohm - I didn't realize you lived near DC too. We haven't made it to a Nats game yet, but we want to!

[hmbay]

yes she screeches but not as bad as DS2. We have lots of sounds. I actually think she might be trying to talk. On more than on occassion we have dadadadadada when she's looking for daddy/playing with daddy and mamamamamamama when she's looking for mommy. Of course at this age it's all probably just coincidence.

[emschwar]

Argh! I just have to complain for a minute.

Last week, Daniel was fantastic. All his naps were over an hour, and saturday, he had a 3 hour nap in the morning and a 2 hour nap in the afternoon. It was amazing! He was so well rested and happy!

Yesterday, and so far today, he's back to the 30 minute crap naps. Come on, kid! You were doing so well! :(

[TracyDP]

Argh! I just have to complain for a minute.

Last week, Daniel was fantastic. All his naps were over an hour, and saturday, he had a 3 hour nap in the morning and a 2 hour nap in the afternoon. It was amazing! He was so well rested and happy!

Yesterday, and so far today, he's back to the 30 minute crap naps. Come on, kid! You were doing so well! :(

I don't know if this would have anything to do with it, but I'll throw it out there. I left DD at grandmas a couple weeks ago w/ her pack-n-play for the day. Grandma put the PNP in the spare bedroom for her naps but said she didn't nap very well that day, only about 45 min each. She was a crabby mess when I picked her up so I could tell she hadn't napped well. Last Saturday I did the same, left her at Grandmas with the PNP but this time I had grandma cover the windows with blankets so it was dark in the room. It had occurred to me that DD's room at home has dark denim curtains that keep her room dark all the time. I think the light was waking her up or keeping her from getting deep into sleep.

Funny thing is she naps fine in the car (very bright) and has fallen asleep in her stroller more than once, but I think if she is in her jammies in a house for official naptime she is used to the dark room. If Daniels room is really bright in the daytime, maybe try covering the windows or getting the black-out backing for the curtains?

Just throwing that out there. DD's afternoon naps can be really hit and miss, but luckily her morning naps are pretty predictable and almost always 2+ hours. I call her morning nap my "sweet spot" :)

babbling: Now that DD has Mumumumumum down pat, I can see her trying to make other sounds. She watches me VERY intently when I speak directly to her or make sounds for her, and I see her move her mouth like she is trying to mimic me. Yesterday and today I've seen her trying to make the puckered lips kissy noise...but instead of sucking air in to make the noise like we do, she is still blowing out (yummy, more spit!) She is also leaning in and putting her (very wet...) mouth on my face like to do to her.

Potty: I could be completely imagining things, but I think DD has started to figure out what the potty chair is for. 3 times now I have put her on it in the late afternoon after her diaper change like I always do and she has pooped! She does it with no indication at all before I take her diaper off that she is needing to poop (usually she has been really obvious about it). It's like she sits down and is like "Oh, good time to poop!" All of the previous times she pooped in the potty it was because I saw her making the signs so I scooped her up and took her in specifically for that purpose. Lately it's been much more deliberate on her part. Fine with me since I started using the cloth diapers and don't want to deal with poopy ones! I'm really hoping that in a year or so when I start with real potty training she will already be so used to the potty seat that it won't be much of an issue to make the transition.

[Bucktown]

em~ I'm going to complain with you then. Of course right after I posted about Anna's beautiful sleeping thru the night she caught a cold and is waking all the time. I know it's the cold but it's killing me. Even a few days before the cold started she was beginning to wake at 5am for the day! Argh! Last night she was up at 4am for the day. I refused to get her so she stayed in the crib whining and when I couldn't take it anymore I went downstairs and slept on the couch.

I'd rather have her never STTN instead of me getting used to it for 3 weeks then making me pay for it.

Colds~ I'm waiting for the ped to call me back about giving her benedryl for the runny nose. My first practice encouraged the Benedryl to dry them up and avoid ear infections. I don't know what this one will say though I'm pretty sure it's 'We don't recc for kids under 2'.

Jen~ congrats on moving back home! I'm so jealous ;)

Sounds~ I got another 'mama' when she was sitting with DH & upset/looking for me then made eye contact. It was awesome.

***ETA*** Ped said Banny was ok, but only for 2 nights to avoid overdrying. Excellent! We've been giving DS benny at every cold he gets so mucousy.

[TracyDP]

em~

***ETA*** Ped said Banny was ok, but only for 2 nights to avoid overdrying. Excellent! We've been giving DS benny at every cold he gets so mucousy.

I don't know how your DC handles the nose drops, but I found that Ellie didn't even really notice when I used them during her cold. I'd put about 2 drops in each nostril when I changed her diaper and she would make a face, but not cry or anything. I'd see her swallow so I knew it was running through ok. It really helped keep her from getting too stuffy. They also sell nose drops with a small amount of decongestant in it (the Little Remedies brand I think). I used that for two nights and it did wonders. I was still too paranoid to use the actual benedryl on her.

[Suzlywoozly]

Andrew has his first ear infection. :( He was waking up almost every 45 minutes for 5 nights before I finally couldn't take it anymore and I called the pediatrician. I didn't really think anything was wrong but I wanted to get him checked out. Sure enough he has two ear infections and of course his top gums are really swollen so the ped thinks he is going to sprout some new teeth. My poor little guy. I am going to take him back to the ped today because he is still really congested and is coughing now. He said to bring him back if he wasn't better by this past Saturday so I just want to make sure that he is okay. We are suppose to go to Disneyland this next weekend so I really don't want to risk taking a sick baby down there.

[Taurus]

I just had the longest stretch of sleep I've had since the day before DS was born! :)
x-posted from BFing support:

DS slept through the night last night!!! The SleepEasy Solution book worked wonders for us--it just happened to be the right fit for DS. In my heart, I truly believed that he was not hungry all those times at night and really wanted to sleep longer and needed our help to do so. The method was to wake him before he had a chance to wake and then to reduce the feedings in ounces or minutes until they were done, and it TRULY broke the cycle of him just waking up and not being able to go back to sleep unless we fed him. Also, we abide by a very strict nap and sleep routine now (we had gotten lax with it despite what we learned with #1) and we also quit replacing the paci and made sure he wasn't ever being put down fully asleep (I had gotten lax with that, too, since he was so fussy as a newborn I was just happy when he'd fall asleep on me). Within one week he stopped using the paci completely, learned to suck his thumb, learned how to fall asleep even if he rolled over onto his tummy, and dropped the 1 am and 3 am feedings. The total crying if I add up all the minutes over the course of a week was maybe 45 minutes, and I never had to deny a feeding when he wanted it. (ETA I did have to hold him off a bit/let him fuss in the early morning two times in order to help reinforce the wakeup time/routine that they talk about.) As soon as the feedings were phased out, he never woke up wanting one. Naps have followed their time suggestions and he's asleep within minutes each time (usually just "talking" not crying). They also have such realistic expectations for nap lengths that I don't feel as frustrated as with other books.

I still wake him for a dream feed before I go to bed, so last night he went to sleep at 6:50 pm, I woke him to feed him at 9:45, then he slept until 5:50 am, then put himself back to sleep within seconds and slept until 6:50 am! Maybe one day I'll drop the dream feed, but I do think he benefits from this one nice quiet meal without a toddler running around, etc.

It wouldn't work for everyone, but this is what ended up happening for us. It's been great for all of us!

[Boskie]

Taurus, that is great! I'm so glad you found a method that works for you.

[TracyDP]

Taurus congratulations! It's really great when you find a method that works for your child, especially when it can be done w/o a lot of crying. Once you get used to the STTN it gets twice as hard to get up with them when they DO wake up in the middle of the night...but it's a worthy trade off!

Mommy Matinee Ellie and I are going to attend our first Mommy Matinee at the movies today! It's Juno which I've been wanting to see for a long time.

We have brew pubs here called McMenamins that buy old historic buildings and make them into hotel/brew pub/theaters and they have the Mommy Matinees at 1pm for $3 each (babies free). The theater I'm going to is in the gym of a renovated elementary school that they made into a hotel/pub/theater. There are couches and fat chairs to sit in w/ tables around so you can have pizza and beer/wine/sodas while you watch the movie, or order anything from the restaurant and bring it in with you. I see a slice of pepperoni and a glass of wine in my future :D We'll see how Ellie does.

Separation anxiety: Starting to get a little of that going on. We were at the grocery store the other day and I was down the isle from her when a biker guy (big straggly grey beard and wild grey hair) came around the corner and said Hi to her. She immediately screwed up her face, stuck out her bottom lip and just WAILED as she frantically looked around for me. I walked over and she held out her arms for me to pick her up out of the cart. That's the first time she's done that (reached out to me). The poor guy who smiled at her felt so bad! Some thanks for trying to be nice...lol.

She also cries when I leave her with grandma or Susan but according to them she calms down after 10 minutes or so.

[Taurus]

Well, I'm pretty sure that nothing can be worse than the sleep deprivation DH and I experienced, especially after having an older one who slept through by 4 months and has woken up at night less than one time/month since then! We'll see how it goes though. :)

I loved going to Mommy Movies with DS1. I wish I had done it more often.

[TracyDP]

I realize this is like my 4th post on one page but I've got to vent.

I put DD down to bed at 7:30 (normally she goes to bed at 8:30) because she only had 2 very short naps (like 15-20 min each) this afternoon...my fault for getting sidetracked when we were out doing errands.

It's now 9:10 and she is still in her crib screaming her head off... I mean screaming like she very rarely does. I've gone in about 5 times, calmed her down, changed her diaper twice, given her 2 more oz formula. She is obviously just completely exhausted to the point that she can't sleep and is seriously PO'd because of it. Is this the situation that CIO was made for? She's not hungry, has a dry diaper, had a little gas earlier but burped and tooted about an hour ago, and I didn't feed her anything new today that would bother her. I've only let her go about 10 minutes without going in so far. Just now there are a few silences between screaming fits...hopefully she will run out of gas soon. I hate hearing her cry like this since I've never had to let it go this long without her falling asleep.

I guess now that she is aware of her surroundings more she has a harder time relaxing and going to sleep, but seriously I'm almost shaking sitting her typing this because I've NEVER had her scream like this. I know it's not anything like sickness or something because if I go in she calms right down, even smiles. How long do I go without going in there? I don't know how those of you that have difficult DC's do it night after night. You deserve medals, and I don't mean that lightly.

10:25pm update: She JUST fell asleep 5 minutes ago. I let her cry for 25 minutes. Well, crying is an understatement, she screamed for 25 minutes. Finally I couldn't do it, I went in and the poor thing was completely sweaty, red faced and had screamed so hard she'd spit up...a LOT. It was in her hair, on her face, on her sleeper/sheet. I picked her up and calmed her down, then when I went to change her diaper/sleeper I could tell she had a little fire butt (really red in that area). Not sure what caused it, but I decided to just give her a quick bath to cool her down, clean her up and calm her down. It worked. She was much better after the bath so I gave her to DH to watch while I went for a soak in the hot tub to regain my sanity. I got out there and burst out crying then said a prayer to God to calm her mind and body so she could fall asleep, and to calm MY mind and body so I could deal with her if she didn't. I came back in about 15 minutes later to find DH walking DD around singing to her, sound asleep on his shoulder. I started crying again. I took her and rocked her in the chair for another 15 minutes just to snuggle and make sure she was OUT. I put her down and she didn't even twitch. So, 3 hours to get her to sleep tonight. That's by far a record for us. Apparently she is not a CIO baby.

Mental note...no more crazy busy days. We are going to chill at home tomorrow.

[hmbay]

Tracy--I won't be able to do CIO with Sabrina. DH does it during the day and she can scream for HOURS. I've determined with her either 1) she usually has a stomach issue or 2) she's just more stubborn than I am. ;)

I do need to think about some sort of sleep training though because she's starting to be up every 2-3 hours at night (reverse cycling). One of the wakings is always a wet diaper and the others are feedings. I am going to try an overnight diaper to eliminate one of the wakings (I hope) and then was going to take a week off of work and try sleep training but then was reading a lot of things about how hard it is to sleep train a BF infant because they have all the comfort associations with nursing (My first was bottle fed EBM and slept like a dream from 4 months on--my 2nd was BF for 12 months is 2.5 AND STILL gets up 1 time a night several times a week). I can't handle two of them sleeping crappy. I need to do something even if it involves going to feeding her eBM and pumping for the next 4 months.

On a happy note I am 99% positive she is using 2 words in context--mama and dada. She says dada when she seems him. She calls mama the second I leave her sight and will escalate to screaming mama if I don't come back. In the morning when she knows I"m usually at work when she wakes up in her room she starts babbling dadadadadada for him to come get her. I also think ni-nite is possibily being used in context but not positive. Neither of the boys said mama until much later so I'm thrilled perhaps one of my kids said mama before dada. :) No crawling yet but if you prop her up on all 4's she will hold herself like that for a bit.

[TracyDP]

Just a quick update about Ellie's glasses. I went to the opthamologist and he checked her out and was like "you know, there are some things that follow a pattern and you can say, yeah...I see where this is going or why this is happening. Sometimes things happen that are random and I can't explain. This is one of those things". It seems that her eyesight is ALMOST NORMAL NOW!! Her super nearsighted eye is almost perfect sight, and her farsighted eye is very mild. I asked "so, this means she is ok for now but will need glasses when she starts school?" He was like "No, I mean she may not need glasses until she's in college, or later". :eek: Crazy. But I'm not arguing. He said he thinks it must be that since he rarely sees such young babies that this happens more often than they think where the eyes make BIG adjustments as infants. Without the wondering eye no one would have ever known she had eyesight issues at all.

So, no more cute pink glasses...I'm surprizingly disappointed. I may have gotten slightly irritated at all the comments, but secretly I liked having the "special" cute baby! :rolleyes:

Sleep: Geeze, what's up with great sleepers suddenly going to crap? Ellie went down last night without so much as a twitch at 7:30 after sleeping 50% of her day (3 hr AM nap, 2.5hr PM nap)! I know that was because of her really crappy night the night before, but I'll take it. Today was a good day, DD slept until 8:30am (little later than normal), took a 2 hour nap in the AM then we had a play date this afternoon, but I had her home and down for a nap by 3:30pm and she slept until 5pm. She was in a good mood all evening and started acting sleepy at 7:30 so I did bedtime routine. She was rubbing eyes and all during the bottle so I went and put her down awake (as usual). Crying, carrying on immediately ensued. Ugh. That was at 8:15 and now at 9:20 she has just fallen asleep. Instead of trying CIO which failed spectacularly night before last, I stayed in the room with her. I walked her around a bit and she stayed fussy until she burped...then tooted. She quieted down so I put her back in the crib. Crying and carrying on. I left her for about 5 min to go use the bathroom. Carrying on still so I went back in. I left her in the crib but sang to her for like 30 minutes straight, first touching her in the crib then next to the crib in the chair. She dozed off once then like a complete goober I knocked her sippy cup on the floor and it woke her up, so 5 more minutes of singing and she was finally out. Now I'm sitting her listening for her hoping she stays out. The only thing I can think of is that maybe I need to be putting her down at 7:30, but often she is not acting tired. Maybe that's the point? Get her to bed BEFORE she's acting tired? We'll try that one tomorrow night.

The thing I hate is that this is making me second guess our decision to take a 2 night vacation next weekend and leave her with my BF Christy. But, since I do know Ellie will eventually go to sleep when she gets tired enough (usually with singing) I guess they will be OK. She is used to Christy putting her to bed from being babysat by her every other Saturday, and Christy loves to sing and sings to her a lot. I need to stop worrying and just GO. I can tell by the fact that dealing with her being like this for 2 out of 3 nights is making my twitchy and stressed that I need a break.

My appologies to all of you with genuinely crappy sleepers for whining about this. You all can call me a whaaaaaambulance to bring me some cheese with my whine. ;)

[TracyDP]

Boy, talk about a thread killer! All the way to page 2...

Is anybody out there?:confused:

[2 Crazy Pugs]

I am here! Just been busy! We bought a house- its a short sale, so we are waiting for the sellers mortgage holder to approve the sale. Its making me a stress case. And we are trying to sell our condo at the same time.

As far as DD goes, she is great. Has another ear infection, took her to the doctor on Thursday, she had a 102.7 fever and was miserable. But once she was on the antibiotics, she was better, and is doing much better now. Hates taking the medicine, but we have to give it to her for the next 7 days. She is sleeping great, knock on wood, but she DOES NOT NAP! Its insane. If she does happen to fall asleep, its only for 30 minutes maybe once a day. She is growing fast, will be 8 months old on Wednesday. She is in 12 month clothes, she is very long. I just want the weather to get nice here so she can wear all the cute summer dresses I have for her.

Got the okay from the pediatrician to give her yogurt, which she now loves, especially the YoBaby blueberry one. The doc said she can eat pretty much anything we eat (except strawberries, nuts, the usual). She had a pancake last night, loved it, and she loves any kind of melon.

Still no teeth yet- but I can see bumps on her gum line and it almost looks like she may get more than 1 at a time-

[jodylovesscotty]

2 crazy pugs~ I was wondering about the yogurt and asked in another thread. My ped said it was okay to give at 7 months, but I am so afraid because she uses sensitive formula. Don't know whether the yogurt will effect her. Also, I put the medicine for DD's ear infection in her bottle and that worked much better.

Question about foods..... When do you plan on introducing meat meals? Right now Zoë has just started 3 meals a day. For some reason she is eating all the veggies, but is not eating the fruits. I don't know if it is because we are giving her too much cereal (Just upped that to 2 tbs. of cereal with 2 tbs. of milk).

Zoë is so close to crawling forward. She crawls backwards and rock on all fours. At daycare she goes in the padded toy area now to play so I am sure she will watch them all crawl and learn soon.

Her tooth is taking forever to come all the way in. It has been over 3 weeks since it broke the gums. She is liking to rubher tongue over it. Thank goodness the teeth haven't seemed to bother her.

[2 Crazy Pugs]

Jody- Sophia was on sensitive formula also, and the yogurt doesn't bother her. The doctor said that because the antibiotics might upset her stomach, the probiotics in the yogurt would help that, and that it helps with little girls, since they can get yeast infections. We tried the bottle thing- did you put it in with her formula, or by itself?

We have been giving Sophia meat- she has had turkey, chicken and beef (really small pieces of steak and hamburger)- she loved the turkey. She eats 3 meals a day plus she has 5 bottles. So her day is:

When she gets up she has a 6 oz bottle.
8:30 at daycare- jar of stage 2 fruit with oatmeal cereal.
9:00 or so- 6 oz bottle
Lunch at daycare- jar of stage 2 veggies, some puffs and water in a sippy cup
mid afternoon- 6 oz bottle
Dinner- jar of stage 2 food, yogurt and fruit, sometimes whatever we are having
Around 7:00 she gets 6 oz bottle
Bedtime around 8 or so, I give her a 4 oz bottle to get her to sleep.

This weekend, I wanted to try more "real" food, so she had pancakes, cantalope, honeydew melon, some potatoes, turkey and some cheese. I think she might just skip the stage 3 foods and go right to real food.

[jodylovesscotty]

2 crazy pugs ~ We mixed the medicine with the formula. Thanks for all the info. on eating. Wow, you DD is eating great! I am always so nervous on what to give her. She won't eat any puffs or cereal or anything that is not pureed though we give her some each night to try to get her to eat it.

[TracyDP]

2 crazy pugs~ I was wondering about the yogurt and asked in another thread. My ped said it was okay to give at 7 months, but I am so afraid because she uses sensitive formula. Don't know whether the yogurt will effect her.

My ped had me wean DD off of the sensative formula (the Similac orange can, lactose free) and onto the regular stuff so her system would regulate to processing lactose. I did it over the course of about a month and now she is on Similac Organic completely and has no problem with it. I am still nervous about yogurt though since I fed her 2 small balls of fresh mozzerella and that night she had a tough time falling asleep and had a little of the fire butt.

Question about foods..... When do you plan on introducing meat meals? Right now Zoë has just started 3 meals a day. For some reason she is eating all the veggies, but is not eating the fruits. I don't know if it is because we are giving her too much cereal (Just upped that to 2 tbs. of cereal with 2 tbs. of milk).

I'm not doing meat for a while yet. She is happy with the veggies and fruits and still gets a lot of formula. I think I will wait a few more months on meats. Ellie LOVES fruits and her absolute favorite is fruit puree mixed in with her cereal, mango especially. She flaps her arms and gets excited when I feed her mango.

2 crazy pugs I am always so nervous on what to give her. She won't eat any puffs or cereal or anything that is not pureed though we give her some each night to try to get her to eat it.

I started making my own purees of sweet potato, fruit, etc. and I leave them lumpier on purpose, as well as making little diced pieces of sweet potato. DD doesn't like crunchy or rough things (puffs, cereal) but will chew on a MumMum cracker and eat cut up soft foods. Maybe try chunks of soft foods first, then work up to cereal. MumMum crackers are great to get them used to a rougher feeling food.

[Boskie]

Tracy - That is great about Ellie's eyesight!

Meats - I just started Olivia on meats late last week. So far, she's had chicken and chicken and rice. I am using the stage 2 ones, because she is NOT ready for anything chunkier. I gave her a puff a week or so ago and she had no idea what to do with it. I also tried potato and all she did with it was stick her tongue out until I scrapped it off!

Olivia's Food Schedule:

2:00 - 6 oz bottle (yes, she is still getting up once per night)
6:30 - 4 oz bottle
8:00 - 2 tbs oatmeal with formula and 1 container of fruit
10:00 - 6 oz bottle
1:00 - 1 container of fruit, 1 of veggie
4:00 - 6 oz bottle
6:00 - 1/2 container of meat, 1 veggie
7:30 - 6 oz bottle

I was giving her a dream feed bottle at 10, but once she started in with the meat at dinner, she was taking, at most, 1 oz, so I've stopped that. I figure she'll be eating the entire container of meat in a week or two. Maybe THAT will get her to sleep all the way through the night!

[emschwar]

These meal schedules have me laughing a little. Why? Because little shrimpy Daniel will eat 6 jars of stage 2 baby food a day! I started making my own becuase he was costing us a fortune! He has very little schedule to speak of, because he can't pick a wake up time (this morning was 5:55, yesterday was after 7) and his nap length is horribly inconsistant. But, as far as solids go:
Breakfast - oatmeal mixed w/ prune juice
Lunch - a jar of veggies and a jar of fruit
Dinner - a jar of green veggies, a jar of orange veggies and a jar of fruit, plus a dose of probiotic mixed in his food.
He'd probably eat more if we let him. We do meat occasionally (mixed in stuff, or he doesn't like it - not that I blame him!) but not all that often. Meat baby food makes me gag, so we don't do much of it until finger foods (which we don't do until 10 months per our ped). He likes absolutely everything except prunes, but his favorites are mangos, papaya, spinach and sweet potatoes. Except the sweet potatoes I make. He only likes jarred sweet potatoes.

[hmbay]

ack I feel behind. Sabrina has eaten a whole 5 tablespoons of food so far.... I just forget to feed her solids but this weekend she was grabbing my spoon and got some pancake and some mashed potatoes. She liked them. She hasn't liked the baby food. I still need to do the rounds just to check for allergies. I did get some green beans in her this weekend and both times she spit up shortly after. I need to keep an eye on that. Anyone know what other things green beans are related to? I'm thinking peanuts but I'm not sure (which would make sense since I've kind of determined if I eat peanut butter it seems to bother her but I haven't totally determined that yet).

[Amuse Bouche]

Man, we're super disorganized. I just give Madeleine bits of whatever we're eating (except for nuts, eggs and shellfish), and if she likes it, I give her more bits. Last night guacamole was a big hit. Black beans were good, and she liked whipped cream. When I remember, I feed her a jar or so of baby food or some cereal. And she loves bread, so I give her bits of flatbread to munch on, and sometimes cheerios. She really likes to feed herself (will grab for the spoon if you're feeding baby food) so purees get messy and I'm more likely to gravitate towards finger foods.

I have a couple of questions, though, about food. 1) Is spicy food intrinsically bad for babies? My grandmother is super worried about spiciness, but it doesn't seem to upset her stomach and I figure if she didn't like it she wouldn't eat it.

2) How is your baby's poop responding to the food? M's had pretty solid poops the last few days, and although she seems to be in no discomfort and she's not having an issue with frequency, should I worry? Is this normal or is she constipated?

[TracyDP]

rough feeding schedule for Ellie

(wake up): 6oz bottle
(breakfast): 2oz cereal w/ 1/2 jar or 2tbs fruit puree mixed in (mango...HUGE hit)
(before nap): 4oz bottle
(after nap lunch): 2oz veggie, 1oz fruit
(afternoon snack): MumMum cracker or a frozen chunk of fruit in the safe feeder & 6oz bottle
(dinner): Veggie/fruit again, some finger food to play with (diced sweet potato usually)
(before bed): 6oz bottle


How is your baby's poop responding to the food? M's had pretty solid poops the last few days, and although she seems to be in no discomfort and she's not having an issue with frequency, should I worry? Is this normal or is she constipated?

This sounds totally normal to me. Ellie's poops have been pretty solid for a couple months now, once a day w/ no discomfort. Only a few times she cried while pooping and that was when we started on regular formula from Sensative and it gave her "fire butt" for a little while. I give water with her sippy cup with each meal & randomly through out the day, it helps keep her regular. I also give a drink from the sippy if she wakes up in the night. Once or twice she skipped a day and I gave her some apple juice mixed with her water for a day and it helped, but still she didn't seem uncomfortable when she finally did poo.

Hmbay: Ellie had problems with green beans too, lots of gas and fussy that night. She also didn't do well with carrots, but I have not tried those in almost 2 months so I might try them again soon...but only a little bit at a time.

[Boskie]

Olivia's poops have been much more solid, especially since starting the meats. I usually make sure she has prunes 2/3 times a week and so far, she hasn't had any problems. I do need to remember to give her some water with her solids meals.

[Jess71903]

Tracy- That's awesome about Ellie's eyesight! I hope it's fixed forever!

Food- Gage has taken off. We SO don't have a schedule. I feed him food when I think about it or when we have something he can have. I usually give him a mid-day meal- somewhere between 12 and 3 and then sometimes "supper". I guess I should get more organized about it, but his sleep schedule is so off that no 2 days are alike for us. Pretty much anything non-dairy is fair game for us. He got nothing until 6 months, he rejected almost everything then. We tried a few things one at a time. Then he decided that he liked to eat, so I have let him try several things.
He has had: pureed peas, green beans, sweet potatoes, squash, pears (we think he may be allergic- related to latex), avocado (oops, also related to latex, but he didn't have a reaction), prunes, peaches. He LOVES refried and baked beans and will eat as much as you can give him. He has had spaghetti that I tore into little pieces and put on his tray. I really didn't think he'd do anything with it but he did. It was funny to watch him try to get to a piece stuck to the back of his hand. I gave him a little bit of sauce with deer meat in it. He's had little pieces of chicken, although he pocketed them, baked potato and sweet potato, and a graham cracker.

I am going to have to look into the yogurt thing. That would be good for his digestive system since he take abx every day.

Poop- it's feast or famine with him. I think it may be related to his sb and not really having enough feeling to feel the urge to go, so he doesn't grunt and get it all out at once like most kids do. He just kind of goes a little all day, which is a nightmare for his butt...as Tracy said, "fire butt" is a good description. Then he'll go a week without going at all or needing a suppository. I have been pretty vigilant about giving him prunes several times a week and he really likes his Nuby soft spout sippy with water, so I try to offer that several times a day.

Gage is on the verge of crawling as well. My FIL calls him a crawfish because he gets up and scoots backwards. He has transitioned from sitting to hands and knees a few times without face planting.

I got him a little blow-up baby pool today and he really liked it. The water was COLD as I filled it with him sitting in it instead of letting the sun warm it, but he splashed and played anyway. He's such a ham!

http://i249.photobucket.com/albums/gg233/Jess71903/IMG_1380.jpg

[sabrespa]

I haven't really fed Zach any table food at all. He eats Stage 2 babyfood 3 times a day. He did have a banana in the babysafe feeder the other day and I've given him a nibble from my plate once or twice. Maybe I should step it up a notch.
http://i51.photobucket.com/albums/f393/sabre_01/IMG_1075-1.jpg

[Bucktown]

Oh my gosh, look at these cuties!

Jess, Gage is just as squishy as can be! He looks so freakin' happy in his pool!

sabre~ Zach kinda looks my son early on. Is that a stork kiss on his forhead? My DS has one too, though it's fading over time. :( I really loved that on his face.

Update on Anna~ Ack! We are so nowhere near eating anything but purees. I tried to feed her butternut squash orzo (tiny pastas) the other day and she just kept gagging till I picked it out of her mouth. Maybe I need to try other things as well cause she grabs at everything I'm eating, and she sure didn't mind gnawing on some pizza crust or tasting some chocolate buttercream frosting a few weeks back!

Poop~ Double ack! She is so constipated. Poor kid pushes & pushes and gets barely nothing out. Somedays I think she's going to have an anyeurism or wind up with hemmroids before she's 1! Talked to the ped yesterday and we are off of all cereals for now and giving a suppository 1x daily till Friday. We'll re-evaluate then. Bummer cause she LOVES her some cereals!

Whining~ Anyone elses baby whining? OMG, Anna whines all.day.long. She is even more clingy to mommy than ever (as if I thought that could be possible). She hates being in her car seat (can't see mommy). If I step more than 5 feet away from her, but still within her view, she starts crying. She wants to be carried all the time and her 22lb body is killing me. I pulled my neck muscle picking her up off the floor this morning.

teeth~ Anyone not have any teeth? We don't. Maybe that's why this week seems to be more whine. Jody, my DS' teeth came in super slow as well. I have no idea if it bothered him though cause he was always crying/screaming/not sleeping without teeth. :)

[Taurus]

I've been busy enjoying my sleeping baby! N is going to bed by 7 pm, sleeping for three hours, then I wake him for a dream feed and he goes another 5-8 hours straight after that. Life is good!

Tracy--Awesome development re: Ellie!

Love the pics of Gage and Zach!

[sabrespa]

Buck~ Yeah that's a little Stork Kiss between his eyes and he has one on the back of his neck too.

[Jess71903]

Buck- Gage has a stork bite (that's what we call them) on his head, on the back of his neck, and on his upper lip, but they are all fading.

Gage whines, too. He throws a fit if I leave his sight and wants to be held a lot too. It's not as bad when DH is home or if we are at a friend's house. I think he gets bored with just me. More people keep him more distracted.

No teeth here either. We have one white spot on top that comes and goes, but has yet to break through.

[Bucktown]

Stork kiss~ That's strange about the back of neck cause DS has that as well.

Jess~ I wish the whining/crying stopped when there are others around. She gets MORE upset when there are people around and can barely tolerate DH now. Totally sucks. My parents are coming to visit in less than 2 months and every time I talk to my dad he asks if Anna's getting better. Tonight I told him she's worse and he's like 'Worse? How could she get any worse'. I'm totally dumbfounded as well. We are suppose to be visiting them in Salt Lake in August for a few weeks and I don't see this being any better a trip than it was at Christmas time---she screamed the entire 2 weeks. I thought for sure at 11 months she'd be over this. Guess not. :(

Pictures from today:

http://i220.photobucket.com/albums/dd127/Croceil9/IMG_3435_1.jpg?t=1210125949

http://i220.photobucket.com/albums/dd127/Croceil9/IMG_3442_1.jpg?t=1210126035

This second one cracks me up. She was so happy sitting on the chair, feeling the warm sun & breeze on her that she didn't care that her (18mo sized) t-shirt rode up.

[TracyDP]

Adorable pictures everyone! I especially couldn't stop looking at Gage so happy in his little pool!

I think Ellie is working on a tooth...I really hope she is working on a tooth. She's been more high-maintenance for the last few days and has been chewing on her finger and drooling buckets. Her bottom gum feels like there is a bump on the right side and it looks a little swollen. Any ideas on how long it actually takes for the tooth to pop through once it gets to this point?

I also think there is some separation anxiety going on. If I put her down to sleep at night not tired enough or still awake, it ends with an hour or more of trying to get her to sleep (when previously she never had this problem). So, I've been making sure she is good and tired so she will fall asleep with her last bottle and I can just go put her down. If that happens, she stays asleep. It used to be (way back a whole week ago...) that she would finish her last bottle, then get fussy and WANT to go into her crib and put herself to sleep. My, how things change. I really really hope its a phase combined with the tooth and will pass soon. I don't want to get into the habit of putting her down asleep and have her lose the ability to put herself to sleep, but I also don't want to fight with her an hour+ every night to go to sleep. Maybe it's like riding a bike and she won't forget how once this phase passes.

Her favorite new thing is snorting. She wrinkles up her nose and laughs/snorts all the time. I think she got it from me doing it to tease her. It's so funny because when she gets a really good loud snort, it just makes her laugh harder.

[jodylovesscotty]

Tracy~ Zoë's tooth has been coming in for a month now and it still is not fully up. So I am guessing it could take a long time.

[Boskie]

Teeth - Olivia's top gum has been very swollen for a quite awhile, at least a month. The teeth are getting closer to breaking through, but still haven't. For her bottom teeth, I'd say from when the drooling really started and the gums were swollen, it was around 5-6 weeks before they broke through. For her, they would bother her for a few days and then they wouldn't for a week or more, it was really random. Like they were moving for a bit, then would stop, then would move again.

Stork Bite - Olivia also has one on the back of her neck.

Separation Anxiety - We're not having too much problem with this yet, maybe because she is so used to being taken care of by different people. M, TH and F she goes to daycare, Tues my MIL watches her and W my mom watches her, with my DH taking over in the mid-afternoon from each of them. We'll see if this continues!

Jess - I really want to get Olivia her own pool to sit in, since it is so warm here all summer.

I'm loving all the pictures! They are all so adorable!

[Jen309]

such cute pics everyone, I'll have to get some new ones uploaded... one of these days :o

Not much to report here. Things have been exceedingly good lately (knock on wood). Naps have been great and they're both STTN except 1 or 2 times in the last couple weeks. Nolan still wakes up between 6 and 6:30 though. Really wish I could change that, as Matt doesn't get up until 8-8:30, even with all the noise we make!

As for me though, I'm freaking tired. We've got 2 weeks to get the house ready to sell and 1 week of that is being taken up by DH finishing his masters degree and all of his end of year stuff (he's a teacher FT + PT masters classes) for work. So, it's been all me, taking care of the boys, dinner, cleaning, and packing/organizing for garage sale. I want a nap sooooo bad right now, but I have to clean the house now the boys are sleeping. We've got one of DH's coworkers coming by to look at the house. Ok, rant over :o

[2 Crazy Pugs]

Just got a deal! I found the Britax Roundabout car seat on Amazon for $186 with free shipping! Everywhere else I looked they were over $250 dollars! I am so happy to have saved some $ on it.

[TracyDP]

Teeth - Olivia's top gum has been very swollen for a quite awhile, at least a month. The teeth are getting closer to breaking through, but still haven't. For her bottom teeth, I'd say from when the drooling really started and the gums were swollen, it was around 5-6 weeks before they broke through. For her, they would bother her for a few days and then they wouldn't for a week or more, it was really random. Like they were moving for a bit, then would stop, then would move again.



Oh dear god, I hope she's not like this for 5-6 weeks!!! neither of us slept much last night. She would finally fall asleep, then 30-40 minutes later, wake up fussing...then I would hold her & settle her down, then she would hug her bear and go to sleep again. We did this until after 1am when she finally fell asleep for good, but I slept in her room to keep an eye on her and she shuffled a lot, waking up a little then putting herself back to sleep. She is still chewing her fingers, drooling a ton and being really pissy today. She wouldn't take a morning nap for DH, slept maybe 30 minutes. This is the first time in like 4 months she has not taken at least a 90 minute morning nap. I had a traffic court date this morning so DH watched her. I got home at 1pm and FINALLY got her down for a nap from 3-4pm. One hour, not great but better than nothing. It's been weird since last Wednesday when we had our 3 hour marathon getting her to sleep. She will sleep great one night, crappy the next..literally every other night.

Now I'm not sure if I want to take her to our Parent Tot swim night since she has had such bad napping today and been so cranky. I guess it can't make it much worse, and just might tucker her out enough that she goes to sleep. We did PT Swim on Monday and she went out like a light at 8:30 without a peep until morning. It's hard to have a good sleeper go to crap. I'm sooo stressed out listening for her to wake up I even get shaky and it makes it hard for me to get to sleep. I much preferred her predictable newborn 11pm, 2am, 5am schedule to this. At least I knew what to expect. I feel like I'm dealing with schitzophrenic baby right now. At least I'm pretty sure it's the teeth so I can at least console myself that there is a reason she's being so weird lately.

[Bucktown]

Tracy~ My experience with DS and teeth, once they broke thru the gums the irritability was gone. It was cutting thru that was bad. I kmow it's past tense now but I would have brought her to swim class. Change of scenery might do her some good!

*** just re-read some prior posts.... Yes, it can take a long time to break thru. Sorry hon! Just wait till those 1 yr molars start to come in. Holy Crap were they brutal for us!

[Jess71903]

Oh dear god, I hope she's not like this for 5-6 weeks!!!

Gage has had the beginnings of a tooth for 4 MONTHS now, no kidding! He'll fuss and sleep like crap and chew for a few days, then he's fine, but still no tooth.

I much preferred her predictable newborn 11pm, 2am, 5am schedule to this. At least I knew what to expect. I feel like I'm dealing with schitzophrenic baby right now. At least I'm pretty sure it's the teeth so I can at least console myself that there is a reason she's being so weird lately.

ME TOO! I think it's harder when you have a good sleeper for a little while (for us it was 2 or 3 months) then they quit for no good reason!

[Boskie]

Tracy - I hope she slept better for you last night!

Olivia has a cold and her sleep has been crap all week as well. Last night was a BIT better, she only got up 2 times, instead of 3, so maybe tonight she'll only get up once. I can hope anyway!

[TracyDP]

Thanks for all your commiseration with teething :) It helps to have "those that have gone before" to give a little perspective.

We actually did go to the Parent Tot swim class, I figured it wan't going to make it worse and might tucker her out enough to sleep OK. She loved it. We got home from class and I gave her a bath, and gave her last bottle. She fell asleep in my lap at about 8pm and went down without a fuss. She woke up at 12am and DH went in, quieted her down and she went back to sleep. I slept through it. She woke up again at 5am, DH changed her diaper but she wouldn't go back to sleep so I gave her a 4oz bottle (normally I wouldn't, but I realized I hadn't given her any solids the evening before so she was probably pretty hungry) and she went right back to sleep until 8:30.

That said, WE HAVE TEETH! Apperantly she doesn't get fussy until the teeth are right on the verge, so THANK GOD I don't have to put up with this for weeks on end! I was at Gymboree today at the mall and I looked at her from upside down over the top of the stroller, and she smiled really big and I saw two clearish teeth poking through her bottom gums. Looks like both came in at almost the same time. This might explain the extreme mood swings and sleeping patterns of the past week :eek: Not just one tooth but BOTH teeth at once. I was looking at her gums yesterday but mostly just from the front and they were red and white and sore looking, but the teeth could have been poking through and I just didn't notice from that angle. Today I can feel them though, rough little lines on her gums. She was in such a better mood today that I can tell she feels better. :) She went down at 7:40 tonight, it's 8:25 and so far she's still asleep. Hopefully with the teeth out she will be able to stay asleep and get back into her routine...until the next one...:rolleyes:

[Boskie]

Poor thing, getting two at the same time! So far, Olivia has just the two and they came in about a week apart.

[TracyDP]

Poor thing, getting two at the same time! So far, Olivia has just the two and they came in about a week apart.

Yeah, it couldn't have been comfortable to get them both but in the end I'm glad I only had to do it once for both teeth. Just getting it over with is nice. I would be willing to go through a week like that again if it meant getting both top teeth together too. We will see what happens.

[emschwar]

We're stuck in teething hell here. Daniel is working on both his top front teeth, and he's absolutely miserable. He's sleeping like crap, he's whiney all day long, so the rest of us are all pretty damn miserable too. Man, I can't wait until these teeth break through!!!

[hmbay]

we have teething and cold/ear infection hell here thanks to my stupid SIL's who can't keep their sick kids home from family b-day parties. I'm extremely PO'd about this because _I_ also got sick and ran a 102 temp the last two days while trying to take care of a sick 8 month old who only wanted mommy and refused to sleep. I wish my d*mn SIL's would keep their kids home if they are sick. I see them enough times in a month (we get together for every little darn thing in DH's family and there are 14 cousins so we get together several times a month) that honestly if you aren't healthy stay home or at least warn the rest of us so we can stay home if we want to.

anyway on the same rant I just got off the phone with my insurance--I got charged a double-copay on my last WBV. Seems since I asked about the patch of eczema behind her knee they "diagnosed" her to write out a prescription so I got charged for the "diagnoses" as well as the "WBV" to the tune of a double-copay. But if I'd brought her in for say an ear infection (like I did this week) and asked about the rash then I would have only paid one co-pay because it's a "diagnoses" copay. I've never heard something so ridiculous and meant to rip you off in my entire freaking life. Good lord I didn't take two time slots and I didn't make someone update her chart twice so why the h*ll do I have to pay a double-fee???

sorry for the rant here but I'm a bit crabby today (still not feeling well but had to go into work since I was out for two days).

[Bucktown]

Tracy~ Congrats on the teeth!

Em~ Sorry to hear Daniel is giving you so much trouble.

Hmbay~ (((hugs)))). Sounds really rough over at your house now. I hope it gets better soon.


E/I~ I have learned my lesson the hard way with this one and should there be a 3rd DC I will not make the same mistake. I put in a call to E/I to get Anna evaluated for physical therapy. :( I'm so sad about it, mad at myself, and some other things I can't verbalize yet. She is not rolling over on her own. She will roll from back to front in her crib only but I am pretty positive that she is using the crib bars to get herself over. She cannot get back onto her back from the tummy position.. She can't get on all fours either. Heck, she can barely get her chest off the ground.

I feel horrible for not doing TT more deligently with her but she would scream & scream & scream I just couldn't bare to listen to it. I also remember that DS was exactly the same way and he just started crawling on his own at 6 months. I know I shouldn't compare the 2 but I really didn't think much of it. Even now, knowing she HAS to be on her belly, I forget to do it! I am completely ripping her off developmentally. And on that note:

Happy Mother's Day! A day early but not sure if I'll be back on before then. :)

[Jess71903]

Don't beat yourself up, Bucktown. We moms do what we have to do to survive. You are getting her evaluated. You are doing the best thing for her right now. These kids do really well to catch up quickly when it's caught early like that. You will probably feel better about it when she gets into it, but I know it's hard now. It's different because we knew this was coming since he has been here, but Gage is getting evaluated for PT Tuesday. We can compare stories! I know those feelings of guilt well. PM me if you need somebody to talk to about it. ((HUGS))

[emschwar]

Bucktown - Daniel can't get on all fours either. He can't really roll from belly to back either. He used to be able to, but he's forgotten, and now he just (repeatedly) rolls to his tummy, gets pissed off, and puts his head down and cries until I rescue him. I've tried leaving him for a while to see if he'll figure it out if he's frustrated, but he doesn't. He just cries. I've been wondering if I should call EI about it, but I'm not all that worried yet. Noah was really delayed in his motor skills (he didn't walk until 19 months) and he's fine now.

[DisneyGirl]

I have not posted in the new thread yet..LOL Wooops! Hi-everyone! I have lots to catch up on.

K does not roll over at-all nor does he get up on all 4's. yet hes one of the oldest in our group. At what point should Ii be worried?? Any ideas?

Heather Thats such bullcrap that you are getting changed a double co-pay. Thats the weirdest thing i have ever heard. How much are your co-pays?

teeth K has 2

HAPPY MOTHER'S DAY!!!!!!

[sabrespa]

When we went to Zach's 4 month wbv he was behind on a lot of stuff and the ped wanted him to get evaluated, but I wanted to put it off until the next wbv. Sure enough he caught up and was even a bit ahead at his 6 month wbv.

That said, I say follow your instincts. When Anthony was a baby I KNEW something was wrong but the ped (a different ped then I have now) insisted that he was just spoiled. Now he has all sorts of issues that I could have started working on when he was a lot younger.

Happy Mother's Day!

[DisneyGirl]

I really have no idea if i should be worried or not. Part of me is a bit worried since both my kids by 8 monthes were crawling 100 miles per hr and her K is not rolling over or getting in the crawling position. With that the other part of me things ahh its no big deal...he can sit up on his own with no problem, he grabs things and put it in his mouth, he can put his pacifier in his mouth when he needs it, he has been holding his own bottle and able to put it in his mouth on his own since 5 months, he can follow objects, and responds to his name, laughes out loud all the time...so, with all the things he can do thats why part of me thinks there is nothing wrong with him...he goes to the drs soon for his 9 month visit.

[hmbay]

Sabrina isn't pushing up really or crawling. She did spin around today on her tummy and slide back about 2 inches. I figure she is further ahead on a lot of fine motor skills than the boys were at this point so I figure she's been focusing on that and not on the gross motor skills at this point. I'm not concerned yet but might get there in another month if she's not trying yet.

[Bucktown]

Wow, I didn't realize so many of our babies were not 'almost' there yet. It seemed like everytime I read here someone's babies is so close to crawling. I may just wait then till she turns 8 mos on the 21st. I'll talk to the service coordinator when she calls.

We have made some progress on tummy time though. Since I posted I've been more deligent on getting her on her belly. After naps is the best time and we are up to 15-20 minute intervals. She whines and complains the entire time but I just keep giving her new toys to try out. I've also been putting them up in the air forcing her to reach up rather than out. She's getting her chest off the ground!

Thanks to those who have posted about their babies in similar developmental stages. I can relax alittle now! ;)

[TracyDP]

I hope everyone had a happy mothers day! I sure did :D I got to spend the weekend NOT being Mom. DH and I left DD for her first overnighter since she was 3m old and went to the coast overnight Saturday. DD stayed with my BF who watches her every other Saturday and it went great. After leaving her Sat morning I didn't call until Sunday morning. I didn't want to know if things were not going well because it would just bum me out and keep me from really enjoying the time off. I trust BF completely and she had both mine and DH's phone numbers so I figured if it was too bad she'd call.

We went out to a fantastic dinner at a seafood cafe' then went to the casino and played blackjack with some of our government blood money. We were winging it w/o a reservation and ended up with a queen suite with a main room and separate bedroom both with queen beds. SO, one of the best parts of the weekend to me was that after some quality time together, I went into the extra bedroom, closed the dark curtains put in my earplugs and slept for 9 hours straight w/o interruption, snoring, bumping into each other or anything :D DH was able to stay up a while, watch TV use the computer and listen to the ocean while I slept, and he got up earlier than me and packed most of the stuff up and I just kept sleeping. It was the perfect mothers day present.

DD did great while we were gone, she slept 12 hours straight and aside from looking around occasionally and going mumumumumum she didn't seem to really notice I was gone.

Development: This is such a hard thing since every baby is SO different and there is a HUGE range of 'normal'. I think its even harder when you have previous children to compare them too. FWIW I hardly ever did tummy time with Ellie and always felt bad about it, but once she figured out how to go from her back to her tummy she did it all the time, but it did take her longer to figure out tummy to back. Still no "crawling" here, just the combat crawl/hop. She may never do traditional crawling, we'll just have to see. She is not pulling herself up on anything yet. Mumumum is our only actual "word" so far. I need to make her 9m appointment soon. Geeze, our babies are growing up so fast!!!

[Taurus]

drive-by post:
N is not crawling either and after my experience with PT and DS1, the only thing I am concerned with is that when on tummy he is is getting up on fully extended arms. and he is.

ETA: Sorry, sick toddler here so I only had a second to post. I've learned from the PT we saw that the important developmental aspects of crawling (which is an important step for them to take at some point) are pushing up on extended arms (strengthening the trunk muscles), bearing weight on hands and arms, etc. These are the building blocks/stepping stones to other things, so I am not concerned with when DS2 "crawls" so long as he is "getting there" by getting himself up off the ground.

[DisneyGirl]

Tracy Thats so awesome that you had a nice weekend alone with your DH. I am in the pricess of planning a 4 night trip with just my DH to Vegas. I really need sometime to just be a wife and let someone else have the kids..I have never done such a thing, but I really think I need it.

[jjohm]

alex is crawling and has been for a few weeks now. he also pulls up to a stand.
however, when i give him his cheerios or gerber puffs, he grabs them with his fist, then proceeds to suck on his whole hand. it's really cute to watch!
our diaper changes have turned to wrestling matches.

[hmbay]

Disney--you will be amazed how much you miss the kids. DH and I went to Banff a couple years ago (when we only had 2) since I won a free trip via my work and spent 5 days away from them (first time spending more than a night) and we missed them like crazy--they, however, never even wanted to talk to us when we called my parents to check on us. ;) Vegas sounds fun though--I need to get back there again--it's been years since I went. Oh and I think you asked before--my copays are $20.

[TracyDP]

alex is crawling and has been for a few weeks now. he also pulls up to a stand.

I just read an article in a parenting magazine, forget which one, that talked about late crawlers being earlier walkers and early crawlers tending to be later walkers. The reason seems to make sense, good crawlers get around fine and see no big hurry to start walking, but frustrated non-crawlers start walking since they are not getting around crawling. My cousin-in-law has a boy that just turned 1yr last week and he has been crawling like a champ since about 9m and cruising furniture, but just has NO interest in actually letting go and walking. When he gets to the end of the couch he just falls down and starts crawling. My cousin just figures eventually he'll get it. Of course as always YMMV.

however, when i give him his cheerios or gerber puffs, he grabs them with his fist, then proceeds to suck on his whole hand. it's really cute to watch!

DD LOVES puffs and cheerios! She also does the fist thing. She knows they go in her mouth but just can't quite figure out how to get them in there. She has gotten the hang of the chewing thing so I really need to get on the ball with finger foods. We are making stiry fry tonight so I am going to make her a little pile of cut up rice noodles and see what she thinks of them. Maybe do a few little chunks of chicken too. I also have some of the gerber chicken sticks I thought of bringing out. I bought them after my surgery for quick, easily digestible protein snacks for me (I'm weird and have liked the chicken sticks since I was a kid) but have 4 jars leftover.

our diaper changes have turned to wrestling matches.

Same here. It's like trying to put a diaper on a squid. I use an Elmos World cell phone to keep her occupied and it usually works pretty good.

Swimming: Has anyone taken DC out in the pool yet? We signed up for a Parent Tot swim "class" and DD LOVES IT!! She is really a little fishy, hardly notices when we dip her under water or pour water over her head during baths. She kicks her little legs like a duck, all calm on the surface but kicking furiously underneath. She particularly likes to flirt with this one little boy about 1yr old that is at the class. She laughes and flaps her arms as soon as she sees him, and he gets all shy and hides against his dad when he sees her. It's so cute! Probably not so cute when she's 13 and running after all the shy boys...:p

Tracy Thats so awesome that you had a nice weekend alone with your DH. I am in the pricess of planning a 4 night trip with just my DH to Vegas. I really need sometime to just be a wife and let someone else have the kids..I have never done such a thing, but I really think I need it.

You won't regret it. My biggest piece of advice is, don't call home! Check your messages and assume that if you don't hear from their caregiver that everything is okey dokey. We are talking to Grandma and BF and are hoping to arrange 1 weekend a month off either with BF watching her here so we can get out of town, or sending her to grandmas so we can enjoy the house alone. Go see the Beatles "Love" show if you can, it's FANTASTIC! Well worth the money. Even better if you and DH drink one of the 32oz strong mixed drinks they sell in the souvenier cup. Being able to walk back to your hotel is the best thing ever!

[Jess71903]

development- I agree- kids develop at different rates. It's worth asking your ped about it if you're concerned. Speaking of development- Gage goes for his PT eval tomorrow. I'm kind of excited! I think he'll think it's fun. That's why I went into pediatric therapy. It's basically all playing!

swimming- Gage went once a couple of months ago at an indoor hotel pool. He thought it was okay. I think he might have liked it better if there hadn't been loud, splashy kids there. We may be going with DH to another job thing OOT in the next couple of days, then we're going to FL with my cousin and family in a couple of weeks, so he'll have plenty of opportunity!

*Do any of your DC fake cough? Gage has been doing this for several days now. It's so put on. So funny. It may have started as a real cough, but he does it constantly now.

[Bucktown]

Wow Tracy! That was awesome! The only Mother's Day gift I got was a burger from my favorite food place (Portillo's Beef). I bet it would have been fantastic if DH wasn't trying to carry DS and all the other stuff. My hamburger presented itself to me all over the front walkway. Every single aspect of the burger touching the ground completely. I wish I got a picture of it.

Unfortunately, the nearest one is downtown and traffic has been a b!tch here so I decided to forgo a replacement burger :)


Ear Infection~ I just knew something was up this time with DD. She has an ear infection. Guess it got pretty bad but her only symptom was frequent nightwakings and those weren't even that bad. She was generally happy during the day, ate normally, kinda would touch her ear but not pull it. Naps went to crap but I figured it was a phase. Only 1 dose of antibiotics + tylenol and she's on her second nap, first was 1.45 hrs this one will probably be an hour.

[Amuse Bouche]

I signed Madeleine up for swimming lessons starting June 1. She LOVES water and other babies, so I figure it will be a blast for her. Me in a swimsuit - not so fun, but what can you do?

M has started army crawling, but she really wants to stand up, which results in a downward facing dog position all the time. She also does a cheesygrin every time she sees the camera. She totally poses and is SUCH a ham.

[TracyDP]

M has started army crawling, but she really wants to stand up, which results in a downward facing dog position all the time.

DD does this too! She does a perfect downward facing dog and plank (push up) position. Right now she is working on going from horizontal to sitting, but just can't quite figure out how to get from sitting sideways leaning over on one hand to sitting.

[DisneyGirl]

*Do any of your DC fake cough? Gage has been doing this for several days now. It's so put on. So funny. It may have started as a real cough, but he does it constantly now.

Oh yeah, K does this very often. He mostly does it when were are in the stores and he wants people to pay attention to him.

[TracyDP]

Someone in this group asked me a while back about the Baby Bjorn little potty and possibly wanting to start their DC using one. I completely forgot who it was...

Just an update on that...it's going great! DD has pooped in the potty 12 out of 14 days now :eek: Pretty crazy at 8m old, but I can't believe it is all coincidence when it happens that often. I just put her on it after each diaper change and if she pees or poops I clap and sing "yay for peeing/pooping on the potty!" She smiles really big and flaps her arms. She digs it, like it makes her feel like a big girl. I have noticed that the pooping is always either the diaper change before her morning nap, or the diaper change after it. This is roughly the same time she used to poop in her diaper so it might be coincidental, but I think she has to know that sitting on the potty means time to pee/poo otherwise I would think she would poop in her diaper more often. She also toots almost every time I put her on it. I think maybe the human body knows that squating position is meant for evacuation....

Anyway, I am hoping the end result of all this will be easy potty training once she is old enough to really be aware of needing to go. She will already be used to going in the potty so the only change will be using a potty seat on the real toilet. We are using cloth diapers at home too which will also help I think. The best thing is that it is SOOO easy! I only do it when I diaper change, or if I catch her making the poopy grunt and have time to scoop her up and take her in there. But even that has not happened in a long time, she just does it on the potty without any prior "warning".

[emschwar]

Tracy, that reminds me. If anyone h