December 08 and January 09 Mommies - Starting the new year with new babies

[january2009moms]

December 2008 and January 2009
Mommies and Babies

Welcome to our new thread!

To join please post the following:

Username:
Me: Name, age
DH: Name, age
Married:
Other Children:
Baby’s Name:
Baby’s Birth Date:
Baby’s Birth Stats:


We invite you to share a photo of your new arrival for our photo section!

Please post updates in red for ease of finding! If we can't see it, we can't add it.

*Thanks to all the previous Infant threads for helping with thread layout and links!*

[january2009moms]

December Mommies Previous Threads

First Trimester Thread (http://www.constantchatter.com/forum/showthread.php?t=40893)

Second Trimester Thread (http://www.constantchatter.com/forum/showthread.php?t=41958)

Third Trimester Thread (http://www.constantchatter.com/forum/showthread.php?t=43349)


January Mommies Previous Threads


First Trimester Thread (http://www.constantchatter.com/forum/showthread.php?t=41280)

Second Trimester Thread (http://www.constantchatter.com/forum/showthread.php?t=42343)

Third Trimester Thread (http://www.constantchatter.com/forum/showthread.php?t=43814)

[january2009moms]

Mommies

Ade
Me: Ade, 32
DH: C, 32
Married: 08/02
Other children: DS - 10/06
Baby’s Name – Evander
Baby’s Birth date – 1/12/2008 at 4:41am
Baby’s Birth Stats – 6lbs 13oz and 20 inches long

A-lo
Me: Amanda, 31
DH: J, 31
Married: 8/02
Other children: DS 2/06
Baby’s Name - Anastasia Renee
Baby’s Birth Date - 12/10, 8:38 PM
Baby’s Birth Stats - 8lbs 13oz and 20"


aprilshowers
Me: 34
DH/Significant Other: 33
Married: 4/2003
Other children: DD, 2/2006
Baby’s Name – DD2
Baby’s Birth date – 1/17/2009 at 3:47am

Cactus
Me: A, 32
DH: S, 31
Married: 8/05
Other children: just a dog whose life is about to get a little more crowded
Baby’s Name - Leo Aaron
Baby’s Birth Date - 12/5/08, 1:25am
Baby’s Birth Stats - 7lbs and 20 inches long

cherry
Me: 32
DH: 33
Other children: DS, almost 8 mos
Baby’s Name - Orla
Baby’s Birth Date - 12/29 at 5:44pm
Baby’s Birth Stats - 6lbs, 13 oz and 19.75"


dancn226
Me: 28
DH/Significant Other: Chris 30
Married: 07/03/05
Other children: this will be our 1st
Baby’s Name – Tristan Matthew
Baby’s Birth date – 1/18/2009 at 7:47pm

DS2003
Me: Carla, 30 (Oct 15)
DH: N, 34
Married: 11.08.03
Other children: Noah (06.12.06)
Baby’s Name - Jai Elias
Baby’s Birth Date - 1/6 at 8:31am
Baby’s Birth Stats - 8lbs, 13ozs and 20.5"

Eight
Me: Jane, 35
DH: Jim, 34
Married:12.03.05
Other children: the four-footed variety (Marvin the Dog and Mookie the Cat)
Baby’s Name - Maxwell James
Baby’s Birth Date - 1/4 at 5:07pm
Baby’s Birth Stats - 6.34lbs and 20"

Elenitsa
Me: Lena, 33
DH: V, 43
Married: 1/04
Other children: DD 3/06

ellebelle
Me: 29
DH: 36
Married: June 21, 2003
Other children: DD, 07-19-06
Baby’s Name – Jackson
Baby’s Birth date – 1/12/09 at 5:25am
Baby’s Birth Stats – 7lbs 9oz and 19 1/2 inches long

GardenGirl
Me: 29
DH: 36
Married: August 2003
Other children: DS, 1-8-07
Baby’s Name – Cole Aaron
Baby’s Birth date – 1/13/2009 at 9:52am
Baby’s Birth Stats – 6 lb 10.5 oz and 19 ½ inches long

Ilovemygeek
Me: Rachel, 25
DH: Trevor, 25
Married: 6/8/02
Other children: Daria, 17 months
Baby’s Name - Violet Allegra
Baby’s Birth Date - 12/14 at 11:02am

Ilovemysoldier812
Me: Shawna, 20
DH: Eric, 21
Married:5/12/07
Other children: just our yellow lab and pug
Baby’s Name - Owen Nicholas
Baby’s Birth Date - 12/23 at 8:12am
Baby’s Birth Stats - 8lbs, 9ozs and 22"

IzzyJune2006
Me: Izzy, 35
DH/Signicant Other: J, 29
Married:08/20/2005
Other children: Annabelle, almost 2
Baby’s Name - Josephine Claire
Birth Date - November 25, 12:30 AM
Birth Stats - 7.5 lbs and 21"

J&K2003
Me: J, 30
DH: K, 34
Married: 7/03
Other children: DD 1/06

JackieO
Me: Jackie, 30
DH/Signicant Other: DH, 34
Married: 10/26/02
Other children - DD -3/14/05
Baby’s Name – Lauren Dianne
Baby’s Birth date – 12/30/2008
Baby’s Birth Stats – 8lbs 14 oz and 21 inches long

jenjen0713
Me: 35
DH/Significant Other: DH, 39
Married: 11/27/04
Other children: DS #1 10/6/05 DS #2 2/17/07
Baby’s Name – DS #3
Baby’s Birth date – 1/10/2009 at 2:41pm
Baby’s Birth Stats – 8lbs 3 oz and 20 inches long

JessicaT
Me: Jessica, 30
DH/Significant Other: Hub, 30
Married: 10/03
Other children: none! first pregnancy
Baby’s Name - Calla Margaret
Baby’s Birth Date - 1/1/09

Lawyerwifemom
Me: Heather, 40
DH/Signicant Other: Rich, 39
Married: April 2001
Other children: Rachel (5), Wyatt (3) and Meredith (21m)
Baby’s Name - Hadley Grace
Baby’s Birth Date - 12/5/08, 2:50am
Baby’s Birth Stats - 7lbs 8oz and 20.5�

Leannalam
Me: Leanna, 28 (31st Dec)
DH: Andy, 28
Married: 16 April 2006
Other children: A gorgeous white Siberian Husky, Cosmo
Baby’s Name - Keagan Liam
Baby’s Birth Date - 12/22 at 10:40pm
Baby’s Birth Stats - 7lbs, 4ozs and 19"

LKMang
Me: Lauren, 30
DH/Signicant Other: Ed, 30
Married: May 2002
Other children: a spoiled dachshund
Baby’s Name - Bradley William
Baby’s Birth Date - 12/11 at 11:01pm
Baby’s Birth Stats - 6lbs, 6oz and was 19"

luvalwayMandy
Me: Mandy; 24
DH/Signicant Other: Ross; 26
Married: YES (11-06-04)
Other children: Paige (5-25-04) Hunter (10-17-05)
Baby’s Name - Callie Lynn
Baby’s Birth Date - 12/15 at 5:52am
Baby’s Birth Stats - 8lbs and 20"

maplekitty
Me: Sarah, 27
DH/Significant Other: DH Curt, 30
Married: 08/27/05
Other children: DD Robyn Abigail 10/05/06
Baby’s Name – Oliver "Ollie" Ronald
Baby’s Birth date – 12/18/2008 at 2:29am
Baby’s Birth Stats – 7lbs 12 oz and 20 inches long

mauibride1
Me: K, 38
DH: C, 36
Married: 2/19/03
Other children: DS, 2, conceived via clomid/IUI
Baby’s Name - Amelia Marlys
Baby’s Birth Date - 12/15 at 10:36pm
Baby’s Birth Stats - 5lbs, 7ozs

Megs100105
Me: 25
DH/Significant Other: 32
Married: 10/1/05
Other children: nope
Baby’s Name – Grayson Parker
Baby’s Birth date – 1/16/2009
Baby’s Birth Stats – 7lbs 4oz

mmeblue
Me: Amanda, 27
DH/Significant Other: Derek, 29
Married: 12/21/02
Other children: this is our first
Baby’s Name – Clara Katherine
Baby’s Birth date – 1/25/2009 at 7:30pm
Baby’s Birth Stats – 8lbs 10oz and 20.5 inches long

Motray36
Me: Tracy, 28
DH/Significant Other: Keith, 27
Married: 6/24/04
Other children: just a lab and cat!
Baby’s Name - Chase Robert
Baby’s Birth Date - 12/11 at 12:27 pm
Baby’s Birth Stats - 8lbs, 14 oz and was 21"

Mystikal
Me: Rachel, 28
DH/Signicant Other: Joe, 34
Married: 6/22/02
Finding out the gender?: undecided
Other children: Julia Edythe, 6/29/06
Baby’s Name - Reuben David
Baby’s Birth Date - 12/5/08, 8:06am
Baby’s Birth Stats - 9lbs 3oz and 21 1/4�

numberlady
Me: 34
DH/Significant Other: 46
Married: 5/18/02
Other children: none
Baby’s Name – Bryson James
Baby’s Birth date – 1/14/2009 at 11:56pm

PaisleySloan
Me: Michelle, 38
DH/Significant Other: Clint, 39
Married: 06/12/05
Other children: Two step-sons at prime babysitting age!
Baby’s Name – Elijah Thomas
Baby’s Birth date – 1/8/2009 at 3:32am
Baby’s Birth Stats – 8lbs 1.3 oz and 21 inches long

PG-Rated
Me: Angela, 32
DH: 31
Married: 4/03/2005
Other children: none
Baby’s Name - Samuel Wenceslaus
Baby’s Birth Date - 12/26 at 5:31am
Baby’s Birth Stats - 8lbs, 2ozs and 21.5"

Pookie861
Me: Heidi, 24
DH: Alessandro, 28
Other children: my cat Charlie and my husband Al
Baby’s Name – baby boy
Baby’s Birth date – 1/1/2009 at 5:55am
Baby’s Birth Stats – 5lbs 15oz

portlandbride
Me: B, 34
DH/Signicant Other: P, 32
Married: 9.16.01
Other children: DD1 - 5.12.05, DD2 - 9.24.06

rubyslippers
Me: Heather, 35 (10/01)
DH/Significant Other: Kurt, 34
Married:10/15/06
Other children:this is number 1
Baby’s Name - Jacob Michael
Baby’s Birth Date - 11/25/08, 6:32pm.
Baby’s Birth Stats - 9lbs. 8 oz

smellycatsgirl
Me: Jen, 27
DH: Michael, 27
Married: December 14, 2002
Other children: One angel baby January 14, 2008 and our furbabies
Baby’s Name: Ariana Grace
Baby’s Birth Date: 12/23/08, 12:42pm
Baby’s Birth Stats: 6lbs 3 oz, 18.25 in

springprincess
Me: 26 (August 10-almost 27!)
DH/Signicant Other: 25
Married: April 8, 2006
Other children: This is our first

traciann
Me: traci, 33
DH/Signicant Other: t, 38
Married:11/23/2002
Other children: DD, 3

tunibell
Me: Jessika, 33
DH/Significant Other: Peter, 31
Married: 6/12/04
Other children: Piper, 3/4/06
Baby’s Name – Natalie Bryna
Baby’s Birth date – 1/18/2009
Baby’s Birth Stats – 6lbs 13oz

Forever in our thoughts:
wideopenskies, Graffy, chimichanga, Melissalovespugs, fats, hokiegirl, Dan's*Girl

[january2009moms]

Pictures and Birth Stats
(not fully updated with Dec mommies yet)

Maplekitty
Ollie
12.18 at 2:29am
7lbs 12 oz and 20 inches long
http://i36.photobucket.com/albums/e29/maplekitty/Oliver%20Ronald%20Watts/DSCF3657.jpg?

JackieO
Lauren Dianne
12.30 at 8:54am
8lbs 14 oz and 21 inches long

Pookie861
baby boy
01.01 at 5:55am
5lbs 15oz

JenJen0713
DS #3
01.10 at 2:41pm
8lbs 3 oz and 20 inches long

PaisleySloan
elijah thomas
01.08 at 3:32am
8lbs 1.3 oz and 21 inches long

ellebelle
Jackson
01.12 at 5:25am
7lbs 9oz and 19 1/2 inches long

Ade
Evander
01.12 at 4:14am
6lbs 13oz and 20 inches long
http://photos-c.ak.fbcdn.net/photos-ak-sf2p/v644/190/49/1509679960/n1509679960_150834_9727.jpg

GardenGirl
Cole Aaron
01.13 at 9:52am
http://i78.photobucket.com/albums/j99/terashelton/1-17-09005.jpg

Tunibell
Natalie Bryna
01.18
6lbs 13oz
http://farm4.static.flickr.com/3482/3207859699_0bf1a26b0b.jpg?v=0

meg100105
Grayson Parker
01.16
7lbs 4oz
http://i22.photobucket.com/albums/b316/megs100105/Grayson/IMG_8097-1.jpg?t=1232329007

[january2009moms]

Pictures and Birth Stats Continued
(not fully updated with Dec mommies yet)

numberlady
Bryson James
01.14 at 11:56pm

aprilshowers
DD2
01.17 at 3:47am

dancn226
Tristan Matthew
01.18 at 7:47pm

mmeblue
Clara Katherine
01.25 at 7:30pm
8lbs 10oz and 20.5 inches long

[january2009moms]

Reserved for Pictures

[january2009moms]

Reserved for More Pictures

[january2009moms]

Open for Posting!

Please note that I haven't updated all the December mommies into the Pictures and Birth Stats, but will soon.

Also, there is some missing information and/or I could have made mistakes. So if you need or want anything updated, please post it in RED and one of the TMs can update it.

Now let's get started ...

[january2009moms]

I think I'll leave one more post reserved in case we have more pictures ...

[ellebelle]

Thank you so much GardenGirl for getting this started! The thread looks great! :)

Things are going pretty well here. DS is sleeping in about 4-5 hour stretches at night. His umbilical cord is still hanging on. I think we'll need to take him back in to see the ped on Tuesday for another dose of silver nitrate.

Tummy time/rolling over - I've had DS do tummy time just about every day since we've been home, but he hates it so much. At three weeks old he decided to start rolling over on his back when ever I put him on his tummy. I keep telling him he's way to young to be rolling over!

I hope everyone is doing well. I'm looking forward to meeting the December mommies!

[smellycatsgirl]

Well, I guess I didn't get the birth story posted in time for the old thread. But I do have it written out on my laptop and will post it soon.

smellycatsgirl
Me: Jen, 27
DH: Michael, 28
Married: December 14, 2002
Other children: One angel baby January 14, 2008 and our furbabies
Baby’s Name: Ariana Grace
Baby’s Birth Date: 12/23/08, 12:42pm
Baby’s Birth Stats: 6lbs 3 oz, 18.25 in

[january2009moms]

Updated to here

[LKMang]

Woohoo, new thread!!! It looks great! Thank you GardenGirl! Please let me know if you need help with anything!

Just though I would add a couple picture of Bradley

1 day old
http://i332.photobucket.com/albums/m351/lkmang/bradley1.jpg?t=1229306921

last week at 7 weeks old
http://i332.photobucket.com/albums/m351/lkmang/bradsmile.jpg?t=1234143296

smellycatsgirl – can’t wait to hear your birth story!

ellebelle – wow, you are getting some good sleep at night. My DS also hates tummy time and is getting closer and closer to rolling over. I let him play with his activity gym before I do tummy time cause it usually ends up with tears.

I’m so excited to meet the January mommies (& babies)!

[cactus]

Hi ladies!

Here's Leo, for those of you who haven't seen his cute little mug before...

http://images2c.snapfish.com/232323232%7Ffp53646%3Enu%3D3388%3E2%3B8%3E%3A%3A%3 B%3EWSNRCG%3D323%3A438388%3A49nu0mrj

He's doing great, overall...sleeping at night is the biggest challenge. It's hard for me to imagine a time when we'll be sleeping for more than 3 hours at a stretch. I know it's not forever, but just like with that brand-new-newborn stage, it just feels like it is.

eating: kid eats like a champ. We did have some problems with my overactive letdown/oversupply at a couple of weeks old resulting in extreme fussiness and green poops (ew!) but we went to one breast per feeding and it has worked great for the most part. Leo is gaining great--from a birth weight of 7 pounds he's up over 13 now (though those are my unofficial measurements on a baby scale; he won't have his 2 month WBV for another couple of weeks because his ped is on vacation). I'm also going back to work at the beginning of April so I have been working on my freezer stash--I think I have around 80-90 oz. stored already, so that's good.

sleeping: like I said, a challenge. I don't know how to go about getting him to go for longer stretches at night--we honestly haven't seen much if any improvement in this department from when he was a teeny 1 week old. So that sucks. He's in his bassinet right now and sometimes we put him in the swing after a couple of night feedings just so we can get a little more rest ourselves. I'm hoping to move him to his crib in the next week or so. He is a decent napper during the day, though he naps pretty much exclusively in the swing or in the Ergo.

fun stuff/general demeanor: SO much less fussy than he was a month ago! And for that I am eternally grateful. I still wouldn't call him an easy baby, but he's improved so much and gotten much much happier, which leads to happier parents. He started smiling at around 5 weeks, with frequency at around 7 weeks, and he's cooing and playing up a storm now at 9 weeks. Oh, and he's also super active and coordinated--great head control and he rolls over from tummy to back.

Soo...anyone want to talk about nighttime sleep? What works for you?

Also, anyone have any cute little "games" that you like to do with your babies? Leo loves to have tummy time on the exercise ball--I hold his hands and sort of roll him away from me and back again. It's super cute.

Looking forward to hanging out with all you moms and babies!

[Ilovemysoldier812]

yay for a new thread! Looking forward to meeting all the january mommies.


Lkmang and ellebelle- Owen hates tummy time too.

Cactus- I love all Leo's hair.


Sleep- Owen is STTN. He is a horrible napper so all he does is eat all day. Anyone have any tips on getting him to nap during the day. I've tried everything! Cactus, I have no tips on the the night time sleeping. I just nurse him in my bed then when he's done I put him in his bassinet and he looks around for about 20 minutes or so then he's out.

http://i326.photobucket.com/albums/k425/shawna812812/Picture019.jpg

[numberlady]

Thanks for the new thread. Here is a couple week old picture of Bryson, his cheeks are chubbier since this picture.http://farm4.static.flickr.com/3116/3267084210_fd1efc9f6b_m.jpg

I look forward to getting to know the December mommies.

DS will only sleep about 3-4 hours at a time at night, usually that is after a 45 minute feeding and 30 minutes of working him to sleep. I swear the kid fights sleep. I just hope that he ends up being a good sleeper despite the problems we are having now. He has gotten on somewhat of a schedule, thought, so I know when to expect him to wake up and sleep.

Everyone has such cute babies!

[motray36]

Just dropping by to say hi quickly....DS is stirring from a nap and I have some diapers to fold! Hopefully I'll have a minute to do some SO's later today, but for now, I look forward to meeting the Jan moms!

[meg100105]

Just wanted to pop in and say hi. Grayson is napping and I'm about to try to get some sleep myself.

Here is a picture from last week of my tiny little guy:

http://i22.photobucket.com/albums/b316/megs100105/Grayson/backwrinkles.jpg?t=1234216265

He's gotten a little bigger since then - but he's still teeny tiny.

sleep - We're getting about 3-4 hour stretches at night. But unfortunately, he's up for an hour or two in between. Last night he slept from 9 until 1 and then was up until 3 and then up again from 5-7. Oiy. I'm trying my best to keep him up during the day today, so we'll see how it goes.

numberlady - it sounds like our kids have a similar attitude towards sleep. :(
Cactus - I'm sorry lady. I wish I had some advice. But it's nice to see you over here.
Ilovemysoldier812 - sorry, I have no advice for you either. DS has NO problem napping. Usually I throw him in his swing so that I can have my hands to myself for a while.
LKMang - Bradley is too cute!

[smellycatsgirl]

I wanted to finally drop off some pics of our little angel.

Just minutes old in mama's arms...
http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v293/christiangrl32/Baby/helloworld.jpg

Christmas Eve with her present from the hospital Santa. A Ty beanie babie named "Grace" her middle name.
http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v293/christiangrl32/Baby/christmaseve.jpg

6 Weeks old in her bouncer
http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v293/christiangrl32/Baby/6weeks.jpg

Unhappy with the flash
http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v293/christiangrl32/Baby/arianahappyface.jpg

[MrsSpencer]

delurking to say to smellycatsgirl

That is the funniest/cutest pic I've seen EVER! lol! She's a doll baby!

[numberlady]

Meg - Sorry you are having sleep issues as well. I can deal with it during the day, but at night I am falling asleep while trying to get him to go to sleep. Last night he ended up falling asleep on my chest and I was so afraid to move him that we just slept like that.
smellycatsgirl - She has the cutest cheeks!

I have a question - How long did/have you continued to bleed? I am almost 4 weeks pp and I thought the bleeding was going to stop and then it picked back up a few days ago. It still is not that heavy, but is heavy enough that a pantyliner isn't enough. I had a c-section and am BF if that matters.

[maplekitty]

Hello ladies! Hello to the Jan mommies!!

Well Ollie will be 2 months old on thursday and I'm just so floored that time is flying by like this!! Wasn't he just born yesterday!?!?

I think I have to admit that I have a fussy baby on my hands. Maybe I was just really spoiled with DD, but oh boy this guy either is sleeping, eating, or crying because he wants to be eating!! I actually have an appnt today at a breastfeeding clinic, because I just have a feeling something isn't right! He spend over an hour nursing and still comes off the breast crying. He very rarely is "quiet awake", so therefor we havn't spent much time doing tummy time, or letting him lay and play because he's *always* crying! It makes thing very frustrating for me, because I have very little time for DD and more importantly, I have zero free time for ME - and it's crucial mommies, that we get time to ourselves to decompress, and relax and re-energize. I'm not getting any of that, and my mood is very sour, and I'm loosing my cool so easily with DD - I'm feeling horrible for that!!

sleeping: Ollie wakes at 2am and 6am to eat (but then DD is awake at 7am, around when he's finishing eating) so 7am is "wake up time". Then he goes back down for a "nap" at around 9am for maybe an hour or so. He eats, and then is back down for a long nap around 1pm for about 4-5 hours. He cluster feeds from 5-8pm, and then 8:30-9pm is "bedtime" and he sleeps for another 4-5 stretch.

eating: Ollie nurses A LOT!! I think this is due in part to a shallow latch, which I'm hoping the LC will help today. I usually give him a 2oz bottle of formula around 7-8pm because my boobs HURT by the end of the night. I don't really have time during the day to pump, what with DD. I think I'd probably be able to pump if I didn't have a toddler to also look after. But I'm not upset about the one bottle or the formula, since he takes it no problem. That also gives me the option of being able to go out without baby once in a while

http://i36.photobucket.com/albums/e29/maplekitty/Oliver%20Ronald%20Watts/IMG_7305.jpg?t=1234299705

[Ade]

We just had our 1 month WBV today. Evander is now 9lbs 1oz and 21 inches which is 2lbs 4oz and 1 inch up from his birth weight. He's falling between the 25th and 50th percentile for height and weight. Nursing is going well, but I have to keep my diet very clean or else he has crazy exorcist style projectile vomit. It's sad, it comes out of his mouth and nose and covers his face, gets in his eye and drenches me. The diet is okay to maintain for the most part, but little things keep betraying me like finding out that Target brand gummy worms contain soy, doh!

Sleep is okay, pretty much 3 hour stretches at night and he tends to wake up to nurse and then falls right back to sleep. We've only have a few rough nights where he has a hard time falling back to sleep. But, DH has moved into the guestroom during the week :(. For sleep issues I recommend both No Cry Sleep Solution and Healthy Sleep Habits books. Both helped immensely with DS1.

Vander's overall demeanor is pretty mellow. He does need to be held and doesn't like to left alone, so my arms do get tired. Also, he is pretty attached to me and I typically am the only one who can calm him down. But, he is easily consoleable and doesn't cry without reason. Definitely easier than DS1, but I'm not sure if that is due to a personality difference or figuring out the food allergies sooner.

DS1 is another story. He loves the baby dearly, but has become quite a handful. He has taken to hitting, kicking, spitting, yelling and throwing tantrums. Luckily, not toward the baby at all, but he's starting to really push my, DH and even his nanny's patience. We're really struggling with how to deal with him. Hopefully, this will pass soon.

I'm so jealous of those moms who have already lost all their pregnancy weight. Even with my dairy and soy free diet, I still have a little less than half left to lose. DH wants me to start doing a Crossfit class with him to lose the rest, but I'm still waiting for the pelvic muscles to heal. I had such an easy delivery, but am still having a hard time with the muscles in my lower abdominals, so want to wait until they are fully healed before taking on anything too strenuous. Of course, I could just stop eating candy and cookies at night too!

Okay, time to get some sleep! Hope everyone's doing well

[JackieO]

Hello Mommies! I'm excited to meet all the Dec. mommies - I ended up a Dec. mommy myself!

Lauren is now 6 weeks old and things here are good, although she has her first cold...she's so snotty and congested it's ridiculous. I feel bad because there's not much I can do for her. I've used the bulb thing on her which helps, but I think I'll call the ped. today to see what else I can do.
DD#1 wasn't sick with anythin until she was about 9 months old...guess this is what being born smack dab in the middle of winter does for ya! and having a sibling too!


As for sleeping, I'd love to say we're on a schedule and I guess we are - whatever Lauren feels like...she is doing really well, there's just no telling when she'll be waking up, napping, etc. At night she goes down between 9-9:30, and willwake anywhere form 4 to 6 hours later. LAst night was 6 hours, yay for me! She ate and was back down for another 3 hours. And right now she's asleep in her swing after only snacking on about 1.5 oz.

As for napping, more of the same. When we're going out she'll sometimes sleep in her carseat for up to 3 hours (it's usually from 10-1 for DD1's activities) then little catnaps until bedtime. If we're home it's really sporadic...like yesterday she didn't sleep longer than about 25 minutes at a time, for maybe 3-4 naps. Virtually impossible to get anything done-thankfully my mom stopped by and I had her feed/hold her for a while.

Ade - we went through a phase with DD who's almost 4, not tantrums but just needing constant attention...she even asked us at one point if we had to keep Lauren...she's gotten better but still has some weepy moments.The fact that it's still winter does not help at all! Hopefully your DS will adjust soon!

[JessicaT]

Hi, mamas! I am looking forward to meeting all of the Jan mamas, especially since I am actually a Jan mama myself. Baby Calla arrived on new year's day.

sleeping - this is actually going ok for us and I sort of don't want to jinx it. Calla goes down at around 7 or 8 and sleeps until 7 or 8, waking up twice, or sometimes once (!) to eat, eats for about 15 minutes and goes right back to sleep. I have actually been feeling somewhat rested the last couple of days which is nothing short of a miracle. Of course this will probably totally change by the end of the week but I am enjoying it right now.

naps - well this is another story altogether, she totally fights sleep during the day, gets really tired and then starts screaming, so that is tons of fun and I spend a lot of time trying to get her to nap. Ilovemysoldier - what works best for us is the sling or the carrier - that almost surely results in a nap although it is getting a little exhausting for my back. Last week I wore her in the bjorn all week but this week, the bjorn is dead to me and we went cold turkey, she now only gets the bjorn if my husband is wearing it - poor little bjorn-crack addict baby.

baby acne update - I actually took her back to the ped who said definitely baby acne, despite the fact that it is now covering her entire head, including her ears, scalp, and neck, as well as her upper back and her chest. I am not convinced however. We are trying a few more topical remedies but if that doesn't work I think I am going to try cutting out dairy to see if it is a food allergy. This makes me quite sad, but I'm sure I will survive.

JackieO - I have a 6 week old with a cold too! We tried the saline drops and that helped a little. Also, we have given her some infant tylenol on the really fussy days and that has helped with her discomfort. Of course not the congestion. Oh and in the mornings I would run the shower for a while and hang out with her in the steamy bathroom. She is not as sick as I am though so it seems like that whole antibodies in breastmilk thing is totally working for her.

Ade - that sounds like an intense diet. I think I am going to go dairy free soon and it is really a bummer. I think you should wait on the intense exercise too - 1 month out is pretty soon!

maplekitty - our babies are similar. We rarely get quiet awake time, if we do it is only for a few short minutes before the crying begins. And yes, it is really hard not to get a break! I am hoping that this will improve as she gets older. She does seem a bit better this week than last, so, fingers crossed that your baby calms down as well.

numberlady - I am 6 weeks pp and I just stopped bleeding, maybe a few days ago. and I also had the same, it would stop for a day or two, then start back up. I just kept waiting it out and finally it seems ok now.

smellycatsgirl - very cute pics. She looks hungover in that last one!!

meg - what a cute little peanut! He is a tiny one! 3-4 hour stretches for such a little guy sounds not so bad to me!

[LKMang]

Bradley had his 2 month WBV today – he is up to 10lbs, 10oz, 22 1/4 “ long. He had 5 vaccines! Uggh, I’m so glad DH went with me cause I really can’t watch him get shots. I teared up a little hearing him cry so much. Right now he is sound asleep. Everything else looks good. He is still going to stay on the zantac, they upped his dose a little because he is getting bigger.

Sleep – has been tough lately! He can go about 4 hours between feedings at night, but he still thinks its playtime after the 1am feeding! His “schedule� along with my pumping schedule means I don’t get more than 2 hours of sleep at a time usually. For Valentines day DH and I are giving each other a night off, so hopefully after this weekend we will both be a little more rested

cactus – Leo is such a cutie! Look at all that hair! I think poor Bradley is gonna be a baldy for a while (me & my sister were bald until almost a year old). I’m jealous of your freezer stash! I have about 18oz in there right now. My ds is also a much better sleeper in the swing. We are trying hard to get him used to the bassinet, but it is hit or miss. I admit that lately I’ve put him in the swing when I really to get a couple hours sleep.

Ilovemysoldier – awww Owen is adorable! Sounds like he is doing great at soothing himself to sleep at night.

Numberlady – Bryson is so cute! Love all the hair. I hear you about fighting sleep – sometimes Bradley goes crazy crying and I know its because he is just exhausted. Luckily it has been getting easier to get him to sleep (before we were constantly sitting in the bathroom with the shower running!). Also, I think I bled for like 3 weeks but only really heavy for the first 2. Are you really active? I seriously sat in my house on the sofa for the first month or so, so that might be why I stopped bleeding so fast.

Meg – Grayson is such a little guy! I love his name.

Smellycatsgirl – Awww, I’m so happy to see pix of Ariana! The bow is so cute! I just love all the different faces our babies make!

Maplekitty – sorry to hear that Ollie is so fussy. Hope you are able to get help from the LC.

Ade – uggh, sorry you have to stay on such a strict diet. I have been dairy free for almost 2 weeks now and it just sucks. And I am totally amazed at how carefully you have to read labels – there is hidden dairy in so much stuff! I’m thinking I’m going to start re-introducing some dairy and see how he handles it. I’m hoping he has outgrown his fussy stage.

JackieO – sorry to hear your little one has a cold. Hope she feels better soon! My ds has a stuffy nose every morning (despite using a humidifier) from the dryness from the heater. We use saline drops all the time. And 6 hours sleeping is fantastic!

JessicaT – sorry to hear about the baby acne/food allergy. It can’t hurt to cut out the dairy and see if it clears up. I’m dairy free right now (trying to see if ds’ fussiness is due to the dairy in my diet) and it is hard. There are a couple good websites out there that tell you what you can eat. My biggest thing is being prepared and having food you can eat on hand.

[Ade]

Jessica - So sorry to hear about the possible allergies. I've been doing the dairy and soy free thing for 2 years now and can tell you it's not that bad once you adjust to it. Some other signs of allergies are green and/or mucousy stools, diaper rash, sweating, sleeplessness, vomiting or spitting up, gas and colic like behavior. My LC had me cut obvious forms of dairy out first, like drinking milk, cheese, ice cream, yogurt, etc. But, I ended up needing to cut out ALL dairy, like milk ingredients in baked goods, bread, even lunch meats. Fifty percent of babies with a dairy allergy also can't tolerate soy, so be careful not to load up on that as an alternative to dairy. We use a lot of rice milk and palm shortening! Trader Joe's and Whole Foods have great dairy and soy free foods. Feel free to PM if you have any questions or need any help with what to eat and what to avoid. You'd be surprised with some of the hidden sources of dairy, like in vitamins and salami! :eek: Good luck, I hope it helps!

Jackie - DS1 is now sick too, so that just exacerbates the whole situation. Again, he just adores the baby and does not act aggressive toward him, but it is like the terrible twos came on with a vengence over night. We're really struggling with the best way to discipline him. We're trying to remain calm, hold him and tell him we love him, but hitting, kicking, spitting, etc. is not okay. But, it is getting tough to keep doing that calmly especially when fatigue hits in!

numberlady - I forgot to mention that I am still bleeding slightly. I can get away with just a light day pantyliner, but it's enough where I still need to wear something. Between that and needing bra pads and a sleep bra at night, gone are the times of just falling asleep on the couch!

maplekitty - I so concur on time FLYING by. Maybe it's a second kid thing and knowing that each stage will pass so quickly, or just being busier the second time around, but the weeks are going by so fast. I can't believe my newborn is going to be 5 weeks on Monday. DH was commenting about had sad it is to watch this time passing knowing it's our last time to experience it.

Well, I'm going to try to nap. The baby woke at about 4AM to eat, then DS1 woke up coughing. By the time I got DS1 back to sleep, the baby was ready to eat again, so no more sleep for the night :(

[Ade]

Sorry, LKMag, must have cross posted with you. If your DS is stuffed up, it could still be food allergies. I forgot to list that symptom too. With DS1 we thought he had either environmental allergies or a constant cold and gave him vapor baths, used the humidifier and even got an air purifier. It can take up to 2 weeks for all of the dairy to leave your system, especially if some might have sneaked in secretly. There are milestone ages with outgrowing the dairy allergy, typically 6 months to a year, so if you can stand it, I would suggest staying dairy free longer and see if you see any improvements. If you are still having problems it could mean he has additional allergies; soy, eggs and corn are the next biggest offenders. With DS1 we would see a slight improvement and then he would relapse until I got all of the allergens completely out of my diet. Like I said to Jessica, once you know what you can and cannot eat, it gets so much easier. I really don't feel deprived at all and my butt and theighs with the extra 13 pounds of baby weight still hanging on can attest to that! If you have any questions, please feel free to ask, allergies were the bane of my existance for so long. I've had to do so much research and DS1 has had so much testing that I'm happy to pass on what I've learned so others can avoid what we went through.

[LKMang]

Thank you Ade. I’m gonna stay on the dairy free diet. DS was more cranky today, and while it could have been from his vaccines, I also let in some hidden dairy yesterday (my husband says I keep eliminating dairy at the wrong times – when other things are going on that could cause his crankiness to get better/worse). So I’m gonna try to stick with it for longer.

My questions – how do you eat out? I’ve been trying to plan/cook dinners during the week, but by the time Friday & Saturday rolls around, I want something fast! Also, do you have any websites you like for recipes?

[JessicaT]

Numberlady- ok I spoke too soon, and bled a little more today! I had my 6 weeks PP visit today and the NP thought that was a little weird so I am having an u/s next week just to make sure it is all ok. He said it could just be my period coming back prhaps. So, hopefully yours stops soon!

[maplekitty]

X-posted from my LJ


On tuesday I went to this clinic (http://www.breastfeedingclinic.com/aboutclinic.htm) for help with BF'ing Ollie. It's run by an amazing bf'ing advocate name Dr. Verity Livingstone, and her colleague Dr. Judy Stringer. It's basically a doctor's office that specializes in bf'ing concerns - that's all they do, all day long is see women and babies about bf'ing problems - pretty cool eh?

Anyways, my problem with Ollie was his marathon nursing sessions. He would nurse for over an hour and still be fussy and crying coming off the breast. He never has "quiet awake" time, he's either always sleeping, eating or crying - it is exhusting!!! Plus my nipples are so sore to the touch and bf'ing was becoming increasingly more painful.

So we get there and we weigh Ollie (10lbs 10oz at 8weeks), and then we put him on one breast, feed for 10 mins (becuse this is supposed to be sufficient amount of time to drain a breast at this age), and then she goes and weighs him again to see how much he took. Well, we found out that he was only taking less than an ounce form my left breast, and just about 2 ounces from my right. Totally not enough! He should be getting *atleast* 2.5 ounces per breast. So the reason he nurses for so long is because he's essentially waiting for a second letdown, and when I take him off he cries because he's still hungry.

So my plan of action is to start taking Dom Peridone pills first off. Then i have to feed every 3 hours for 10 mins per breast, then immediately pump for 5mins each breast. If he's fussy after the 20 min feed, to supplement with 2oz of formula...or if he can wait (not usually, he's always more hungry), feed him what I pump (which usually isn't much) and then some formula.
I have to do this for a week and then go back and see them to see if I'm producing more milk by next tuesday.


So far, BF'ing every 3 hours and pumping afterwards *and* taking care of a 2 year old is EXHAUSTING!! I feel like a worn out jersey cow! :( I really hope this works!!

[cherry]

hi to all of the january mothers - looking forward to getting to know you all, especially as i delivered in late december (only one day before you, jackieo).

time is flying by and i can't believe i only have 5 weeks of maternity leave left... i'm dreading the thought of returning to work as it was very stressful (emotionally, mentally and physically) before i began my leave, but what can you do? i'm really trying to make the most of the time i have left and to get out of the house each day, spend time with my one year old, and attempt to get some semblance of a routine in place.

i weighed DD on tuesday (at 6w1d) at a local lactation station. she was 6lbs13oz at birth and 10lbs8oz now. she gained 50% of her birth weight in 6 weeks... yikes. she's starting to resemble a butter ball.

sleep - seems to be getting better, although DD still periodically has digestive issues which can be really disruptive, naturally. we are in something of a predictable routine now whereby she goes down for the night between 9 and 10pm, sleeps for 3-5 hours, is up for a feed (usually up for an hour as she has reflux, etc.) and then goes back down for another 2-3 hours. so, sometimes one, sometimes two wakings between 9-10pm and 6-7am. she's up between 6:30 and 7:30, sleeps again around 9:30, and from then on i try to get her to sleep every 2 hours or so (sometimes successfully).

middle of night wakings... i was experimenting with not changing DD's diaper when she wakes in the middle of the night, but she seems to sleep a longer second stretch when i do unfortunately. also, she gets SUPER congested (trying to figure out if it's a lingering cold, normal newborn congestion, or potentially an allergy) which sometimes wakes her up, and clearing her out (saline/ suction) really seems to agitate her.

babyacne - we have that too... need to be more diligent with the cortisone and vaseline.

smiles - DD gave her first social smile last monday at exactly 5w... much earlier than DS. she is smiliest in the morning. it's pretty rewarding given she is a rather fussy, high-maintenance little girl.

older child... DS has been jealous; i was surprised as naively i didn't think he would be too affected by DD's arrival. i can't take my eye off him for a second. looking forward to this phase passing!

****

maplekitty, i hope the pills and the advice from the LCs help and you get good news at next week's appointment. this must be exhausting indeed, especially with a toddler to look after! are you taking anything else (fenugreek, mother's milk) or is there no need with the dom peridone?

LKMang - hope the dairy elimination gets easier.

have to run. hi to everyone else... all the pictures are adorable.

[aprilshowers]

maplekitty - that does sound exhausting. That is awesome you have such a great resource though. I hope your efforts pay off!

We're doing well here but are still struggling with day/night confusion. I have had a number of nights where I only get a total of 1 or 2 hours of sleep. DD is sometimes awake from 10pm to 4am which is way too long for a newborn, especially in the middle of the night. She sleeps all day and is almost impossible to wake up to nurse (I keep trying, every 2 hours). On top of that, her poops have turned green so I don't think she's nursing long enough to get the hindmilk. All very frustrating, especially when you're sleep-deprived.

But I'm grateful that that is our only problem right now. We had a rough start when DD1 got sick the week before DD2 was born. She and Daddy spent a night in the hospital the week after DD2 was born which was traumatizing to me (I couldn't get to them because of a bad snowstorm). Then DD2 got a bad cold with this awful cough and congestion. It seems like everyone is close to healthy now so hopefully things will get better. The timing was pretty bad though!

This is my last paid week of maternity leave. I still haven't decided how long to take off - I can't imagine working now, even though I work from home so don't have to worry about commuting, dressing up, etc. My concentration is completely shot.

I hope everyone else is doing well. Happy Valentine's Day!

[portlandbride]

I realized I never gave my stats or birth story in the other thread, so here it is!

Baby's Name: Kemper Keoki
Baby's Birthdate: December 17, 2008 9:16 am
Baby's Stats: 8 lbs., 1 oz. and 21 inches

Birth Story:
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------

December 15th, DS’s due date, came and went with no signs of labor. I was hoping he would come on that day because then all three of my kids would have arrived on their “due dates�. Oh well, it was not to be.
My mom had come into town on Monday so we were all just waiting around for me to have a baby, which was exactly the scenario I was not looking forward to. On Tuesday I made plans to go to dinner the next night with a friend. Nothing like making plans to speed up the process!
Tuesday night we decided to speed things up by having some sex. Even though I was uncomfortable and I knew it wouldn’t be that enjoyable I decided what the hell, it can’t hurt to try. And we were rewarded for trying!
Wednesday morning I woke up around 3:00 am to a contraction. It hurt pretty badly, but wasn’t unbearable or anything. I tried timing them but I would fall asleep in-between. The best I could tell is they were 10+ minutes apart. I told myself that I would get up when it hit 7:00 am, but not before.
Well, 6:00 am rolled around and I was fully awake now. I woke DH up and told him that labor was starting. I lay in bed and timed the contractions for about an hour. They were about 5 minutes apart and lasting a minute or more. This was much different than my previous two births as with them my contractions only last 30 – 45 seconds.
I finally got out of bed and went downstairs. My mom was down in the basement where we had the birth pool set up so I was waiting for her tom come up. While I was waiting I lay on the couch and timed my contractions some more.
At around 8:00 am I told DH that he should call MW and tell her to come. She lives about 45 minutes away so I knew it would take her a while to get to my house. Finally my mom came upstairs to watch the girls and DH went downstairs to fill the tub and make the bed.
I went down to the basement around 8:30 – 8:45 am. As with my other two births, being on my hands and knees felt most comfortable. I am kneeling on the floor with my hands and upper body on the bed having to concentrate every time a contraction comes.
Finally MW arrives! My contractions are really starting to hurt and last so long it is hard for me to concentrate. She tells me that she wants to check me but I keep having contractions right on top of one another.
As labor is progressing I notice that the Price is Right is on. Not really what I want to be birthing to. :) It’s totally my fault though as he had been telling me for weeks to get some labor music ready. He changes the channel to some Christmas music, which is really annoying. Finally he switches it to the Grateful Dead channel and that is what DS is born to!
Anyway, when I finally get a break in contractions I stand up to take my pants off. MW is right behind me with some Chux pads. As I go to kneel again, she shoves them under me. Good thing, because right at that moment my water breaks! It comes out with a loud pop and a big gush. I tell her that I am about to have this baby and I want to get in the pool.
I waddle over to the pool with MW holding the Chux pad beneath me. DH tells me to test the water to make sure it’s not too hot, but I can’t. I just jump right in because I am seriously about to have the baby.
I get in the pool and lean over the side, just like I did with DD2. He is coming down so fast there is no way I can stop him. I tell MW that the baby is about to come out. This time I was not nearly in the control that I was last time. I fell his head come out and then I stop pushing. I get the urge to push again and his body comes out! MW reached underneath me and unwraps the cord around his neck. I sit back and pull him out of the water and up on to my chest.
MW brings a towel to put over him and we lay in the pool for a while. She asks me if I am ready to push the placenta out and I say yes. Then my mom and the girls come down to see DS for the first time.
Eventually I get out of the pool and go sit on the bed. I hold DS for quite a while, letting him nurse a little. Then MW does all of his measurements. He was born at 9:16 am, weighing 8 lbs., 1 oz. And is 21 inches long.
MW checks me for tears but there are none. She cleans up the pool while I lie on the bed and hold the baby. DH brings down a little outfit for him and we dress him. Then my mom and the girls come down to hold him.
Once again, a pretty relaxing birth! I love doing it at home. I will say that while in labor I was thinking about how glad I am not doing it again. I guess you really do know when you are done. :)

[portlandbride]

Time sure does fly when you have three kids. :) Actually, the transition has been much smoother than I could have hoped for. DS is a "good" baby, much more relaxed than DD2 was. The girls love him and he loves them. I bought him this new Fisher Price mobile that runs for 15 minutes and projects a little light show on the canopy and he loves it! It is so nice to have a baby that will be awake and happy and content so that I can get some stuff done. DD2 was not like that at all, I don't think I cooked dinner for 6 months after I had her because she would not let me!
We go for his 2 month BWV this week, I imagine he's around 12 lbs. or so, based on my scale. We won't get any shots, so I don't have to worry about a fussy baby because of that. My mom is coming to visit at the end of the month, so that will be good. He actually takes a bottle so hopefully I can sneak out and get my hair done and go to the movies.


maplekitty I hope the LC's advice and the pills work for you! It sounds exhausting, good for you for keep it up!

sleep - is not too bad. He'll give me a few 3 -4 hour streches in the night. He wakes up around 4 - 5 and is super restless and then is up almost every hour or so after that. He's not hungry, so I just have to bounce him. He goes down for the night around 7 pm and wakes for the day around 7 am.
His naps are good, several throughout the day. I go by the "no more than 2 hours awake" rule. He usually only makes it an hour and a half or so of awake time.

babyacne - He has some. I don't put anything on it. I know it will go away eventually.

smiles - super smiley. He has a really good personality.

older child - they both love him. DD2 actually spends more time loving on him than DD1, but no jealously issues from either one of them. I guess they were already used to sharing us.:)

[Eight]

I am finally getting around to checking in here. Thanks for the new thread. I am happy to team up with the January Moms because I ended up having Max in January -- almost 2 weeks past his due date!

So an officiall Hello to all the January moms and all the December Moms!!

I don't have time for full shout outs, but I will try! (sheesh, do I like the exclamation point or what?)

Jessica and MapleKitty-- Sounds like we have very similar babies. We do not get much quiet awake time here either and indeed, it makes it hard to do stuff with Max. He often has some quiet time first thing in the morning...but then after about 30 minutes, usually less, the day really begins. He will be fine for a bit and then BAM instant crying/screaming, I just don't get it.

Yesterday was brutal, but thank god my husband was working from home. He cried all day. Maybe it was the traveling over the weekend.

His schedule is very similar to the one others have posted. He goes down for the night between 9 and 10 (sometimes later) and gives us a four to five hour stretch then (sometimes less, sometimes more) and then up again two to three hours later and then he is up for the day.

He really likes to be held, though, we have discovered what appears to be his undying love for the ceiling fan in the bedroom and often, I can lay him on the bed to watch the fan, if need to do something (like go to the bathroom!).

I keep hoping this changes as he gets older, but so far...not so much.

We did go to VT two weekends ago and went to PA this past weekend and Mr. Max slept the entire way up and back for both car rides. He seemed less fussy when out and about, but who knows.

I try to go for a walk with him every day and that usually will knock him out for a few hours. Today we walked down to the Banana Republic and Gap and I did some damage there.

MapleKitty-- Your schedule sounds exhausting and I wish all the power vibes you need. I am sure you are relieved to find out what is going on, but also feeling a bit overwhelmed at the solution. But you are doing a fantastic job!!

Aprilshowers-- I hope your daughters are all recovered!

Baby acne-- oh we have it. The pediatrician said aquaphor. A mom in my breastfeeding support group said she finally found success with olive oil and vitamin E (liquid form). She said her ped kept ignoring her and her daughter had the acne/rash on a lot of her body and the olive oil/vitamin E reallly helped. I may move on to that. I am waiting to see if the aquaphor does help.

Ok, I have to run, but hope to check in more often (though, once I go back to work in April, I am sure I will always be posting!).

[Ilovemysoldier812]

Maplekitty- how are the pills and your LC's advice helping?

aprilshowers- I hope the night/day confusion works itself out soon so you can get some sleep.

portlandbride- I loved reading your birth story. Funny about the music.

Eight- Owen loves the ceiling fan in our bedroom too. He's always smiling at it.

Owen went to a new ped last week. We decided to take him off base. They didn't really seem to know a whole lot. I really like this new ped. Well Mr. Owen has thrush, so do I. He weighed 13lbs 7oz and he's 23 1/2 inches long. He goes on the 23rd for his WBV.

We're still struggling with getting him to nap during the day! It's driving me nuts. I can't get anything done around the house. We're putting it on the market in a couple days and I need to get alot of things in order but he makes it very hard to.

http://i326.photobucket.com/albums/k425/shawna812812/Picture054.jpg
http://i326.photobucket.com/albums/k425/shawna812812/Picture072.jpg

[PaisleySloan]

I can't believe it has taken me so long to post! Glad to be here! I've been checking in periodically to read up on how everyone is doing, but it seems like every time I get ready to post (or sleep, or eat, or... ), Elijah wakes up. He's been going through a growth spurt the past couple of days and I swear all he does is eat.

Elijah is doing great. We had our second ped. appt last week and he is rockin! He was 9lbs 14oz and has grown another inch length wise. Yay!!

Sleep - he's been doing well and I've been getting some nice 4 hour stretches in. Sometimes, he'll go down at like 9:30 and wake up at 2. I prefer him going down a little later and waking up at 5 or 6. He's a really noisy sleeper though. When we first brought him home, I was constantly on edge about it, but it has gotten better. Although, he has this weird gagging thing that he does and the ped. says it is normal, but it still freaks me out. It is usually followed by a bit of spit up.

Baby acne - he was born with it on his nose, went away, came back and now it is gone again. It started up again on his cheeks, but I don't put anything on it. It dries up and goes away pretty quickly.

He's really smiley most of the time. He loves his changing table and we get the most smiles there for some reason. He also babbles and coos quite a bit. Lately, we've been getting squeals of delight which just kill me. They're so cute. He also giggles in his sleep quite a bit. We have all kinds of different stories behind why he's laughing. He has great personality.

He does like to be held most of the time, so I find myself with a sore arm several times a day. I use the ErgoBaby every now and again but he has to fall asleep if I want to sit at the computer. He likes the movement.

I've been trying to get out of the house more and more often. It has been quite rainy here, so I've been laying low and staying inside. Sometimes I don't know what to do with him during the day and it frustrates me because I feel like I'm not doing all I could do. First time mom insecurity I guess. This week I'm going to a mommy & me yoga class, so that should be fun.

He's awake now, so here are a couple of pics and I'm looking forward to getting to know you all.

http://i650.photobucket.com/albums/uu228/paisleysloan/IMG_1054.jpg

http://i650.photobucket.com/albums/uu228/paisleysloan/IMG_1047.jpg

[motray36]

Some quick SO's!

LKMang - good luck with the no dairy - I hope it helps!

maplekitty - hope you are feeling less exhaused :(

cherry - Chase is most smily in the morning too :p. I hope you've been getting some better sleep!

aprilshowers - I hope you've been getting better sleep too!

portlandbride - Thanks for posting your story :)

Eight - Im exclamation point happy too!!

Ilovemysoldier812 Very cute pictures! I'm glad you're happier with the new ped.

PaisleySloan - Elijah is adorable! Chase also does the changing table smiles! He was also a noisy sleeper at the beginning...its gotten alot better though, so hopefully his will too!

us - Little Man is asleep right now, went down about 40 minutes ago which means I should be in bed!! He isn't necessarily consistant with sleeping...he does either 4-2-2-2 or 3-3-2-2 for the most part, but I can never pinpoint when that starts...sometimes its at 8, sometimes 11. Grrr.

He is eating every 2 hours for about 7-8 minutes per session during the day pretty much like clockwork. I selfishly would like to stretch this out, but can't figure out how to do it.

He's smiling like crazy...although I think he knows what the camera is at this point and doesn't want to smile as soon as I pull it out!

He had his 2 month appt last week and weighed in at a lovely 13 lbs, 13 oz (my arms hurt!). The dr. put him on zantac for some reflux he's been having (Im not big on meds, but for a million reasons am willing to give this a shot). It seems to be making him feel much more comfortable so far, so I'm hoping that lasts!

Ok...off to finish my glass of wine, DVR'd American Idol, and then get to bed!

ETA: He's stirring...see, I can't pinpoint!

[maplekitty]

Hi Ladies!

Ollie had his 2 month WBV on monday and he weighed 11 lbs 6 oz - up 11 oz in one week! So clearly the Dom Peridone and constant feeding and pumping is doing something. It is totally exhuasting, especially since his long stretch of sleep is usually from 7-11pm - and of course I dont go to bed - stupid me!!

Ollie has a bit of baby acne too, on his cheekbones and his chin. I'm putting tiny dabs of cortisone ointment that I have for DD's excema, and that seems to be getting rid of it.

He's also starting to make little cooing noises, which is sooo cute. And he's smiling more and more, especially when i tickle or kiss him on his chin :)

[jenjen0713]

Oh my, a new thread! I'm so far behind. I haven't been on here in weeks. Life with 3 is tough (I can't even imagine how tough it is with those who have 4 or more!)

Anyway, hopefully when I return to work in a month, I'll be able to catch up and am looking forward to getting to "know" all the Dec moms!

sleep - He wakes up every 3 hours but last night gave me a 4 hour stretch so I'm hopefully that will continue, but am not counting on it.
I just am tired of being tired and am ready for some longer stretches of sleep.

acne - So far only one or two little ones.

smiles - Finally getting real smiles in the last week! I love it!

DS #3 is doing well....getting chunky thighs and chubby cheeks. He is what I call an "ideal third child". He is so mellow and laid back and sleeps through all the noise of his brothers. I really don't know how I would have handled a colicky baby with a 2 year old and a 3 year old.

[Eight]

Gas, Gas, Gas--So at today's breastfeeding support group meeting, Max was 10 lbs 60zs. Last week he was almost 9 lbs 15 ozs, so I think his weight gain is in the acceptable range. Even though his gain has been ok, I still find it reassuring to weigh him each week. I think I will have to wean myself off of it! I do go t the class for other reasons, but that is a big one.

Last night was a rough night, Max woke up around 1:30 (when the night before he woke up close to 4 am!!!) and was screaming for the next two hours. Luckily, that is the first time such a thing has ever happened, but oh man, I don't know what is going on. I think it was gas related.

Interestingly enough, the LC at the group said that perhaps the fenugreek could be causing him some gas issues. I have thought this for weeks (let's just say there are other side effects to fenugreek besides smelling like maple syrup -- which I hate!) and have been wondering if the same thing couldn't be happening to Max as to me. I could find nothing online about it, but my LC said other moms have said that it affected their babies as well. I am going to start taking one less pill a day every few days to wean off of it and will do the weight checks each week to verify supply.

Maplekitty-- That is a fantastic weight gain!! I hope that your supply gets stablized and you can relax on the many things you are doing to increase it.

Paisleysloan and Motray --Max does the changing table grins as well. I can't figure it out. He doesn't always like his diaper changed and/or his clothes changed, but dang, if there are times he doesn't just chill out completely on the changing table.

jenjen-- I am barely managing one, I couldn't imagine 3. I hope you can get some solid sleep!

Motray-- How is the zantac working? I hope it continues to help. Max has been relatively consistent with his "going down" time at night, but not at all with his wake up times during the night, so I understand your frustration.

I think I read a discussion about when the bleeding stops, etc. I had a c-section and am just past 6 weeks postpartum and still bleeding. It is driving me nuts. I am giving it until next week and then I am calling the doctor.

Ok, the cat just came over and plopped himself in my lap, I guess he wants to hang.
Max is sleeping after our trek to the east side for the meeting and then a nice long walk. I am not sure when exactly he will wake up.

[numberlady]

I keep coming in here to post and then DS wakes up and I have to stop and don't get a chance to come back. Things are going well at our house and while I am still tired from getting up a few times a night, we are starting to figure out what DS needs and how to handle him. He is growing well and weighed almost 9 pound on Tuesday, so he is gaining weight well. We are still having BF issues (it seems like everyone does), but I think we are finally done with the stupid nipple shield, now I just have to resolve my overactive letdown so I don't choke my kid.

Eight - I'm sorry you had a rough night last night. I hate those nights and all you want to do is go to sleep. I am just past 5 weeks and in the last couple of days my bleeding has finally stopped. I thought it never would.
maplekitty - That is a great weight gain. I'm sorry you were/are going through such issues, but at least you figured out what the problem was and are well on your way to resolving it.
mortray - I wish we had shorter feeding session like you do. Right now we are lucky to be done in 20 minutes, sometimes it is longer.
PaisleySloan - Bryson is smiling now too and it is so adorable, but probably only about half of them are social smiles. He has started "talking" a little bit too. I put him on the floor with some of his animals and he will talk to them. DH decided to "teach" him to punch his animals...Nice!
aprilshowers - OMG I would totally die if DS was awake from 10-4. Maybe when we were waking him to feed that actually helped him not have day/night confusion, thankfully we never had that issue.
Ade - I can't imagine having to modify my diet so much. I am just luck to eat anything some days, and having to put that much thought into it would make me eat even less.

baby acne - I think he has a couple little dots on his cheek. Do I need to treat it or will it go away on its own? I just figured it was another skin thing, kind of like the peeling and I was just ignoring it.

So I have finally stopped bleeding and DH and I have attempted sex, but it is so painful that we couldn't continue. I was so surprised since I had a C-section. I did go into labor on my own for about 23 hours and got to 7 cm dilated before they decided that I was failing to progress. I am also still BF. I see my doctor tomorrow for my PP visit and will ask him, but why is it so painful - is it hormones or physical and what can I do to improve this?

[JessicaT]

Hi, ladies.

portlandbride - that is a great birth story, thanks for posting it!

eight - glad to hear your feeding issues have sorted themselves out, although that is a bummer about the fenugreek! how strange, i have never heard of that.

ilovemysoldier - what a cutie! yes, naps are tough for us too. it is a lot of work usually to get her to nap.

paisleysloan - i feel the same way, not knowing what to do with the baby, although other moms assure me that at this age, there is not much to do (besides the obvious - feed them, cuddle them) so don't worry about it too much. how was yoga? we are going to try our first yoga class today.

motray - the same thing happens to me with the camera! no ideas on the eating, hopefully he will settle into some longer stretches between soon.

maplekitty - glad your supply issues seem to be resolving!

jenjen - i cannot imagine dealing with 3. good for you! i think that is pretty amazing.

numberlady - I think it's partially hormonal. We haven't tried yet - you are brave. I've heard "lubricate and inebriate" from everyone, including my MW at my 6 week visit. We also had the overactive letdown and I tried nursing her "uphill", which helped, but I think she also just got used to it eventually.

baby calla updates -
First of all, she is currently napping in the swing, which she has NEVER done before, so this is kind of amazing. She also started taking a pacifier this week, which is making a huge difference in my sanity and obviously helping to soothe her a lot during the day. We can now go out without me being totally afraid of her screaming the whole time.

Me, on the other hand, I am not doing so great today. I am not a good sleeper to begin with, and am just having a terrible time lately. It's horrible because the baby sleeps well (last night she slept from 7:30 to 4! and then woke up at 7 am) but I wake up constantly and can't get back to sleep, so I am still getting very short amounts of sleep here or there and I am feeling pretty lousy. I've also done something to my back, it has been quite sore for the last couple of days, so I'm trying to take it easier and let the baby swing or hang out in her stroller more rather than holding her or wearing her all the time. I feel bad about this too but am not sure what else to do - the back pain does not respond to advil or tylenol which is really weird. I'm going to go to yoga today to see if they can help give me some exercises and stretches.

I also cut out dairy, and her rash has cleared up. She still has some baby acne, but what seems like normal baby acne rather than the crazy rash that she had everywhere. We also started using aquaphor though, so I'm not really sure what made a difference (or maybe it just ran its course?) so maybe next week I will have a glass of milk and see what happens.

She has also started smiling a lot more too, and for whatever reason, has a crush on her diaper changing table so we get a lot of smiles there. ??? This morning when she woke up and I leaned over to get her she gave me a bunch of huge smiles though which was really great.

[aprilshowers]

That is so cute that so many babies love their changing pads. I remember DD1 loved smiling and rolling around on hers when she was an infant. We're not getting social smiles from DD2 yet but I'm curious to see if she does the same.

numberlady - we just leave the baby acne alone. It will disappear on its own soon enough.

Jessica - I feel your pain re sleep. I've had insomnia my whole life and it annoys me to no end that MIL is always telling me to take a nap. If I could, I would! We ended up moving DD1 out of our room earlier than we had hoped (4mo) because I couldn't sleep with her making noise all night.

[meg100105]

Ack! I'm so behind! Sorry ladies. Grayson is a handful and I rarely have more than 5 minutes at the computer.

Things are going really well for us. G decided in the last two weeks to start sleeping in 4-6 hour stretches at night. It's been FABULOUS. I feel human again. This new sleep pattern coincides with moving him into his crib, so that's my only guess as to why things improved.

G had his 1 month pedi appt this week and he's up to 9lbs 5.5 oz. Not such a peanut anymore! I actually cried when he outgrew his first little preemie outfit. LOL

Is anyone else wearing their baby a lot? G has been spending a ton of time in the moby and hotsling and I'm about to try out my ring sling this weekend. He just loves it in there and I actually get to eat do the laundry with two hands. It's fabulous.

Baby Acne Thankfully we haven't really had to deal with this. Just one or two little pimples on his nose and those are slowly clearing up.

smiles We're just starting to get the changing table smiles. Mostly he looks up and coos at us. Too cute. :)

I owe shout outs - but I have to run and feed the little guy. I'll try to be back soon!

[dancn226]

Wow, I haven't been in here yet. Sorry I have been MIA. Its been crazy.

Tristan is doing really well. His birth weight was 8.7. He's up to 10.11. I breastfeed him the 1st month. He was so good with it. But it doesn't seem to hold him very long at all now. I talked to the dr. about it and he said that he is just big so it might not hold him long. He said to do formula as well. That had made a huge difference.

He is up every 3 hours. His one month just went past on Wed. He's getting so big. I can't even believe how fast things go by.

Baby Acne~Tristan does have this. Its clearing up but the dr said its moving into exzma. He said this is normal.

Smiling~Tristan smiles all the time. He's so precious. He started smiling about a few days after he came home. My husbands cousin was shocked when he smiled at him. He's like wow, already! Oh and the faces when he is falling asleep. He will smile then frown then his lips will go half way to the smle. ITs just to cute. I swear the other am when he was awake he laughed. DH said he thought he did it for him to.

I will be back for SO's later on this afternoon.

[cactus]

Hi ladies,

Things with Leo have been rough this week--well actually, lots of rough days punctuated by one excellent day...which means I personally have been a mess. I'm not actually sure what's up, but is there anything weird that goes on around this time that could cause some of this? He's 11 weeks old.

The boy is still a screamer. At least now he's super happy some of the time, but the screaming fits just come on, sometimes without warning. Last night around 6 was his worst one ever in terms of longevity. I tried every thing I knew of to soothe him and nothing (the ball, the pacifier, the swing, the glider, the boob, the bouncy seat, the mobile, etc.) was working. It was finally taking out the hairdryer and running it right next to his ear on high that even got him close to calm enough to soothe him the rest of the way. Even now I have no idea what happened.

Sleep is still atrocious. In fact, I'm so exhausted that last night at 2 a.m. (after being up with him at 12 and 1 as well) I just broke down and cried with him. I mean seriously...he's almost 3 months old! I just can't figure out what I've done wrong! Granted it was a particularly bad night, but coupled with a few bad days and I sort of lost it. On a "normal" night he sleeps for about 3.5 hours and then is up every 2 for the rest of the night (until about 6, when he's up for the day). Naps are a crapshoot. Sometimes it will be an hour a couple of times a day, sometimes one long 3 hour stretch in the afternoon, sometimes none at all. He naps almost exclusively in his swing. I'd like to try and change this but I'm not sure at this stage I'm willing to sacrifice what little sleep he is getting just to move him to his crib.

Eating is still fine. We're lucky with this. Our problems with BFing have all been really minor, and he's up to somewhere close to 13 1/2 pounds (almost double his birthweight of 7!). We actually have our 2 month WBV on Monday (several weeks late) so I will be interested to see what his actual stats are. He seems really long to be now too...solidly in 3-6 month clothes, especially things with feet.

Playing seems pretty good too. Kid LOVES his Tiny Love mobile and will lay there and kick and punch and watch those three little animals for a long time. He makes a funny pterodactyl noise when he does is, which is very cute. Yesterday at the dog park we had him facing out in the Bjorn (we've just started doing this since he's plenty big enough and he has great head control) and when our dog was playing with another couple of dogs Leo just started *laughing.* It was so cute it very nearly made up for all the bad stuff in the last week. I also took him to yoga this week and he was adorable for about 45 minutes (laying on his back and cooing and kicking and looking at the ceiling fan) until he started shrieking and we had to leave. Oh well.

Going out in public is still SO stressful, mostly if the stroller or a car trip is involved. Leo still despises his car seat (and, by proxy, his stroller) and I just don't know what to do about it. I mean, kindergarteners don't scream every time they go in the car, right? So eventually, he'll grow out of it. It sure stresses me out though. Sometimes if the planets align just right things are okay, but I never know when it will be okay and when it won't be. The Moby is back to being the preferred carrier (not only does Leo like it but I think it's the easiest on my back) which is fine...I've taken to just putting it on in the morning and then taking him in and out of it as necessary. I really wish I could wear him in the Moby and drive the car. :rolleyes: I can kinda sympathize with Britney now, you know?

dancn, that's excellent that Tristan gained so much his first month! It's very gratifying after all the work of BFing!

meg, yup, we're all about the babywearing over here too...otherwise we would be completely insane all day with crying! We have the Moby (I wear this one, and I love it once I deal with the hassle of putting it on), the Ergo (Seth and I both love this one, with the infant insert), and we're just starting to get into using the Bjorn now that he can face out. It's a lifesaver since he has hated the stroller from day one. Oh, we did have a Peanut Shell but he hated that too--we figured out that he really prefers to be straight up and down instead of in that cradle position, so that's probably why he hated the sling. Still jealous of your sleep. ;)

april, lifelong insomnia here too. It's definitely the #1 reason I am having such a hard time with Leo's irregular sleep patterns...it is SO hard and stressful for me to go back to sleep, even when I'm exhausted!

jessica, yup, yup, yup on the sleep issues! I seriously am at my wits end. And the back pain too! Mine is all upper back, mostly from nursing and lifting the car seat in and out of the car, I think. Yoga stretches did help me a little bit and my birthday is coming up and I'm REALLY hoping DH takes my hint and springs for a massage (he better, since he, um, forgot Valentine's Day) because I think that will help. Yay for Calla taking the pacifier (big help for us!) and snoozing in the swing!

numberlady, um, good for you on the sex attempt! I feel terrible, but I have literally rejected the idea when it's been "presented" to me. I just am SO not ready. I know it will be soon though, and can I just admit how much I'm not looking forward to it?

eight, sounds like Max is doing really well! Good for you for getting out and about with him too! So I don't think we ever talked about it but how is your pup adjusting? Ours was a bit depressed for a while, but now I think he realizes Leo is never leaving. ;)

jenjen, it makes my head spin to think of 3 kids! Hope you're doing well over there!

maplekitty, so can you get the domperidone OTC in Canada? I was having an interesting discussion with someone about this the other day. I'm glad it seems to be helping!

motray, Chase's sleep patterns sound like Leo's...but fortunately for you you seem to be handling it a lot better than I am! Let's hope though that they both start stretching the feeding times out soon. Mama's tired!

paisley, aw, Elijah is a cutie! We have the same problem with the Ergo--if we stop moving, he wakes up. DH has taken to wearing him while he works on the computer and he sits on the ball so if Leo stirs he can just bounce him a little and sometimes he'll go back to sleep.

Oh, and this picture is from a whole month ago, but it's really too funny not to share...our little frequent flier!

http://images1f.snapfish.com/232323232%7Ffp8%3B5%3Enu%3D3244%3E257%3E5%3A7%3EWS NRCG%3D323%3A43537642%3Bnu0mrj

[numberlady]

For all of you amazed that we have attempted to DTD, it has not been due to my initiation. I simply felt bad for DH since the end of my pregnancy was rough and there was no funny business going on for at least the last 3 weeks. Anyways I had my PP visit with my doctor and he said it is hormonal and due to BF. Until my period returns I will be estrogen deficient which leads to dryness. So a word of warning to those that haven't tried yet and are still BF.

meg - I am so jealous of your sleep. I have a ring sling but haven't attempted to use it yet. I probably need to watch the video that came with it.
dancn - Wow you have a chubby little one on your hands. We weighed DS a few days ago and he was just under 9 lbs.
cactus - I'm sorry you are having a rough time. Sleep can be a bit elusive here too and DS usually skips 1 nap per day, we just don't know which one it will be. So we try and try to get him to sleep which can be a huge ordeal and before we know it, it is time for him to eat again and the routine starts again. Leo is so cute though, so when he flashes a grin like the one he has in that picture it makes things better doesn't it?

[maplekitty]

numberlady - i had that problem PP with DD (havnt tried DTD yet this time so dont know if its this time around or not). My doctor gave me estrogen cream to insert vaginally before sex...it really helped!!

cactus - yes, DP is legal in Canada and you can get it with a prescription from your doctor. I had no idea it was illegal in the states, until one of my LJ friends told me a friend of hers used to get it from Mexico!

[cactus]

So we just got back from Leo's 2 month WBV (which was technically about 2.5 weeks late--he's 10 days or so shy of 3 months old) and I have a monstrously large child!

My dr does not use percentiles (does anyone else's not do this?) but said that he is roughly the size of a 4 month old. :eek:

I got home and googled some growth charts online and based on babycenter's calculator, he is 95%+ for everything--height, weight, head circ. I even used the 3 month curves, and he's not even 3 months yet. He is also 5 oz. away from doubling his birthweight at 2.5 months.

For the record, his stats are...
weight: 13 lbs. 11 oz. (up 6 lbs. 11 oz. since birth)
height: 24 inches (up 4 inches since birth)
head circ: 15.5 inches (up 2 inches since birth)

All these came out to 95%+. Does this sound right to you? And how is my kid so huge? DH and I are both on the smaller side. Anyone else's baby gaining weight and inches like crazy?

[Ilovemysoldier812]

Cactus- Owen had his 2 month WBV today and he weighs the same as leo just he's 23 1/2 inches and our percentiles were 95% for weight and 80%. She said Owen will be around 6'3" when he's older. DH is 6'4". Our ped said Owen is big for his age.

[LKMang]

Wow, I’m soo behind on this thread!

Bradley is doing well. Sleep still sucks! I am going back to work in 3 weeks (where did the time go??) and I’m not sure how I’m going to function. I’m just constantly in a fog. He has been going down to sleep around 8pm, sleeping until 12am, then getting up again at 330/4am. DH does the first feeding, then I do the second one and usually bring him up on the sofa with me to sleep there. Of course then he is up every hour looking for a bottle, drinks an oz and goes back to sleep. We are still sleeping in our living room (poor DH on the floor!) because that’s where the swing is. I have been starting to read some sleep training books and while I know he is still too young to do it, I want to at least learn how we can transfer him to a bassinet. Anybody going through this? I feel like we are relying way too much on the bottle & swing to get him to sleep. Will he grow out of this or should we be actively trying to get him to put himself to sleep?

Other than that, things are great. I am still dairy free and we are having much fewer screaming sessions and a lot more happy time. It is hilarious, he will just sit on my lap and “talk� to me. DH will come home and DS will tell him about his day. So cute! He loves his activity gym (he’s become good friends with the octopus-they have a long conversation every time). Still hates tummy time but getting closer every day to rolling over.

I was brave and took him for his first prof pix last Thursday. I was dreading it the whole week, but he was sooo good. No tears until the very end and he was even good while I took forever trying to pick which pix to buy. Here are a couple..

http://i332.photobucket.com/albums/m351/lkmang/smallbrad1.jpg?t=1235444098
http://i332.photobucket.com/albums/m351/lkmang/bradsmall2.jpg?t=1235444126
http://i332.photobucket.com/albums/m351/lkmang/smallbrad3.jpg?t=1235444147


Anybody else fighting like crazy with DH? I swear, 1am is our big fight time. He does the midnight feeding (which I really appreciate!) and sometimes it is tough to get DS back to sleep. DH gets frustrated, starts turning on lights and banging around, so I of course wake up anyway. I am constantly telling him, just sleep and let me do all the night feeds! I can do it calmly & quietly and keep DS sleepy. Of course DH is stubborn. I am just so torn about wanting to do everything, but still being resentful that he gets to work out and take showers. Uggh, sleep deprivation gives me such a short fuse.

Maplekitty – hope things are getting better for you! Sounds like an exhausting routine!

Aprilshowers – hope your little one can get her days/nights figured out. I can’t imagine how frustrating it must be!

Eight – how is Max doing? Hope you are getting some more happy, alert time. Bradley was doing the same thing at that age, but time really does help. He is sooo much more fun to be around. He still has his breakdown moments (mainly when he is tired), but he has a lot more happy times. I am still waiting for a 5 hours stretch of sleep. I really thought it would have happened by now.

Ilovemysoldier – cute avatar!

Paisley – Elijah is such a cutie! I swear, all the little boys with the peach fuzz hair growing in look like brothers!

Motray – Bradley & Chase are the same when it comes to the camera! He will be doing something really cute and I will try to take a video of it and he will just stare at the camera with no expression! Glad to hear that the zantac is helping. Bradley is doing good on it, they upped his dose a little cause he is heavier.

Numberlady – we have also attempted to DTD, but its not happening. I feel kind of bad about it. The sleep deprivation isn’t helping and honestly, if I had time to DTD, then I’d rather take a nap!

Jessica – hope your back is feeling better. How is the dairy free going? I swear, this weekend I made a list in my head of all the dairy things I can’t wait to eat! It hasn’t been as bad as I thought, as long as I plan meals ahead of time.

Cactus – love the pic of Leo on the plane!! Sorry to hear about his screaming. Bradley has almost the same sleeping schedule. I am also torn about using the swing. It is really hard to think about the future when you are tired and want sleep now! I’ve gotta get some tips from you about using the Moby. I can get it on me, but I have the hardest time getting DS in it. I usually take too long trying to position him and he starts freaking out and crying.

Doggies – a couple people mentioned how their pups are adjusting. Mine is finally acting okay with Bradley. The beginning was terrible – I spent several nights in tears because Domer actually slept in another room. He was truly pissed off at us, but he is okay now. He loves the baby!! Whenever we sit on the floor, Domer comes running up, licking the baby like crazy! Of course DS hasn’t really looked at Domer yet. I don’t think he recognizes him as something living!

[motray36]

JessicaT - so sorry about your sleeping and your back. Do you think maybe you are waking up based on Calla's old sleep schedule? If so, maybe when you adjust to the longer stretches, it will get better?

meg100105 - congrats on the sleep strech!

cactus - such a cute picture! Hope you are having a better week so far!

LKMang - The pics came out great - he is so adorable :p. Chase is doing the talking thing too, and tells DH all about his day too!

Fighting w/DH - Yup. Mine's been working alot, and it seems as though when he's not working, he's out doing other things (some legitimate like grocery shopping, others not so much like extra extra long dog walks :rolleyes:). Not that I dont love my time with DS, but by the end of the day I'm ready to hand him off. I have the utmost respect for single moms and military moms...I truly can't imagine. Anyway...so I've had a much shorter fuse with DH. Doesn't help that Chase and I have both been sick the past few days. Sigh.

Weight - I might be winning in this category...At he 2 month WBV, he was 13.13, then on Saturday we went in for his cold and he was 14.6 (2 months, 10 days). DH and I are both "average," so Im not really sure where this is coming from :o

"He's hungry" - I'm so sick of people saying to me, "he's hungry" whenever he cries in public. It happened 3 times at the grocery store today alone. I almost said to the last person, "actually, no, he just took a giant $#!+ but thank you." Ok, vent over.

Sick - We've both had a cold for the past few days, which has been absolutely terrible. Moms should not be allowed to get sick, especially when they need to take care of sick babies. He's been eating every 1:45-2:00 (as opposed to 2:00-2:15), and I've just been letting him since I'm assuming that its keeping him hydrated...yes? I've been wanting to try to stretch out his feedings, and am worried this is going to kill any chance of that. Have any on-demand BFing moms tried to stretch feedings?

[numberlady]

maplekitty - My doc said he could prescribe Estrogen if other lubrication didn't work.
cactus - congrats on the good visit and the huge baby!
LKMang - Bradley is so cute. I love that bottom picture with the smile! DS is 6 weeks tomorrow so still younger than Bradley, but we are using the swing mostly to put him to sleep right now. I have had success at times rocking him to sleep in my arms, but it can take a while and doesn't always "stick". Can you use a monitor and just place it by the swing? At least you and DH could sleep in the bed. DH and I pass off the monitor so that we can each get longer stretches of sleep. So when DH is "on shift" he turns his monitor on and mine is off, once he gets DS back down he comes into the bedroom and turns on my monitor and turns his off. He then puts earplugs in so that he can sleep uninterrupted (I don't do that when it is my turn to sleep, but it is just a personal preference).
mortray - Sorry you and DS have been sick. I hope you start feeling better soon.

I am going to bed now since DS has been asleep for about an hour. I am missing valuable sleeping time. Hopefully he will sleep until about 1:30 like he did last night!

[motray36]

Some updated pics!

http://www.constantchatter.com/forum/picture.php?albumid=18&pictureid=75

http://www.constantchatter.com/forum/picture.php?albumid=18&pictureid=76

http://www.constantchatter.com/forum/picture.php?albumid=18&pictureid=77

[JackieO]

cute pics motray & LKMang. very cute little boys! we'll be going next month to get studio pics done as it's DD1's 4th birthday in march. We got a gift certificate for portraits as a shower gift (which I thought was a great idea!) so we'll use that to take some of both girls individually, together and as a family - and I hate getting my picture taken so not looking forward to that part:)

motray- I hear ya on being sick...a cold ran its course through our house about 2 weeks ago...i lucked out and didn't get it as bad as DH though. However - DD1 woke up at 2:30am MOnday night after puking in her bed, and proceeded to puke/dry heave every 15/20 minutes for the next 4 hours. Poor thing...luckily Lauren woke up, ate and went right back to sleep. And DH was a rock star and let me go back to sleep after 2 hours despite his having to goto work. He was able to go in late which helped. DD1 seems to be fully recovered so apparently it was a 24 hour bug. Lauren doesn't seem to be affected by it (knock on wood) we kept some distance between them yesterday and were constantly washing hands and wiping everything down.

Big baby - I'm pretty sure her weight will be up there, she's getting pretty chunky, mostly in her cheeks! I've put away quite a few outfits and onesies already and shes worn a few of her 3 month outfits already at 8 weeks.

Fighting with DH- not so much fighting as just getting annoyed by him...but I'm annoyed very easily these days. I sometimes feel like I dont have a spare minute to myself and theres always something that needs to be done. He is a HUGE help around the house, but sometimes its easier to just do it myself. He's pretty good after 9 years of knowing when to back off and just leave me alone to work it out...ha, only took 9 years!

Sleep? - so we've been very lucky sleepwise, with Lauren normally going for a 6 hour stretch at night, eating then a 3 hour stretch. However - the last 2 days have been horrible. She fought napping all.day.long yesterday! She didnt sleep longer than 20 minutes at a time and was EXHAUSTED by 6:00. Then I think she was so overtired by the time she had bath and her last bottle, she only slept 4.5 hours and messed up her whole sleep schedule. She's napping a little better today but not without almost constant rocking or bouncing (swing, carseat, bouncy chair). For whatever reason she will NOT nap in her crib during the day...put her down in there fast asleep during the day and it's like laying her on a bed of nails! so wherever she'll nap for now will work for me...

Anyway, I think that's the most I've written in a while...maybe ever;) can you tell she's asleep right now? :)

[Ilovemysoldier812]

fighting with DH- I feel like a single parent most of the time. He's deploying in May and he's been working long hours and he was away for those 3 weeks for training so Owen cries when Dh holds him. He's getting better at it though. I left Owen with DH for 20 minutes while I ran to the store and Owen cried the whole time so DH really hates helping cause Owen just cries. It's very tiring, I just want him to help since I'll be doing on my own for a year once May comes around.vent over

Owen got his 2 month shots on Monday and he had an allergic reaction so we went back to the ped. He was up 9oz from the day before.. how is that possible? He sure does love to eat.

We have a really strong boy. He rolls from tummy to back. He just started trying to go from back to tummy. He gets to his side and his arm gets in the way. The Ped said thats a 6 month milestone. He's also teething...He drools nonstop and always has his fist in his mouth.. isn't it too early? but the ped said thats what it was.

I don't want to jinx it but he has actually napped 2 days in a row!!!:) I probably should be doing stuff around the house since it's up for sale and we have a showing tonight.

My favorite picture
http://i326.photobucket.com/albums/k425/shawna812812/Picture081.jpg
http://i326.photobucket.com/albums/k425/shawna812812/Picture096-1.jpg

[Eight]

Hey, all!

I am going to attempt to catch up on shout outs, so apologies in advance for those I miss.

Cactus-- there is a baby in my breastfeeding support group who is a week younger than Max and he is already 13 lbs, maybe close to 14! Leo is adorable. I love the picture of him on the airplane. World traveler takes off.
Oh, Max and Marv are doing well together. As...I think it was LKMang said, Max has not really noticed Marv yet (or the cat), but for the most part, Marvin just sniffs the baby. He is more anxious than usual, but doing really well. He basically attaches himself to any guest that comes in for attention. Frustrating b/c we spent so much time working with him before the baby to not do that. But oh well. Part of the problem is the guests! We tell them, ignore the dog until he is calm and on his bed and can be released. Nope, they pet him, talk to him, etc. Ahem...I digress...

I hope things are easier re sleeping. I will write about our adventures in that after I hopefully finish shoutouts.

numberlady-- we have really similar labor stories. I got to 7 cm and stayed there for about 8 hours and finally had to have a c-section b/c I was just not going any further. And the pitocin was causing havoc with Max's heartrate and not helping me contract. I went into the hospital to be induced and started early labor on my own, but got nowhere and so they started pitocin and made it to 7 cm in a few hours and then, nothing. So crazy.

And yeah, if your DS has just a few spots of baby acne, I wouldn't worry about it. We used some aquaphor b/c DS had a rash/acne all over his face and his skin was so brittle. The aquaphor really helped. We also picked up some vitamin e mixed with sunflower oil or something like that and I keep meaning to try that on his cradle cap, which he just developed.

Jessica-- how is the dairy free life going? Who else is doing this? LKMang? Do you do all forms of dairy (i.e. foods with dairy in it) or just obvious forms like cheese, milk, ice cream, etc?
Aquaphor helped Max's skin a ton. It is about back to normal. Thank goodness.

The pacifier is a lifesaver. Max started taking one around 3 weeks or so. I think. Now I feel like I depend on it too much, but I have no idea.

aprilshowers-- sleeping any better?

Meg100105--I got rather sad when I put away Max's newborn sized clothes. It was so odd to think he was no longer such a tiny baby. I guess b/c it is so all consuming for us, it is hard to think they are moving on, so to speak.

dancn-- Max is up every two to three hours as well. UGH.

maplekitty-- the LC in charge of the group I go to was talking to us all about domperidone and why it is not approved here in the US (well, in general). Apparently there are a few doctors that will prescribe. Pretty interesting. How is everything going? Are you getting any down time for yourself?

LKMang--Owen is sooo cute. We took Max for pictures at 3 weeks (crazy, I know) and I was dreading the session days before. It happened exactly like your's, Max was perfect during it. So crazy.

We are getting some more quiet time and he lets me put him down now more, so that is much appreciated. I am glad to hear that time does make a difference.
Max's nighttime sleep has turned to crap, unfortunately and I just don't know what to do. I keep hoping each night it will change back, but umm, not so much. I go back to work in a few weeks as well and like you, I am terrified by the bad sleeping and the return to work. Oy.

Motray and LKMang-- I love the chattiness! That is sooo cute.

Motray-- I hope you and Chase feel better. You know, I was wondering the same thing about stretching out feedings. It sounds like Max and Chase are on the same schedule -- every 2 to 2.15 hours.
As for while he is sick, I think feeding him whenever is the way to go makes sense.

Ok, baby waking up, so will come back and finish later.

[LKMang]

We have had a couple nights of bad sleep. He has only been sleeping at the most 2 hours at a time. Uggh. I keep waiting for it to get better and it just gets worse! DH keeps asking me why he is doing this – I just tell him this is what babies do. Its very frustrating!

We also found out that DH has to go away on business next week. While I’m happy they were able to make it happen before I go back to work (I have no idea who I would be able to ask to babysit!), I’m nervous and freaked out. I know (*hope*) it will be better than last time (DH was only gone 24 hours and I swear baby boy cried and screamed during most of it!), but I don’t know how I’m going to do a week. And I’m also totally jealous that he will be in a nice hotel room and will be able to sleep more than 3 hours straight.

Motray – hope you & Chase are feeling better! I totally hand Bradley off to DH when he gets home from work. I have been trying to have dinner ready when he gets home, but it doesn’t work too well. I tell DH, you can hold the baby or make dinner. Chase is a cutie! I love his smile!

Numberlady – We also have limited success with rocking him to sleep. Right now it is either the swing or a bottle. He will sleep for about 1.5 hours in a pack n play or bassinet, but then he is up looking for a comfort bottle. I like the monitor idea, just worried about leaving DS alone in the swing. Ever since he has gotten better head control, we have awaken to find him lifting his head forward and tipping over to the side in the swing. I think I’m gonna suggest we bring the swing up to our bedroom. At least then we can try to sleep in bed.

Jackie – Hope your family is starting to feel better! I’m totally jealous of your DD’s night sleeping! Any tips? We also have some napping problems, especially when he is over tired.

Ilovemysoldier – LOVE the mad face picture! I have such admiration for you caring for your DS with limited help from DH. I can’t imagine how hard it must be. My DH goes away for 24 hours and I almost break. Poor Owen for having a reaction to his shots!

Eight – I am avoiding all dairy (obvious and hidden). It just requires a lot of label reading and not getting to eat things that don’t have labels. I’m so happy I’ve found a few restaurants that post their nutritional & allergen information. Although I’ve found that I’ve been eating much less healthy, I guess because I feel deprived & let myself eat anything sweet that doesn’t have dairy. I’ve really gotta change my diet and eat more good things. I’ve finally decided to put away Bradley’s newborn clothes after trying to fit him in a sleeper that was suddenly way too tight. I really need to wash the 3month clothes!

Spacing out feedings – I would LOVE to do this! We bottle feed breastmilk and he is such a snacker! He will eat a little, then an hour later want more, which gets really annoying. It takes him forever to finish a bottle. We tried a fast flow nipple, he guzzled it down and screamed & cried because he wanted more. I worry that it will make his reflux worse.

[numberlady]

Does anyone's DC go to sleep better for DH than for them? Yesterday Bryson didn't only slept about 2.5 hours all day. He slept a couple different times in his swing but for very short periods and then I took him on a walk and just kept walking because I knew that he would stay asleep. Last night finally I had it and asked DH to put him to sleep and he slept for 4 hours straight. He has had similar success at other times during the day when Bryson wouldn't sleep.

My sister will be here Sunday and she will be doing pro pics of us..I can't wait. I haven't even mailed out announcements yet, so hopefully we will get some good shots to use.

JackieO - I wish we could get a 6 hour stretch of sleep. I am so jealous!
Ilovemysoldier - DH hates when DS cries when he picks him up. Love that top pic of Owen!
Eight - Sorry to hear you had the same labor situation as I did. I never imagined a C-section, so it was quite a shock.
LKMang - I am so sorry that DH is going away on business. I can't imagine! Do you have anyone that can help you out? 2 hour stretches of sleep are enough to drive anyone batty. I forgot that Bradly is a little older than my DS, so I understand the concern about him being left unsupervised in the swing. DS has recently started to really push up with his legs on his changing table when he is mad, so I imagine that will transfer to the swing soon too.

Dairy - I have noticed that DS spits up more when I have milk. Cheese doesn't seem to bother him. I don't drink milk that often anyways, usually just with cereal, but I am going to try to cut it out and be sure that is whats going on.

[Ade]

Man, it's been a while since I've been able to get on here. We're doing okay. Still trying to figure out all of DS2's digestive issues. So far we know dairy, soy, nuts and seeds are a definite problem, but something still seems to be a problem. I'm thinking the last (hopefully!) culprit is either oatmeal or onions. Luckily, he's a great tempered kid, so no colick like behavior, just crazy projectile vomiting that comes out of both his mouth and nose, green stools and restlessness due to tummy aches. The diet wouldn't be so bad if I could just get to the bottom of all of the bad foods. I get frustrated when I feel like I am being totally clean and still get vomiting and green poo.

For those struggling with possible dairy issues, if you're still not seeing improvement, the problem could be hidden dairy (lunch meats, salami, hot dogs, vitamin supplements could all contain dairy), or maybe there are additional foods causing problems. Almost 50% of babies that have problems with dairy also have issues with soy and soy and peanuts are almost identical in protein structure, so those 3 go hand in hand. Keeping a food diary can help figure out the culprits. I'd suggest going that route than the extreme bland food diet that cuts out all suspect foods then adds them back slowly. With eating out, I try to stick with restaurants that don't do heavy dairy, most eastern cuisine (Asian, Indian) works. BUT, you do need to be very specific when asking about ingredients, like no milk, no cheese, butter, etc., rather than just asking if there is dairy in a dish. Unfortunately, I still typically get something bad :(

For swing sleepers, I'd recommend a baby hammock. We got one for DS1 when he was 4 months and wish we'd found it in the beginning. It's like a soft sided bassinet hanging from a spring. It sits at the side of the bed and moves up and down and side to side with baby's movement or if you tap it. We got a knock off design on eBay for a fraction of the price.

Napping - I need to get better with keeping a schedule. DS2 sleeps best while I hold or sit with him. But, if I don't hold him, he doesn't really nap, even in the swing. I probably should lay down with him in the bed and let him nap there, but just don't seem to find the time, or end up falling asleep with him!

Sleeping - This is okay, better than DS1, but not as great as some of you. The biggest problem is with his last waking, he has a hard time falling back to sleep, so we end up staying awake for an hour or more. I'm hoping that as soon as I figure out the last of his allergies, this will get better.

Fighting - DH and I fought a lot with DS1, but not so much with DS2. I guess the second time around we have less stress, so that helps. DH gets angry when DS cries with him, but I have to point out that when he's upset he cries with me too, so it's nothing personal.

Well, I'm sorry I don't have time for individual SOs, but I hope everyone is doing well. Hope the dairy info helps, I know how trying it can be!

[maplekitty]

well the family is all sick, including Ollie! Poor little guy is so stuffed up and has this aweful chesty cough :(
He's basically been nursing and sleeping since yesterday morning. When he's awake he lets out this pitiful little cry, he just seems so confused why he feels so bad!
DD is passed out on the couch watching Dora, and my chest is sore and burning every time I breath in. UGH!!!
I took the kids to the doctor yesterday and no ear infections, no swollen nodes, no strep...just a nasty virus that we have to ride out. I just have to nurse him as much as possible so he gets all the good anti-bodies from the BM. But he's not eating much. Maybe nurses on one breast, and tehn falls back asleep....poor little guy! :(

[numberlady]

Maplekitty - I'm sorry you all are feeling so bad.

I have developed a bad case of mastitis, so have been running a fever off and on since yesterday. Today it got up to 101.5 and I felt like doodoo, so I went to my doctor for an antibiotic. Hopefully it will resolve soon.

I hope everyone has a good weekend. We have family coming into town.

[cherry]

numberlady, so sorry about the mastitis. i came down with it when DD was 4 days old and had a fever of 104 for about 4 hours, and a slightly lower fever for around 12 hours. my breast was so incredibly painful that i wanted to scream when it was touched, and my whole body ached. anyway, all this to say that the only thing that helped was breastfeeding as much as possible, rest (ha!), and eventually my prescription of amoxcillin. if you can, take the baby into bed with you.

once you start the abx, you should feel better within 24 hours. hope that relief comes quickly.

[cherry]

it has been awhile since i've caught up... life is so busy now and the weeks are just whizzing by. only 3 weeks of maternity leave left! it's unbelievable.

napping - we certainly don't have a schedule, and some days are better than others. DD has on occasion taken a two-hour nap, but usually she catnaps. with a one-year-old i do end up carting her out and about with me and she will conk out when in the carrier (mei-tai) or car seat, thankfully. she can be really restless and fussy (digestive issues) and i spend a LOT of time replacing her pacifier.

sleeping - varies from good to okay. she goes down for the night around 11... i need to move this earlier ASAP, i can't hang like this when i'm back to work and up at 6am for the day! she is usually up for the day around 8 or 9, with 0-3 wake-ups in between (i told you it varied). last night was a bad night... sandwiched between an extremely fussy, pacifier-addicted infant and a snoring husband.

eating - BFing on demand here too. she STILL likes to snack and rarely feeds for longer than 5 minutes at a time. eats about every two hours during the day, and cluster feeds between 5 and 9pm or so. my supply is finally starting to regulate. we started giving her the bottle daily a couple of weeks ago and she's good with it, but i don't think we've found the 'perfect' nipple yet. her reflux is still around, but better (or we're dealing with it more effectively), although she clearly is uncomfortable at times. she also sometimes poops only once every few days. my DS pooped after every feeding at this age, so it's weird.

fighting with DH - trying not to, as i want us to remember my maternity leave as a happy time, but it's hard sometimes ;) i do feel a little jealous sometimes... he usually gets up with our son in the morning (around 6:30am) and so i usually do the night shift, which results in DH waking in the morning and remarking on a quiet night. it's really not funny when DD has been up multiple times for an hour each.

otherwise... DD is smiling a lot. like some of the other babies in this thread, particularly seems to like the changing table or anywhere that means our faces are close to hers. also loves lying on our bed chatting to the ceiling fan. seems to be afraid of her manic big brother, understandably. i'll have to post some pics of her smily, chubby face soon. i learned today i'll have to travel internationally for work a few weeks after returning to work (boo), so i am in the process of getting her passport (we already had tickets to travel to europe this summer to see my family)... it's earlier than i wanted to drag her onto a long-haul flight alone (DH and DS will stay here), but we'll live.

sorry i don't have time for SOs, but i did want to say the pics are the absolute cutest. i feel like i'm coming down with something and am just hoping it's not a milder version of mastitis as in addition to flu-like symptoms, i also have a plugged duct. ugh... have a good weekend everyone!

[LKMang]

Had to post this funny picture
http://i332.photobucket.com/albums/m351/lkmang/bradsleep.jpg?t=1235928512
Bradley was laughing away on his activity gym. He always has long conversations with the octopus. We looked over at him a couple minutes later and he was sound asleep! He didn’t take a long morning nap and I knew he was tired. I think this was the first time EVER that the kid fell asleep without the swing, bottle or us rocking him. Guess the octopus got boring :)

I’ve been doing good with the dairy free diet, then Friday morning I changed his diaper and it was very mucousy with a little bit of blood. Uggh. If I didn’t know about food allergies, I’d probably be really freaked out. We’ve never had blood before with his dairy problem. Called the ped and the nurse said they aren’t too concerned if it only happened once and to call back if it happens again. I was seriously racking my brain for what hidden dairy might have gotten in. I thought maybe he had developed a soy allergy? (I don’t eat any obvious soy but I haven’t eliminated the hidden stuff). I finally figured out this was the first week I have eaten peanut butter! I’m thinking that must be it. I haven’t had any since and no blood so far.

DH is supposed to leave tomorrow, but we are having a big snow storm tonight, so I guess we’ll see if his plane is delayed or cancelled. I went grocery shopping today and bought a ton of food so I won’t have to worry about it this week (still haven’t mastered grocery shopping with just me & DS). Sleep has been pretty good, but that is with DH doing the 1am feed, so I can sleep and get up to pump & do the 4am feed. We tried to dream feed last night (he went to sleep around 8pm, then dream fed him at 10pm) but he still got up at 1am. I’m gonna try to stick with it this week and see if it makes a difference. I am also going to try to NOT co-sleep with him in the morning. I really want him to get used to sleeping by himself in the bassinet or the pack n play. Plus he wakes up a lot more when I co-sleep with him. (But I might still take an afternoon nap with him – I just can’t resist snuggling with him!)

numberlady – hope your sister gets some great pix of your DS! Are you feeling any better? I swear, getting mastitis is one of my fears!

Ade – hope you can figure out what other food is affecting DS. Question – do you think I should avoid all nuts if I think DS has a problem with peanuts? I think I will just to be safe, but I’m not sure whether peanut allergies automatically mean other nut allergies. I really wanted to try almond milk (really don’t like rice milk and trying to avoid soy milk).

maplekitty – hope your family is feeling better! Poor little Ollie!

Cherry – I can’t believe all our maternity leaves are almost over. I only have 2 weeks left! How do you like your mei tai? I am seriously obsessed with carriers lately. I have 3 and DS doesn’t like any of them!

[Ade]

LKMag - so sorry to hear about the blood! If you think Peanut butter is the culprit, I'm sorry to say that probably means he's sensitive to soy too :(. Peanuts are legumes, not nuts and are identical in protein structure to soy. And, most commercial peanut butter contains soy. Lastly, 50% of babies with a dairy allergy will also be allergic to soy.

I'm so sorry to deliver this news and soy is the one ingredient that is killing me to avoid. I keep finding it hidden in chicken bouillon cubes and canned broth, drink mix (like Tang), gummy bears and herbal tea :eek:. DS2 is still throwing up violently everyday and last night was up from 1:45 until 7:30. DS1 then got up at 7:30, so I'm pretty wrecked today. I'm thinking it's the hidden soy as a lot of companies won't list it as an ingredient since there's a misconception that soybean oil and soy lechithin don't cause allergic reactions. So, now I'm just avoiding ANY thing that lists natural flavors or vitamin E in the ingredients. It gets so frustrating at times! Between the sleep deprevation and food restrictions I almost feel like I am ready for brainwashing!

Luckily, DS2 is super cute and smiley right now, so it helps alleviate my frustration.

JessicaT - Did you ever find out the source of your spotting? I just started doing this too. I'm scheduled to see my OB again in another week, but that is for an IUD insertion, so just wondering if I should maybe contact her before then to get this checked out. It's not much, just a bit here and there when I wipe. MY mom freaked me out by saying my aunt got pregnant 6 weeks after her first even with breastfeeding exclusively :eek: Man, that would suck!

[LKMang]

Thanks Ade, I had no idea that the protein structures are the same. I’ve been dreading getting rid of soy, but after thinking about it (and bawling my eyes out over it), I’m just gonna do it. I told myself to do it for a month and see if it helps. It might be kind of hard to tell the difference cause DS isn’t fussy anymore and for the most part his diapers look okay to me. Maybe a little runny/mucousy. Of course I just went crazy grocery shopping today and bought tons of soy-full stuff. I went through everything and made a list of the foods I have that don’t have soy, dairy or peanuts, and I think I have enough to eat for the next few days (we have a major snow storm happening tonight). Anyway, thanks for the advice. Why does it all have to be so hard? It doesn’t seem fair that babies can’t handle it and darn it, motherhood is tough enough! I thought having to EP was tough. Oh well, I can only hope that he outgrows it. BTW, I found a great blog by a MSPI mom that has tons of recipes. Really made it all seem a little easier!

[Ade]

LKMag - so sorry it's tough, trust me, I know! ;). I find it much better to make lists of everything I can eat, versus thinking about what I can't. Surprisingly, there is a lot of junk food that is okay, like Fritos, Original Lays and Swedish Fish! But, I do have a 3lb bag of gummy bears, a 4lb jar of Jelly Bellies, a box of assorted herbal teas that I just bought yesterday that I can't touch. Rice milk has become so familiar that I stayed on it even after I stopped nursing DS1. Trader Joes (if you have one near you) has a great deal on their brand. We go through like 3 of the large cartons a week! Also, for most recipes I just substitute rice milk for regular milk and Spectrum shortening for butter. Aside from really thick and creamy dishes, they both work well! Also, if your DH is willing to do the diet with you, I always find it much easier to maintain and handle if the forbidden foods aren't in the house at all. Then it's not like the vanilla ice cream is right there tempting you! It's definitely a lot of work, but you're doing much better than I was at your point with DS1!

I hear ya on the frustration. DS2 has had 3 sleepless nights in a row. He doesn't cry, just kind of groans and fusses in discomfort. On night #2, I felt thisclose to just giving up and putting him on formula. Unfortunately, for us the only formula is Neocate, which is $45 for a 4oz can and is one scoop per 1oz of liquid. DS2 is on the Junior formula as a supplement, so a can lasts a week, but as a primary food, I imagine it would be a can a day. Also, the first ingredient is corn syrup solids; even with all of the vitamin fortification I wouldn't want that to be his primary source of nutrition. When I think about the alternative it just steels my resolve to make BFing work! I did it for 17 months with DS1, I can do it again, it just takes an adjustment period! Best of luck and please feel free to ask any other questions you might have!

[JessicaT]

Where has the time gone?

my baby is napping lousily today, so I will have to make this short as she will probably be up in a minute.

Ade - re the spotting - nope. I did go for an u/s, and everything looked normal, and the spotting tapered off shortly thereafter, so that was that. I occasionally still have a tiny drop or so but I'm just ignoring it. I'm considering an IUD too, but my OB doesn't put them in until 10 weeks so I have a few more weeks to make a final decision! I am bummed out about all choices for BC.

diet - I decided to rechallenge with dairy since it was not clear if it was causing the rash or not. So on saturday I had yogurt, pizza, ice cream - go big or go home right? Fortunately, the rash has not really worsened (she still had a few spots here or there) so I'm not sure it is dairy related in fact. She has started spitting up a little more, although, she doesn't spit up all that much so I'm not sure it's worth making a huge fuss over. She was up from 1-3 am last night and puked twice during that time, both times all over my poor husband who was trying to get her back to sleep! If she keeps puking the dairy will be out again but I'm going to see if it continues.

napping - man this is a challenge for us. right now she is in the swing, and she will nap in the stroller, but it is rainy days here right now. she totally fights going to sleep, it kills me.

fighting - mostly we get into fights in the middle of the night if the baby wakes up and won't go back to sleep. fortunately that is not every night, but my husband can get really frustrated with her, and angry, and then i get mad at him. since my back has been so sore he has been in charge of nighttime bouncing, so if i can't nurse her back to sleep he will get up and help.

QOTD - how do you put your baby to bed for the night? we are having some issues with this. Usually I nurse her to sleep still, but it takes forever, and she always wakes up within 15-20 minutes of going down at least once, and sometimes, 5 or 6 times. So this little bedtime routine can last for hours and it's killing me. Last night, she was exhausted and screaming by 5:30 (!) so i started nursing her, she went down around 6:00 (which I thought was crazy early, but hey, whatever works), woke up again around 6:15, more nursing, down at 7:00 and fortunately stayed down the second time. But the two nights before that, it went on several more times. Any suggestions? I'm also a little worried about this with daylight savings time coming up, I don't really want to put her to bed at 5 pm. We do white noise, etc etc, although we have been having some issues with the swaddle since she can houdini out of anything, but last night tried a size large kiddopotamus which had some success.

all the ladies with colds, mastitis or various other ailments - i hope you all start feeling better real soon!

[JackieO]

JessicaT - this: "napping - man this is a challenge for us. right now she is in the swing, and she will nap in the stroller, but it is rainy days here right now. she totally fights going to sleep, it kills me." could have come right from my mouth! As I type, I'm bouncing the bouncer, after havign rotated between car seat, me, swing, me, bouncer since 12:00. Some days she'll stay asleep in her car seat for up to 4 hours(!) and I have no problem leaving her in there that long since otherwise I'd be doing what I'm doing today! Other times, I just keep rotating and taking the 20-30 minuted cat naps - the crib is apparently no mans land during the day - like a bed of nails when you lay her down, her eyes pop right open!
Just wanted to letyou know I feel your pain! And I am also dreading the time change this weekend - cant wait to see what that does to our sleep schedule!

Waving hello to all our other Mommies and hoping everyone is doing well and babies are thriving! I'm off, DD1 is up form her "rest" and DD2 is staring at me (I'm trying to pretend she's still sleeping...;) )

[JackieO]

Hello Mommies - finally dropping off a few pics of our girls...took me forever to figure out photobucket..I typically use shutterfly! These are the most recent pics of Lauren at about 7 weeks, and then a Valentines Day pic of both our girls! Don't ya just love the double chin on Lauren - it's one of my favorite pictures...only at this age is a double chin so cute!:)


http://i656.photobucket.com/albums/uu282/jackieo1026/FebMar09001-1.jpghttp://i656.photobucket.com/albums/uu282/jackieo1026/FebMar09039-1.jpghttp://i656.photobucket.com/albums/uu282/jackieo1026/FebMar09014-1.jpg

[Eight]

Max is two months tomorrow. Holy cow, where does the time go? And yet, why does it seem to go soooo slowly...particularly the sleepless nights!

He was 11 lbs 5 0zs and 22 1/4 inches. We saw several babies there for their one week appointment. I can't believe that we are so far past that time...yet, it is still so fresh in my mind. It is crazy how the time goes.

I asked about his fussiness (which seems to be constantly intermittent, with brief bouts of not fussiness) and whether there were concerns for reflux b/c of increased spitting up, arching of back, etc. She said his weight gain is great and she isn't overly concerned. However, she said if he seems to get worse, to call and she will call in a prescription.

I wish I knew whether this is all just a developmental thing, or if he needs some meds. It is so frustrating.

I go back to work in a month. We are still scrambling for child care. This is proving to be quite a feat. I should have been way more proactive on the issue, but I guess I deluded myself that certain options would work out. Anyway, we are going to visit some centers next week.

Napping-- That gets a big fat Ha! Max really doesn't seem to be a fan of the nap, unless he is out in his carriage. Yesterday, he was clearly exhausted (before we left for the pediatrician's) and yet would wake up the minute he was put down. Today, he had a cat nap or two (sounds like your routine JackieO) and then we wen out to do some errands. I put him in the bassinet for our walks in our neighborhood and then leave him in it when we return, as he is generally still sleeping. I wish he would sleep better without having to go in the carriage.

He doesn't really like his swing or bouncy chair and for sure will not sleep in them.

QOTD-- Right now, Max starts getting ready for bed around 7 or 8 and then either nurses or gets a bottle with my husband and then often falls asleep and gets put down. Sometimes he needs more rocking, etc, than others.

I fear the time change in a big and violent way. We need better window coverings in our room. I can't even believe it is time to change the clocks. We just had a big snow storm!

cherry-- Good luck with the traveling. We are debating going to London in June...I am not sure how brave I am.

Maplekitty-- I hope you all are feeling better.
LKMang -- that picture is great! Did your DH go out of town? Hope all is going well.
Ade-- I hope you have gotten some better sleep.
Jessica--what's the word on dairy?

ETA: JackieO-- your girls are adorable!!! That double chin is so squishable. Oh, she is a cutie!!

[aprilshowers]

I am so amazed that all your kids are sleeping so well at night. I just can't get A to sleep before midnight and then she wakes up every 2 hours, an hour each time at the minimum. She's only 6 weeks which I know is younger than some of your babies - tell me it gets better???

Jackie - your girls are adorable!!!

[Ilovemysoldier812]

things have been quiet in here.
just stopping by to say Owen's two bottom front teeth are cutting through!!

ok we're moving this weekend so gotta get back to packing.

[numberlady]

Things are going better and worse here with our little one. Bryson is sleeping much better usually a 5-6 hour stretch at night which I have not been able to take advantage of because we have had family in town so I have been spending time with them. Hopefully now that everyone is (finally!) gone I can get some more sleep.

On a negative note, my mastitis apparently turned into a yeast infection in my breasts making them so painful that I had to stop BF and pump. That extended the middle of the night routine considerably because once I pump I am wide awake and have a hard time falling back asleep. Hopefully I will get in touch with my doctor tomorrow and get something to treat me so that we can get back to BF and I can get some sleep!

ilovemysoldier - OMG he is so young to be getting teeth!
aprilshowers - It will get better. I though the same thing at 6 weeks and a few days later he started sleeping much longer stretches.
Eight - I hope you get your childcare worked out.
JackieO - your girls are so cute!

[Ade]

Unfortunately, things are deterorating here. I'm really struggling with DS2's allergies. I don't know if hidden soy is still sneaking in or is lingering longer than I thought, or if it's something else. DS2 is still projectile vomiting at least once everyday, green stools at least half of the time and has pretty bad gas. Sleep is terrible with him waking from 2AM (if I'm lucky) on. I've cut out everything with "natural flavors" as an ingredient and am going to cut wheat and corn tomorrow. I'm kind of at my wits end with all of the food eliminations and no improvement With the added sleep depravation it's getting quite frustrating.

We have our 2 month WBV on Wednesday and I'll ask his ped for any suggestions. I'm so frightened that it's Celiac Disease in addition to the Allergic Colitis. No dairy, soy and wheat will make eating SO difficult. Luckily, he's super cute, so that helps when I really start losing my patience! Hopefully, I can get this all figured out and resolved soon. Getting my IUD tomorrow so at least I don't have to worry about birth control for a while!

Sorry, this is all I can coherently cobble together in my brain fried state. Even with the time change I'm ready to go to bed by 8:30. Hope everyone else is doing better.

[numberlady]

Ade - sorry you are having such a hard time and still having difficulty with the food situation. At least he is cute and you can tell him how hard he made it for mommy when he gets older!

I'm considering the IUD as well, but it is not paid by insurance and cost $800 and since DH and I haven't decided if we are having another child, there is a possibility that I wouldn't have it for long. I am worried though about B/C and remembering to take it, although once I go back to work I may be better.

[Mystikal]

ilovemysoldier I can't believe he has teeth already! DS has been drooling like crazy, and constantly chewing no his fingers/hands and my first thought was teeth, but I thought he had to be too young. Now I'm not so sure!!

[LKMang]

I can’t believe my baby boy is gonna be 3 months old tomorrow!

Anybody else with older babies still not STTN? We are not even close! Bradley is still up 2-3 times each night. He has never slept more than 4 hours at a time. I go back to work on Monday (yucko!) and I seriously must have been delusional cause I thought he’d be sleeping more by now. I wish I could figure out how to get him to eat more during the day because he is definitely hungry when he wakes up. We are still sleeping downstairs with him, his first (& longest) stretch of sleep in the swing. After that he goes in his bassinet (which takes DH forever to get him asleep in!), then he wakes up and I sleep with him on the sofa. I’m trying to stop the co-sleep soon because I don’t want him to get used to it.

Bradley had a little field trip yesterday – we went to the aquarium! It was fun taking him out and he liked looking in the tanks. Of course he fell asleep before we got to the sharks. It was pretty cute and fun to get out as a family, especially after DH was gone last week (and thanks for asking about it eight, it wasn’t too horrible.)

Food allergy issues – I still am not sure what is going on. I am off soy about a week now (may have had a couple hidden sources get in, plus I realized middle of last week that my prenatal has soy in it!) and no changes. Still mucousy diapers. I’m keeping my eye out for any more blood. I’m still not sure whether I should bring him to the dr for this. I know if I see blood again, then I will call.

Slightly off-topic – anybody not do the rotavirus vaccine? We did it at 2 months, but I’m thinking we might skip the rest of the doses. There has been some info on the internet about babies having problems with mucousy BM after the vaccine. I just don’t want to further irritate his possibly already damaged intestines.

Napping – Bradley loves to catnap! The only way he’ll take a longer nap is if we are out in the car/stroller or if he’s in his swing. Right now he is down for his second morning nap, with the first one only lasting about 25 minutes. We are trying to get him used to his bassinet so he is in there. I’m not expecting it to last much longer.

JessicaT – how is the dairy affecting DD? My DH and I also have our big fights in the middle of the night. We have the exact same cycle – him getting frustrated and me getting mad at him! We are also having a tough time getting into a nighttime routine.

Eight – how is Max doing? Still having reflux? Bradley has been on zantac for about a month now and I think it is helping. She did say that babies usually outgrow it and we’ll try to start weaning him from it at around 4 months.

Aprilshowers – how is the sleeping going? I hope its getting better for you!

Ilovemysoldier – OMG teeth! Hope your move went well!

Numberlady – Wow, Bryson is getting good sleep! I can’t imagine more than 4 hours at a time! Hope you can get the yeast infection under control

Ade – Uggh, I feel for you. I swear, hidden soy sucks!!! Why do companies have to be so sneaky about it when they know it is a major allergen! Hope you can get some help from your ped.

Mystikal – How are you stranger!!! How is Ben doing? My DS is also drooling more and chewing on his hands too and I’ve been wondering about teething. I can tell where his teeth are gonna be but they haven’t broken through yet.

[JessicaT]

Hi, mamas! Happy wednesday.

LKmang - happy 3 months! How exciting. I have a catnapper here too - sounds exactly the same. Stroller or swing = longer nap, otherwise, it is super short! Sorry he is waking you up to much at night. I think every baby is just different with sleep. I think it's totally true that he is going to need the same # of calories in 24 hours - so he just needs to get more of them during the day probably to wake up less at night. Then again, maybe he just really enjoys your company and it will take a while longer.

Ade - sorry to hear you are having such a hard time with the diet - I really hope it improves soon or you can figure out what is causing your problems definitively. I hope you can get some more sleep soon too! That sounds so tough.

numberlady - we are considering the IUD too. It isn't covered by your insurance? Hm I will have to check mine, it never even crossed my mind that it wouldn't be covered!

ilovemysolider - yikes teeth! that's crazy.

aprilshowers - hang in there! in my experience, it gets better. I also like to tell myself that the baby will not be doing whatever (waking up all the time, spitting out her binky 50 times in a row, insisting on the baby bjorn) when she goes to college :) this too shall pass.

eight - I have been reading this book called the wonder weeks - it talks about cognitive leaps that babies make that cause fussy weeks. There is one at 8-10 weeks so Max could be starting in on that? I'm sure it will get better soon. I also just read some quote about motherhood, can't remember where, but it was something like - the days are long, but the years (or months in our case) are short - and I thought that was so true! Good luck with the childcare, you will find something.

JackieO- adorable! Sorry to hear you have a lousy napper too! Seems to be a common thing for this thread!

Calla updates - well, the most exciting thing is that Calla slept through the night on saturday! 7 pm to 6 am. I was in total shock, and horrifyingly engorged so I was actually up and pumping when she woke up, starving, and started crying and my poor husband was so confused since I wasn't there. Of course she only did it the one time, but she is regularly doing 8 or 9 hour stretches now. Those are actually sort of a challenge because it puts her feeding dangerously close to her normal wake up time, so if I am not really careful, she decides it is daytime at 4 or 5 am, which is what happened this morning actually ... yuck.

She is still sort of fussy (maybe just coming out of the 8-10 week fussy time) but overall we are doing great. I took her to my office yesterday and showed her around, so of course she got totally overstimulated and a little screamy in the afternoon. She is finally able to be entertained by the playgym - this morning she actually chatted and smiled at her toys for a while! Amazing.

We are also still working on childcare - there is another family in our building with a baby so we are thinking of sharing their nanny. Of course, just to make life super exciting I found out recently that my company is in the process of layoffs, so I don't know if I will even have a job to go back to! Good times!

dairy update - the rash did not come back so I stayed on dairy. However, it definitely makes her more gassy, she farts a lot more. It doesn't seem to be causing major problems so I'm just going with it. I'm not sure it is worth the effort to just back on a few farts. She might be slightly fussier but it is hard to tell whether it was just normal fussiness or worse. She also has very mucousy poop but she always did, on or off dairy, and it doesn't seem to bother her or the ped so I just ignore it.

And ... she just took a 10 minute nap so I have to go try to get her to sleep some more!

[Ilovemysoldier812]

Mystikal-He has been drooling since he was 6 weeks then at his 2 month wbv the ped noticed how much he was drooling and made the comment don't be surprised if he has a tooth before I see him at his 4 month wbv. I thought it was way to early but the other day he was running a fever and nothing would calm him down and sure enough there were 2 little teeth popping up.

By the way the move went great. Our internet won't be turned on till friday so right now I'm at our other house. Yea 2 of every bill realy sucks! especially house payments.

[motray36]

Eight - It seems like Max has the same symptoms that Chase had...he is on Zantac now and it had made a world of difference. I'm not really one for medicating (especially babies), but feel ok about the zantac since its really more of an antacid than a medicine. Hopefully your little guy will feel better soon!

Ilovemysoldier812 - Wow teeth! Good luck with your move, I'll be thinking of you!

numberlady - So sorry about the infection - hope you feel better soon :(

Ade - I hope things are looking up for you and that youre able to figure out the allergies soon!

LKMang - Happy three months to both of our little guys! No STTN for us either...a 4 hour stretch is a rare, good night, usually we get 3-2-2-2-2. I'm trying to work on some of the suggestions in "Baby Whisperer" (I don't really agree with a lot of the book...but some of the sleep stuff seems to make sense). He really needs to nap better during the day, and eat more during the day. I think that may help at night. Who knows...

Rotovirus - my office didn't do it yet, I need to re-look at my schedule. I'm going to do some extra research now too since it came up.

JessicaT - Congrats on the STTN!

us - Sleep is my main concern right now, I'm working on getting him on an Eat-Activity-Sleep Routine (not schedule...just routine) which has gone fabulously. He is napping a little better, but mostly is just doing 30-45 min. I'm trying to extend the naps, so hopefully that will help. So far so good (all of one day that I've been doing it :rolleyes:)

We went for 3 month portraits today and DS cried almost the whole time. We got a few good shots, but it was basically a meltdown. I thought I picked a good time, but he slept in today a little and so he was tired right at the beginning of the shoot. Oh well, luckily I had a coupon for the sitting fee so it wasn't that big of a deal. I'll try and post the pics when they come in!

[Eight]

Ok, reading everyone's posts really does make me feel better. I have to admit it is a relief to know that others are going through the same sort of experiences. Not that I wish such experieces upon anyone!

To join the club of lousy sleepers and nappers, Max rarely takes a good nap during the day, unless we are out with the carriage. He doesn't like his swing, so that is out. And at night...oh man, Motray, we have a very very similar schedule. The four hour stretches are thing of the past. Now a good stretch is three hours. It is rough.

His fussiness does seem a bit better. I think. This morning is a rough one, but I think he is just exhausted. He is actually sleeping right now (on the couch, as I sit next to him). Some jackass in the street below was just honking his horn for an extended period of time, I almost threw something down at him.

Childcare:Thanks all for asking about it. We went to visit a daycare on Monday. They told us last week that they had a waiting list, but when we went on Monday, a spot had opened up. So after having not much luck in the nanny search (more a factor of us not doing a heck of a lot on that), we decided to take the opportunity and take the spot at the daycare. We aren't locked into it forever, so I can still continue the nanny search if I want to. But it is a relief to have it settled.


Motray-- what is the Eat, Activity, Sleep routine? I suppose it is self-explanatory, but it sounds interesting.
I keep debating abou asking the doctor for an Rx, but I think, I think, Max seems to be improving on the fussiness. Though, the spit up is still there. Perhaps just normal baby spit up?
Sorry the picture session was rough, but I hope you got some good shots!

Jessica-- That book sounds really interesting. I will have to look for it. Yeah, Max seems to be improving, but I am not really sure.
That is fabulous on Calla sleeping through the night. Good for you guys!
I hope you don't get any bad news from work!! That is not a fun feeling, I can imagine.
I spoke to my boss yesterday, and the big case I had been working on for over a year and a half, and which was expected to be majorly busy when I returned, has settled. Eeek.

And I hear you on the staying on dairy. Sounds like it is working out ok for you two.

I thought about posting sign in my building for a nanny share. There are two families with babies very close in age to Max's and I know one of them has a nanny already (I see her with the baby). But in the end, I never did.
Good luck with it. I am still wondering if I should have done that.

That motherhood (parenthood) quote sure does seem to sum it all up, eh?


LKMang-- Glad your husband's trip wasn't too rough on you and Chase. And like Chase, Max is up several times a night. Oh, and he prefers to get up for the day around 5 or 6. Yesterday he was up at 4:30. I wanted to cry.
I have the same concerns re lack of sleep and going back to work. I really don't know what to do. I keep thinking it will change, but WHEN is the real issue.
I am sorry to hear about the evil soy problems. That must be so frustrating.

Rotavirus -- I have to ask about this and soon since he will now be going to daycare. I think I read/heard that the cut off for the shot is 15 weeks? I need to check up on it.

Ilovemysoldier-- congrats on the move. And YIKES, teeth?!

Mystikal-- lots of drool here as well. Hope all is well with you.

Oh, I know what I wanted to ask, the LC at the group I go to was talking about the use of probiotics for infants for digestive issues. Has anyone ever heard of this? Apparently some studies done in Europe (I think Italy?) showed a dramatic reduction in the amount of crying in babies who were given probiotic drops over those who took something like mylicon or gripe water. I meant to ask the ped about it at our two month visit, but I totally forgot!

Ok, apologies to whom I missed. I have to run. Max and I have a playdate today with a woman and her son from our breastfeeding support group. The baby is a week younger than Max (Max is almost 10 weeks!!!). And he is over 14 lbs!


Have a good weekend everyone!

[numberlady]

Flyby question...for those that have gotten their 2 month shots, how did baby do? We have ours on Tuesday and I am dreading it.

[motray36]

Eight - The East-Activity-Sleep is from Baby Whisperer. Like I said, I have some issues with a fair amount of the book, but this part seems to work for DS. Basically, its getting them into a routine of eating, then "doing" something, then sleeping. My goal is basically to get him napping (because he is not very good at that) and to try to avoid nursing him to sleep. I wasn't going to push the nursing to sleep, but he seems to be taking to it pretty well. The "doing" can be anything, depending on the time of day...even just a diaper change. And only during the day! It has helped me break up my day a little better too...he generally falls into this pattern: Eat for 15 min, Have some awake time for about 1:45, then nap for anywhere from :30 - 2:30 depending on his mood. Repeat. I like that its structured (Im a list making, schedule following fool in non-baby life), but not inflexible...I don't really clock watch, but still am following a pattern. We'll see if it helps with sleeping - he did all 2.5 hr stretches last night :(

ETA: I am still feeding on-demand...DS just has a crazy internal clock that goes off in a fairly regular pattern!

[Eight]

Motray-- Ooooh, list making, how I love it!
I have found for us,feeding on demand is quite regular since DS eats every two hours during the day. Sometimes every 2 hours and 15 minutes. Funny how it is more or less scheduled, but on demand. I hope the practice helps. Keep us posted.

Numberlady-- we had our's a few weeks ago and Max was fine. We gave him some tylenol after it b/c he seemed to be very uncomfortable and in some pain, but after the tylenol, he seemed fine. I didn't really notice anything different the next few days. He was not one of the babies who slept more after the shots. I have to admit, I was hoping that would be one of the effects...but it was not. Good luck! It was so hard to watch. And then taking off the bandaids afterwards...eeek, that killed me.

Our playdate went well. Really, a playdate for the Moms. But now I am exhausted. Max is sleeping but given that it is going on 6, I am debating waking him up b/c I don't want to screw up his bedtime routine too much.

We might head down to NJ this weekend to my brother and sister-in-laws. Woo hoo, that means suburban shopping, Target and Babies R Us, here we come.
Have a good weekend everyone.

[Mystikal]

LKMang Ben still isn't STTN. Admittedly, some nights are better than others - like last night. He slept from 8-2 (first night in his crib!!) and was up to eat from 2-2:30, then slept until about 5:30, at which point he refused to go back to sleep. Other nights are worse, with him waking around 11, 1:30, 3:30, and 5. Those nights S-U-C-K.

Shots when my DS had his two month shots they didn't seem to affect him much. He slept quite a bit. DD was the same way with her two month shots. It was her four month shots that were Hell. She slept all day and woke at 11:00 at night and was up all. night. long. just screaming. I am hoping that DS doesn't follow that pattern. :(

DS is doing so well. He smiles and "talks" all the time now. He's laughed for DH and my mom, but not for me. I haven't even been around to hear it. I keep telling myself soon enough. Every time I get him close to laughing DD gets in his face and he starts crying. Up until recently he has hated tummy time, so he hasn't rolled over yet, but he's starting to tolerate TT more and more, so hopefully we'll see some rolling soon. If not I won't worry, as he is hitting all other milestones (he is practically sitting unassisted), and DD didn't roll until 9 months old.

My SIL is taking DD overnight tomorrow, and DH's niece is taking DS overnight, so DH and I are going to have a much-needed night to reconnect and SLEEP. I'm still kind of anxious about being away from my babies overnight, but we really need this.

Before I go I'm just going to share a few pictures...
http://i4.photobucket.com/albums/y148/raek622/Kiddos/010-16.jpg

http://i4.photobucket.com/albums/y148/raek622/Kiddos/031.jpg

http://i4.photobucket.com/albums/y148/raek622/Kiddos/036.jpg

[Ilovemysoldier812]

Mystikal- your kids are so cute.

We're travelling next friday to IL, FL, and MA. Anyone have any tips? I'm really scared it's going to mess up his sleep. We're driving to IL, it's a 14 hour drive. We want to leave around 7-730 his bedtime in hopes he sleeps till 6 so that would knock out most of thr trip. I'm just hoping he sleeps. Then that monday we're flying to FL staying there for a few days then flying to MA, staying for a few days then back to IL for a few days then back home to CO. I know crazy huh? It's just DH was supposed to be deploying in May but he isn't anymore due to sleep apnea. I'm really glad he's not one long 15 deployment for me was enough, I really didn't want to do the second one with a child alone.

Owen can sit unassisted for about 5-10 seconds before he falls to the side.
http://i326.photobucket.com/albums/k425/shawna812812/Picture183.jpg

[maplekitty]

Hello all!
Add us to the list of babies who are NOT STTN!! :( boooo! In fact, Ollie sleeps way better during the day than at night. He'll sleep for 4 hour stretches in the day, but at night is up every 2 hours....I've tried everything to get him to switch, but I really hate waking a sleeping baby...so if he sleeps in the day so be it.
He falls asleep instantly in the carseat, so if we're out an about during the day with DD, then Ollie is usually always asleep!

Although one problem has been that I'm not making enough milk. After my fourth and final visit to the bf'ing clinic, we've determined that despite being on Dom Peridone, he's still only getting about 2.5 oz totaly from a feed. I need to suplement after each feed, because the doctor said at this age he should be eating close to 6 oz per feed. So I'm hoping that once he starts getting used to being fuller during the day with the supplementing, that maybe he'll sleep longer stretches at night. One can hope!!

Little O has started giggling, and it is sooo cute! If you tickle him in just the right spot in his armpit, then he lets out this amazing belly laugh! He's also super smiley and starting to be quite talkative.

http://i36.photobucket.com/albums/e29/maplekitty/IMG_7871.jpg?t=1237010586
http://i36.photobucket.com/albums/e29/maplekitty/Oliver%20Ronald%20Watts/IMG_7851.jpg?t=1237010713
http://i36.photobucket.com/albums/e29/maplekitty/Oliver%20Ronald%20Watts/IMG_7788.jpg?t=1237010634
http://i36.photobucket.com/albums/e29/maplekitty/Oliver%20Ronald%20Watts/IMG_7786.jpg?t=1237010658

[cactus]

Oh, we don't have a sleeper either...don't feel bad, ladies! We went on a trip to FL last week to see DH's family and before we left Leo had gotten into a pretty consistent 8 p.m. bedtime, with a stretch of 4-5 hours immediately (shorter chunks for the rest of the night). While we were in FL, he slept great in a PNP in our room--one night he did 6 hours and I about dropped dead from shock. We also tried keeping him on west coast time, so he had a very late bedtime.

Well, in the 3 nights we have been home his sleeping has been worse than it has been since he was 1 month old! Last night he went down at 8 and was up at 10, 1, 3, 4, and 5:30 for the day. I seriously don't know what to do--I was going to try and transition him to his crib from his bassinet when we got back, but his pattern seems to be so effed up that I'm waiting to see if it will regulate. In the meantime, I had a bad cold that I picked up on our trip and now DH has it, so we're pretty miserable.

He has a good morning nap schedule (usually down between 8:30 and 9 and will sleep for 2+ hours) but afternoons are a total crapshoot. Yesterday he was up from about 1-8. Not okay. I have a feeling his afternoon nap refusal might be impacting his nighttime sleep.

I have to go back to work on April 8. Boo. The good news is I've gotten my bosses to agree to a PT (3 days/week in the office, potential 1 day/week at home) schedule through the end of June. Once we nail down childcare, I think I'll feel much better.

Here's the big man, about to go for his first swim with MIL in the pool in Florida. I've sort of lost count of weeks, but I think he's 14 (?). He turned 3 months on the 5th.

http://images1f.snapfish.com/232323232%7Ffp8%3B%3A%3Enu%3D3244%3E257%3E5%3A7%3E WSNRCG%3D323%3A65%3B5%3B4554nu0mrj

Other than that, he's been fairly adorable of late...very perky and fun when he's awake and he full on laughed at me yesterday. I would have been offended, but it was so so cute. Also, I swear he's mobile. I don't like this idea at all, as I was planning for us not to live in this apartment (too small!) when he started moving, but if you put him down on his tummy he will use his arms and legs to scoot halfway across the room. Please dude, slow down! I don't need my 3 month old to crawl!!! I think he's just a physical kid--he'll also stand for long periods if you just give him two fingers to hold on to. Sheesh.

Alrighty, tired and cranky baby needing attention. I love the adorable pictures of the babies...keep them coming and get some rest, ladies!

[PaisleySloan]

Hard to believe so much time has passed. Of course once I sit down to post, Elijah's eyes pop open. Now they're closed. Stay asleep little man!!! :)

numberlady - We had our 2 month shots this past week. There was a drink and two shots. The drink he took like a champ. With the first shot, he let out a little protest, but it quickly passed. The second shot on the other hand, omg! The nurse forewarned us that this particular shot was usually met with a bad reaction. The minute she gave it to him, he just lost it. Cried all the way to the waiting room. Once we got him in his car seat, he calmed right down. He was way fussy for the rest of the day. When he wakes normally, he usually doesn't cry, but he did after every nap that day. So sad. He did have a little fever so we gave him some Tylenol a couple of times that night.

I'm sorry to hear about your infection! I've had mastitis twice now and I'm telling you, that particular boob is the bane of my existence! I over-produce on that side, so I have to wait a few seconds before feeding him because I have a jet stream of milk that just has to get out. I don't even have to squeeze it out, it just does it on its own. Fun stuff. Also, my nipple on that side just kills me. Right now, it's all raw again. I have no idea what to do for it. It seems like he has a hard time getting latched on that side and he pulls off a lot. I'm sure that has something to do with it.

motray36 - I have to try that Eat-Activity-Sleep more often with DS. My husband was home with him for a week and a half while I worked, and it seems like they had a bit of routine going. Now that I'm home again (long story), I notice that he gets super cranky if I try to do too much with him. If he doesn't fall asleep on his own, I'll swaddle him and that always seems to put him down.

Ade - Sorry to hear you are having such a hard time pinpointing the culprit! Hang in there. How is your older one handling things these days?

STTN & Naps - Elijah seems to nap okay. I've had him down for about an hour in his swing and he will wake up and then doze back off. He does this for a good 20 mins before he wants someone to come and get him. Of course, now that I've said that, he is giving me the stink eye and fussing a bit. (dammit!!) He isn't STTN yet, but we're close. He's doing much better. Last night he went down around 10 and woke up around 6 to eat, then slept for another couple of hours. He does this thing where he wiggles around and kind of cries then falls back asleep. Gas perhaps?

WORK - I went back to work on March 2 and my husband, who works from home, was staying home with the baby. It turns out the stress of work and pressure from the baby was too much and he snapped on Wednesday. So, I'm back off of work and looking for someone to come in during the day and help out. It sucks and we didn't want to admit we needed the help, but I guess we can't do it all. We'll see how it goes.

Other than that, Elijah is doing really well. He has such a great disposition and is generally an "easy" baby. It's amazing how you can already see a little personality emerge. We had our last ped visit last week and he is at 11 lbs. 10 oz, and 23 3/4 long. He is really strong and holds his head up really well. I think he actually gets a little pissed that he can't do more "big guy" stuff. The one "big guy" thing he is doing well is outgrowing all his clothes!! :(

I love the pics of all the babies. They are all so beautiful!!

http://i650.photobucket.com/albums/uu228/paisleysloan/IMG00069.jpg

http://i650.photobucket.com/albums/uu228/paisleysloan/IMG_1108.jpg

[LKMang]

OMG I have to go back to work tomorrow!!! Eeeek!! I’m so lucky that is only part time & my schedule works out so DH can watch Bradley, but I’m still freaked out. Hope my first night goes smoothly and that I didn’t forget everything! I have my outfit all ready to wear (I feel like a little kid going to school!). I’m most worried about forgetting something for my pump.

I think I’m going to make an appointment for the ped this week. Bradley’s still having mucousy poopy diapers and lately he has been having more screaming fits. I know it is his stomach because when I bicycle his legs, he almost immediately feels better and starts smiling again. I’m so freaked out about my diet – I’ve been dairy free for more than a month, soy and peanut free for 2 weeks. I know it takes time, but I feel like he is getting worse, not better. This morning was the first time in 2 weeks that I saw a kind of seedy diaper, but there was still mucous (sorry TMI). I’m tired of trying to self-diagnose, so I think I’m gonna call the dr.

We’ve also decided that next week we are going to start sleeping upstairs with him in his bassinet. I’ve been reading No-cry Sleep Solution so I’m gonna try to use some of those ideas. It is gonna be tough, but I am so worried that he is going to get so reliant on the swing to sleep, then grow too big to even use the swing. I also would like to get him to eat more during the day, but that has been tough. Again, I don’t know if its related to an allergy or he just doesn’t like to eat a lot during the day.

Here are a couple pix from the aquarium. He is so much fun during playtime. Last week we started getting loud belly-laughs. So cute! He is very ticklish under her chin & neck. And he loves to be read to. He has started really looking at the pictures and started touching the pages.
http://i332.photobucket.com/albums/m351/lkmang/bradfish1.jpg?t=1237156369 http://i332.photobucket.com/albums/m351/lkmang/bradfish2.jpg?t=1237156444

JessicaT – congrats on Calla’s sleeping! Very interesting that your dr isn’t concerned about mucousy poop. Bradley has the same thing and doesn’t seem affected at all by me being off dairy or soy. I’ll be interested to see what my ped says.

motray – happy bday to Chase! I’ve also been reading the Baby Whisperer and I do like the EASY idea. Bradley has a really hard time falling asleep without a bottle. Sigh, another bad habit that needs to be broken! Hope you got a few good pix at your portrait session!

Eight – Congrats on having childcare figured out! What a relief. Funny, you should mention it, I have also been trying to read up more about probiotics!

numberlady – Bradley was good with his shots. He cried (and I tried really hard not to cry!), but we had a bottle ready to give him, which I think helped. The ped has us give him Tylenol right afterwards as a precaution, but he was okay. Slept a little more, but that was fine with me :)

Mystikal – your kids are adorable! Love the pictures of DD kissing DS.

Ilovemysoldier – sounds like you have a lot of traveling in your future! Owen is such a cutie. Love the moose shirt!

maplekitty – Uggh, hope you can help Ollie get his days and nights right, How frustrating! Isn’t the laughing just the best? Those pix are so cute!

cactus – was last night any better sleepwise? We have been thinking about transitioning to the crib, but right now I think we are going to transition to the bassinet first. I need to get him used to sleeping without motion. Wow to Leo being mobile! How did he like his first swim?

Paisley – sounds like Elijah is sleeping pretty good! Love the pix (especially the sleeping one!)

[Ade]

Things are starting to get better. We're still trying to figure out DS2's food allergies; pork, berries, figs, chicken and bananas are the latest suspects. But, I've added back in wheat and corn as of yesterday and so far they seem to be okay. We still have yet to have a projectile vomit free day, but he has made it to 9:45 PM today with just a little spit up, so I'm keeping my fingers crossed. He did have a green diaper and some hives on his back when I put him in bath and I'm not sure what could have been the cause of that. Although, my dad was saying that when he was a kid his allergy tests revealed he was allergic to carrots and I was munching on those today. I swear, between DH and my dad I am having to cut out the most random foods! Sadly, DS's pediatrician said that there are no tests that can be done, or any treatment, all we can do is what we already are; eliminate and challenge and hopefully catch the culprits. :( Happily, despite all of the vomiting and allergy issues, DS is gaining weight well, 11lbs 3oz and 23.75" at his 2 month WBV, 50th percentile, woo hoo!

One thing that all of this allergy probing has revealed is that DS1 may have Celiac disease (a gluten (wheat protein) intolerance). While researching some possible causes of DS2's allergies, we noticed that DS1 fit the profile for Celiac disease. Looking back at his medical records, we found that he never had a full panel performed. So, on Friday we went and had 6 vials of blood taken. Kid handled it like a champ and didn't even cry when they stuck him with the needle or when they kept having to reposition the needle between each vial. While I would be happy to finally find a cause to his slow weight gain and reluctance to eat, it's a tough disease to manage for a kid, basically no wheat, rye or barley at all. And, it is a life long condition. So, we should get the results back later this week, we'll see. Luckily, DS1 has gotten over his displacement issues and is behaving really well lately.

Sleep is hit or miss. On a good night he'll sleep until 2 and then up every 2 hours after that and up for the day around 7:30. On a bad night he doesn't go back to sleep after 2 or is up every hour after that. Naps are also hit or miss. Some days he naps great, others it's just cat naps.

Work - I'm off until June 1 and I really don't know what I'm going to do after that. Life with 2 is much busier than with just 1. I was really hating the position I was doing when I went out on maternity leave. But, I work for a really great company with awesome benefits and my position does allow me to work primarily from home. So, I'm trying to decide if I should go back, try it out for a couple months and see how it goes or if another position opens up. Or, if I should just take some time off and focus on being a mom. Childcare is one concern. We have an incredible nanny that I've kept while on maternity leave because I was too afraid we'd lose her completely if I let her go while I was off. But, she only comes 3.5 days a week, so I'd need to find someone else to cover the 1.5 days she doesn't come. Plus, we may end up losing her in the fall as she may go back to school or start a teaching job (why must the good ones also be ambitious!). Childcare for an infant (under 2) is DIFFICULT. Plus, DS1 will be starting preschool in September and I'll need to find some way to get him there and back 2 days a week in the middle of the day if we lose our nanny. The practical side of me says to go back to work and see what happens with childcare. If I lose our nanny or it ends up just being too tough to balance work, home and 2 kids or I just hate my position too much to deal with, then take the time off. But, I've been enjoying my time off so much that I'm dreading the idea of going back at all. I guess I still have over 2 months to decide, but it's stressing me out! Oy!

LKMag - I know you probably don't want to buy another bed, but I SO highly recommend a baby hammock. Think of a soft sided cradle that hangs from a spring. It's similar to the swing and keeps the baby in an elevated position which is great for allergic babies. That way you could have him in your bedroom and even move into his room when your ready to transition him. Also, for the allergies check out http://www.vegsoc.org/info/allergy.html and http://www.allergy-details.com/15-top-20-food-allergies-delayed-reactions for some clues as to what also could be causing your DS problems. I was sticking with just the obvious ones with DS2 and it seems that is more obscure foods that are causing the issues (if my latest assumptions are right!).

Paisley - As a primarly work from home person, I can attest to the fact that, yes, you do need help. Sorry to say :(. It's just too difficult to try to met a baby's needs while dealing with the demands of a full time job. Yes, you don't have to commute or even shower and get dressed, but if you have a 10:00 conference call that you need to speak on, you can't deal with a screaming baby. I've just been trying to do some hobby stuff while on maternity leave and find it extremely difficult to find the time to do that with the time it takes to meet the kids needs. Best of luck with finding someone.

cactus - I can't believe you have a crawler already!

maplekitty - so sorry to hear about the supply issues. I know you've been working so hard on BFing, so that must have been a difficult blow.

ILoveMySolider - congrats on your DH getting out of deployment, that's awesome news!

Mystikal - DS1 gets in DS2's face all the time! He does it lovingly, so I try not to get too frustrated with him, but I feel like I am constantly saying, "leave your brother alone, just let him swing!"

Eight - We tried probiotics with DS1 without much success. My ped said that with allergic colitis, probitiocs don't help much because probiotics aid in digestion and their systems can't tolerate the food at all. I really wanted to believe in them though! Congrats on the daycare! Childcare has been one of the toughest things for me as a working mom and was a primary motivator of me wanting to just stay home!

motray - sorry about the portrait meltdown, but kudos to you for doing it!

Jessica - so glad you were able to add dairy back in, I'm so jealous!

numberlady - this is our second child and we are 98% sure that he is our last, so an IUD makes sense for us. Luckily, my insurance covered it and it was a pretty easy insertion. I'm still having some of the side effects like spotting and nausea, so not sure if I can recommend it yet, but I love the low hormones and 5 year efficacy!

And here are couple photos of my super cute guy :D
http://photos-e.ak.fbcdn.net/photos-ak-snc1/v2533/190/49/1509679960/n1509679960_218660_8319447.jpg
http://photos-d.ak.fbcdn.net/photos-ak-snc1/v2533/190/49/1509679960/n1509679960_218867_2968639.jpg

[ellebelle]

Wow, it's been forever since I've been in here! We had some issues with our internet and I'm just now getting caught up with all my emails and such.

DS had his 2 month appointment today and he was 11lbs and 6 ounces. He still has a plugged tear duct and the doctor reminded me that it could take up to 9 months to heal completely. Everything else looks good though. DS umbilical cord finally feel off at almost 6 weeks old after 3 trips to doctor for silver nitrate treatment. He was a little trooper for his shots, but he woke up in a really bad mood after his mid afternoon nap today. The leg that had two shots is all red and seems to be painful to him, so I gave him some Tylenol and he seems to be doing better now. He is very sleepy though and I wonder how all this day sleep is going to effect his sleep tonight.

Work I've been a SAHM since DD was 12 months old. I can still remember how tough it was to juggle being a mom and a full time employee. I'll be thinking of you all that will be returning to work soon. LKMang How did your first couple of days back to work go?

Naps/STTN Naps are still a little all over the place. DS usually takes three 45 minute naps and one 2-3 hour nap. His night sleep has been great though. He usually goes to bed around 6:30 - 7:00 and sleeps for about 7 to 9 hours straight. Then sleeps for a couple more hours until he is up for the day. This is such a big difference than when DD was a baby. She didn't start sleeping though the night until she was 4 months old!

Well, I hope to stay caught up in here and do proper shout outs now that our internet is back up and running. I'll be wishing everyone good sleepy baby vibes to all that need it.

[LKMang]

Well, after 2 days of seeing nice yellow, seedy poopy diapers and getting excited, he had blood today. We made an appointment and went to the ped. His weight gain is really good (up from 10lbs 10oz on Feb 11th to 12lbs 9lbs today). Physically, everything was good. Ped thought maybe something snuck into my diet, since things looked like they were getting better. I have been very diligent about reading labels, but I know that soy is a tough one and can sneak into things like “natural flavoring�. She said I could try neocate for a couple days (while continuing to pump) and see if that helps. I asked if I should try to eliminate anything else from my diet, she said his symptoms sound like mspi, so that wouldn’t help. Also, she said she didn’t think the peanut exposure would cause blood. I think I’m gonna wait a little and see what happens before going to the formula. If I see more blood, then I might try the formula, although I’m worried he isn’t gonna like it. He had another poopy diaper today and it was good – yellow, seedy, little mucus, no blood. She said she would be more concerned if he was consistently having blood.

I also decided that we are not going to give him the rotavirus vaccine at his 4 month visit. I have done some more research and some moms have noticed mucousy diapers starting right after getting it (which I think is when DS’ started). I think it may have upset his digestive system and made him more susceptible to MSPI. I’m also gonna be way more diligent about the soy. I’m off to Whole foods tomorrow – they have so many great products that are manufactured in plants that eliminate cross contamination.

Work was okay on Monday. Of course I bawled my eyes out on the drive over. And since I work nights, DS was asleep when I got home. DH did good, although I know he was stressed out. And it was definitely a PITA to bring the pump to work. I pump 6xs/day and am going to drop another pump next month, but I think I’m still gonna keep the work one because it is the one pump that I don’t have to worry about keeping DS occupied to get through. The nice thing about work was everyone was so happy to see me and patrons kept asking to see pix of DS. So cute! I was off tonight, but have to work Wed & Thurs nights.

Ade – Uggh, I hope you are figuring out DS’ allergies. It doesn’t seem fair that kids can be allergic to such random things. Thanks for the recommendation for the hammock, I’ll definitely keep it in mind! Your son is such a cutie!

ellebelle – wow, your DS is sleeping great at night! Any tips :) Is he in his crib or bassinet? For work, I am giving myself a year, and then I’m gonna re-evaluate and see if I wanna keep working. Hopefully the economy will get better and we won’t have to worry about DH losing his job. I definitely won’t work full time again until DS is in school.

[JackieO]

I have to come back later to do shoutouts (Lauren is asleep and I'mheading that way...) but i wanted to say that we had her 2 month wbv last week (at 10 weeks old). The shots weren't so bad - I cried when DD1 had them, but stayed strong this time! She was a tough little girl, only cried for a minute or two. She did bleed a little bit, and we gave her tylenol/motrin as she seemed a little uncomfortable. She slept through the night though which we didn't expect. She also had a little bruising the next day :( but didn't seem to have much pain. Oh, and she IS a chunker...14lbs. 4oz. and 24.75 inches long!!! The nurse even asked if we were sure she was only 10 weeks old...umm, yeah pretty sure:)

Anyway, I'm off to bed and I'll be back tomorrow for some replies...'night mommies!

[smellycatsgirl]

I can't believe that Ariana will be 3 months next week! She's been uber fussy lately with tons of drooling. DH is in CA for training and has been for the past two weeks. It's been hard, but I only have to make it until the 28th and he will be home again. Which will be nice because I miss him so much and that he has my laptop with all of my stuff that I needed to post on it and the internet is down at the base out there.

How is everyone else doing? I don't get on the computer that much anymore, but I try to pop in every once in awhile to check up on everybody.

[numberlady]

Wow Jackie she is a chunker - Bryson was 11 lbs. 12 oz. and 23.5 in.

Quick post and I am right Jackie to bed. Bryson did good with his shots he had 3 and an oral. The nurse was great and did them so quickly, he screamed and then I gave him the pacifier and then the bottle. He settled down, gave a little whimper after that and finished his bottle. They gave him Tylenol before he got the shots and then told me to give it to him every 4 hours, but not to wake him. He only got 1 dose in yesterday because he decided that bedtime was at 5:30, however he did sleep for 9 hours straight!

LKMang - You are pumping 6x per day? OMG I hope you can keep up with that schedule. I am hoping to get in 2 times per day.

I will come back for proper shoutouts tomorrow, I am going to try to get some sleep and hope that DS decides to sleep for a while tonight.

[ellebelle]

LKMang DS is in his crib now. He slept in the pack n play downstairs for the first two weeks while DH and I took turns sleeping on the couch. We put DS in his bassinet for one night in our room, but he became an increasingly loud sleeper so we decided to put him in his crib after that. I think I just lucked out with an easy baby, but I have found the book Healthy Sleep Habits, Happy Child to be very helpful with both my DD and DS. I hope your little one starts sleeping better soon.

rotovirus vaccine We passed on giving DS this vaccine as well. When DD was a baby the vaccine for rotovirus was taken off the market right before DD was suppose to get it and they didn't come out with the new vaccine until after she was too old to get it. DD ended up getting the virus while in daycare. Since DS won't be in daycare, I didn't feel it was necessary.

DS still hates tummy time. Anyone have suggestions on how I can make tummy time more pleasant for him. I make DS do tummy time for about 5 minutes everyday, but it usually ends up with him just crying the whole time, while I do everything I can think of to entertain him.

[LKMang]

JackieO – glad your DD’s shots weren’t bad. I couldn’t even watch my son get his!

smellycatsgirl – Happy early 3 month bday to Ariana!

numberlady – I’m an exclusive pumper (we had latching problems in the beginning and DS got way too used to a bottle), so that’s why I pump so much. I actually had to pump 8xs/day in the beginning to get my supply going, but now it has stabilized. I work part time but have to pump 1x while I’m there, which I am quickly getting sick of. I just hate having to lug the pump & accessories around with me (and since I EP, I’m dragging my big hospital grade Medela Symphony). Of course tonight I work with all guys, so I get to watch them be uncomfortable when I explain why I have to take my brake early and go in the boss’ office for 20 minutes :) Glad Bryson did well with his shots – the bottle really helps, doesn’t it? It definitely quieted down my DS.

ellebelle – Sounds like you do have a good sleeper on your hands! We decided we are going to transition to the crib around 4 months. Thanks for the book recommendation, it is crazy to me how many different “sleeping methods� there are! My DS hates tummy time too. One thing that helps a little is to put down a colorful receiving blanket on the ground and put him on that. He’ll actually smile at that for the first minute or so (before crying his head off!).

[JessicaT]

Hey, mamas,

I guess I am just looking for a little support here, Calla has been on a nursing strike since last night and I am really having a hard time. I have been able to get her to nurse a little bit this afternoon, in odd positions, right when she woke up, but now she is way too tired and dad is putting her to bed with a bottle. She's been nursing to sleep for several weeks and I totally thought I would be ok with that not happening today since it's been a terrible day already but I had to leave the room and cry.

Anyway, hope all of your little one's are doing better, sorry I don't have the energy to do SO's right now.

[cactus]

Aw, Jessica, I'm sorry. It hasn't happened to us yet but I know it's pretty common for them to go on strike and I'm not looking forward to it. Hopefully it was just a very temporary thing and she'll be back to her old self very soon. Hang in there.

Us: plugging away. Our recent trip to the east coast really messed with his "schedule," plus all three of us got sick so this last week has been very hard. Couple that with my anxiety about my impending return to work (April 8) and now feeling the urgency about finding a caregiver for Leo and it's been a very hard week. I do have plans for a baby-free brunch with friends tomorrow, and I think it will be just what I need. Daddy's going to do a little babysitting!

[JessicaT]

Hopefully I didn't bring this thread to a screeching halt with my boo hoos a few days ago. The good news is, Calla started nursing again so we are doing much better. She has been a fussy little baby for the past few days though - I think she is going through her 12 week development leap.

I hope everyone is doing well today!

[meg100105]

OMG, I'm so behind! I'm so sorry ladies. I'm hoping to catch up soon.

Grayson is over two months now and I'm quickly approaching the end of my maternity leave. Has anyone had to go back to work yet? I'm in serious denial about it. I haven't found child care yet - and I actually start to get panic attack symptoms when I think about it. Needless to say, I'm bummed.

Anyway, here's a quick picture.

http://farm4.static.flickr.com/3421/3371438023_a522fba5c3.jpg?v=0

I'm really hoping to get online more often!

[numberlady]

Meg - Greyson is so cute. I'm starting to have anxiety about work too, I start back in a little over a week and am going to actually have to get out of my PJ's before 2!
Jessica - So glad that Calla started nursing again.
Cactus - I hope that your Leo-free brunch was fun.
LKMang - That makes sense that you pump so much, how tiring! When I was pumping due to mastitis/thrush, etc. it was exhausting, but props to you for sticking with it.

Sorry for those that I haven't caught up with, Bryson is waking up.

For those of you that have started working again, what is your morning schedule? I am trying to figure out what time I need to wake up and want to try to BF DS and then pump before I go to work. DH is a WAHD, and since he tends to be a latenighter, I would like for him to be able to get the maximum amount of sleep. Should I plan on waking DS and then putting him back to sleep and then get ready? I'm just confused at how to do this, but want to start at the beginning of the week to get used to waking up, since I start work on Thursday.

[IzzyJune2006]

numberlady

It's still a little hard to have a schedule when they are this young. Josephine still doesn't have a very regular sleep schedule. I've started by making of list of all that needs to get prepared and done. I do as much as I can the night before (for example picking out clothes, getting my towel ready for the shower, preparing for breakfast, lining up my bags by the door, or in the car, etc).

It's a little more complicated with two, but here's my morning routine. In the morning, the girls are usually asleep while I shower and dress. If I'm lucky I can also have breakfast by myself, prepare lunch bags, bottles, etc. Then I dress and feed DD1. She is instructed to stay in bed until 7am but it doesn't always work. If DD2 is awake, I carry her along during all of this. Wake up DD2, change her diaper and dress her. Hope that she wants to nurse. If she doesn't I assess whether I want to pump at home or wait until I get to work. It depends on the mood of the girls and the time. If they are both quiet and content (watching tv or playing some game), I pump at home, then wash the pump. Get everyone and the gear into the car and leave.

So I wake up around 6:15am and I'm very happy if we are in the car by 7:30am. I've only done this a couple of times with the two girls and might wake up at 6am if needed.

HTH.

[aprilshowers]

Wow, I'm impressed with your efficiency Izzy! We struggle to get out of the house by 8:30 and I'm still on maternity leave so oftentimes that doesn't even include a shower for me. Of course, it would help if I actually got my lazy butt out of bed on time. But if I'm sleeping my DH usually lets me be since I'm still up a lot at night.

[JackieO]

Count me in as another one impressed by Izzy...I'm lucky to be on time for 10:00 storytimes!

[cactus]

Ack, ladies...where is everyone? :)

I'm just trying to resurrect this thread in hopes that someone can reassure me that my child will not wake up every 2 hours forever.

I know there's the "4 Month Sleep Regression" (Leo will be 4 months on Sunday) but I stupidly thought we would sort of be exempt since he never really slept well to begin with. Wrong! What I wouldn't give to be where we were a month ago. Ugh.

So he went from going down at 8, sleeping 4 or 5 hours, and then getting up to eat every 2-3 hours for the rest of the night to...now he goes down at 8, never makes it to midnight (usually it's 3 hours), and then is up, like clockwork, at least every two hours. Ravenous. Sometimes more frequently. Up for the day before 5.

Suggestions? Sympathy? I'm seriously about to lose it. And I go back to work next week. I know this might be a loaded question, but how young is too young for some kind of sleep training? And if you've done it with any success, can you share your experiences (either with this kid or another kid)?

Okay, hope everyone else is sleeping better than me. ;) I can't believe some of our babies are turning 4 months! Ack!

(And I feel really dumb for thinking this would all be easy by now.)

[LKMang]

Hi cactus!! I'm still around! (although lately I've been spending most of my time in the Food allergies thread...uggh). Sorry to hear about Leo's sleeping! Bradley is a week younger, but we are definitely having a growth spurt. He is eating almost 5 oz more each day than he used to. Sleep is still all over the place, last night he was up every 2 hours or so, but Saturday night he slept 6 hours in a row (first time he's ever done that!) He is still in his swing sleeping, but we are going to start the transition to the crib at 4 months. I've been trying to read up on sleep training and we are going to try some of the No cry sleep solutions suggestions soon. I told hubby that if we are still having sleep problems by 6 months, then we'll try something else (that will involve more crying). How are Leo's naps? Bradley is horrible at napping, only sleeping for about 20 minutes at a time.

And don't feel dumb, I thought it would be a LOT easier by now!!! The no sleep (and my stupid crazy diet) are really starting to take their toll.

[numberlady]

Izzy - OMG, I can't imagine getting out of the house that quickly with only one that doesn't have to get ready for daycare! And it doesn't take very long for me to get ready. Props to you. One thing that you do that I need to try is to get as much ready as possible the night before.
Cactus - I will give you sympathy. I am so sorry that Leo has reverted to sleeping in short bursts. I can't imagine the difficulty with going back to work. Just don't kill yourself when you to go back, you just need to be sure that you get as much sleep as possible and don't worry if the dishes aren't done, etc.
LKMang - Sympathy to you too for the lack of sleep and the dietary restrictions. DS has been having some BM issues, but I'm not sure if they are dietary on my part because I also read that that after some of the 2 month shots it can cause these same issues, as well as teething with the increase in saliva. All of these things started at about the same time as the BM issues, so I'm not sure what the problem is.

Hope all the other mommies are getting better sleep and for those going back to work soon the transition is smooth and not too traumatic.

[PaisleySloan]

Quick post to say I'm still here.

I've been so busy the past few weeks. We've been interviewing nannies and it is so hard. Just to find someone that I feel comfortable leaving my baby with is difficult. My husband works from home so at least he will be here. I have someone coming tomorrow to work for a few hours, so we'll see if she is a good fit for us. Ugh.

Other than that, Elijah is doing so well. He is just a JOY to be around. His personality is so sweet and we couldn't be happier with him. He's sleeping for longer stretches and spends some time in his crib. I've been popping him in there just to hang out and get used to it. We're doing some minor work in the nursery right now, so as soon as we're done I think we're going to try putting him down in there to sleep. Eek!!

Sorry Cactus and LKMang for your sleep issues and the dietary stuff. Hang in there ladies and know that you're not alone.

Hope everyone is doing well!!

[ellebelle]

cactus I'm so sorry your little guy isn't sleeping. :( Your situation sounds very similar to what I went through with DD when she was a baby. She was not a good sleeper from day one, but by the time she was 4 months things got progressively worse, I had gone back to work and was a complete zombie. It got to the point where she was waking up every hour at night. DH finally convinced me that we needed to do some sleep training with her. So around 4 months I did some research and decided to go with the Ferber method and also followed the advice of Healthy Sleep Habits, Happy Child. Her sleep was so messed up and dependent upon me rocking her all night that it took about 9 nights to completely work, but after that she was and still is at 2.5 years old an awesome sleeper. DD's personality also did a 180 after using the Ferber method. She hardly ever fussed and was full of smiles once she learned to self sooth herself.

I am now a big believer in the Ferber method. I know many people who don't like letting a baby CIO but for us it was the only thing that worked and I won't hesitate to use it again with DS if we need to. Let me know if you have any questions or need any support if you plan to try it out.

[maplekitty]

Hi All!
I'm here, but sporadically....we just moved into our new house and any free time in spent unpacking boxes!!
Ollie made the transition to the new house alright, but there were a few days where he definitely felt my stress and was hardly nursing. But he's back to nursing just fine now, thank goodness. I was a little worried as DD self-weaned at 4 months old, and Ollie is almost 4 months. All those memories come back to haunt me as he nears that age too.

He's sleeping in his new room really well, and it' so much warmer in this new house with double paned windows and all....I don't need to pile on his blankets at night!! LOL

Ollie loves playing in the exersaucer, and he's grasping at toys and is a chewing machine and will out anything and everything in his mouth right now. He's also giggling so much, it's hilarious!!

[IzzyJune2006]

LKMang
So sorry to read about the allergy issues and restricted diet. You are such a trooper for working through it and not giving up.

Cactus
I have been keeping an eye out for that 4 month transition. With DD1, I totally blew it. I read the HSHHC (http://www.amazon.com/Healthy-Sleep-Habits-Happy-Child/dp/0449004023)book when she was 7 months old I think. I was totally drained at that point and couldn't function anymore. Definitely don't wait that long. 4 months is the right time to catch that transition and set good sleeping habits. I'm so glad DD2 is a much better sleeper than DD1, but still, there's definitely something going on at 4 months.

Sending sleeping vibes to everyone... It's ups and downs around here. Our toddler is keeping us up almost as much as the baby. (Yes, those good sleep habits can make a difference for the long run).

[JessicaT]

cactus - sorry to hear you are having such a rough patch. do you ever read ask moxie? i like her theory about kids that are tension releasers (needing to cry a blow off steam a little before sleeping, and responding well to CIO for that reason) versus tension accelerators (crying makes them hysterical and they don't respond well to CIO). If you know which you have, it might help you decide, or try a few nights and see what happens. I always thought i would be anti-CIO and more on the attachment parenting spectrum, but now that I am a parent, I am no longer convinced. We haven't needed to do any sleep training yet, but I would definitely consider it if we have a bad 4-mo regression (can't wait ... one month to go!). Calla is the type of baby that is extremely cranky when she is tired - in fact cranky does not really describe it, she's very "dramatic" as my mom puts it and basically screams her head off. She actually just cried herself to sleep for her morning nap despite my comforting her, rocking her, pacifier, etc, because she woke for a 5:30 feeding this morning and then slept poorly from 6:15 to 7:15 and was so tired at 8 when I put her down for her nap that she basically lost it. Anyway, we had a couple of bad nights over the weekend with frequent wakings, which not only sucked for me, but meant that she mostly screamed all afternoon and was nearly inconsolable, which sucked even more for me. So, yeah, if we have to sleep train with CIO I will do it, if it means I get a happier baby during the day. We are already doing some of the "no cry" suggestions and will probably add more of them but we'll see how it goes.

She's still in her cosleeper but we are thinking about going to the crib soon, which is still only about 10 feet from our bed since it is in her closet-nursery. Anyone that has transitioned - what did you do and how did it go? Just put them in the crib one night? Start with naps? Move the bassinet next to the crib?

In other Calla updates, I am back off dairy UGH! She has been a major fusser, crazy gassy and spitting up and screaming a lot and of course we had that charming nursing strike the other day, so I cut it back out to see if it can help with the gas. Last week was rough. We had a slightly better day yesterday, but now of course this morning has already started with tears so we'll see what I'm in for today!

Happy tuesday all!

[cherry]

sorry to everyone having sleep trouble. we go back and forth over here... last night DD was up twice, which wasn't bad. she does wake up any time my DS wakes up (which lately, because he's teething, has been regularly), and we still don't have a good bedtime routine in place. i feel bad, as with my son we started the bedtime routine at around 7 weeks (play, bath, feed, bed), but we just haven't got into the right rhythm yet. right now, DD is going to bed between 8:45 and 10.

her naps are all over the place and we're not very good about formally "putting her down" - she just naps in her papasan seat or wherever. bad, i know.

also, we are about to transition her from the bassinet to the crib (um, just need to borrow the crib first! i want to keep DS in his crib as long as he'll tolerate it, so we need a second crib for the time being). we have houseguests coming for a couple of weeks, so after that we'll do the transition. jessicaT, when we did this with my DS we started by putting him in the crib for naps for a few days, then one night put him down (swaddled, so he felt cozy) in the crib.

i returned to work last week and so far it hasn't been too bad, probably because my DH is a SAHD so we have continuity. he's great with the kids. i was surprised at how wiped out i was after work the first few days, but i've become more used to it. i have some business travel coming up to europe, and i'm taking DD with me and my mother will watch her while i'm in meetings during the day. hope her passport arrives in time!

oh, and i'm glad to have got the reminder on the 4-month regression here... would rather keep an eye out for it than be blindsided!

cactus, i agree with trying some mild sleep training. does leo cluster-feed in the evening before he goes down for his first stretch? how is he sleeping during the day these days? sorry this is happening just before you return to work, it must be stressful.

[IzzyJune2006]

co-sleeper to crib transition
It seems like forever ago that we did that. I think it was at about 2 months. Her daytime naps were all in her crib. She's been a good sleeper from the start but I think the consistency of where she slept helped too. I've been using the method of putting her into bed before she is completely asleep. My mom and DH get her completely asleep before moving her. We rock her to sleep (we probably need to stop soon).

*Disclaimer: it works for DD2. I'm convinced it never would have worked with DD1.

Finally we made the switch into her crib at night time maybe a month ago. I was relunctant because I thought it would mean I'd be up a lot but it's been ok. I bought a used video monitor from Craig's list and that was a worthwhile investment. I can check on her without having to go in her room. Some nights I have to go a couple of times, others none at all. Now that she's 4 months she is developing a predictable schedule. I'm trying to schedule the feeding to allow for the longest stretch of sleep at night. Our current issue is the diaper. She does not like to be wet and the cloth diapers get soaked. I don't know if she would do better in disposables but I'll eventually try. I am really impressed with her sleep though. I know that she wakes up about every 2-4 hours. I sometimes hear a couple of little cries but she falls asleep on her own.

JessicaT
FYI, I remember with DD1, her crib was in our room (we were temporaryly living with my ILs) and it was a disaster because she would look at us and cry. That was around the age when she started to stand in the crib (6-7 months maybe). It was critical to put some kind of screen to block her view.

[numberlady]

I think DS picked up on all this sleep talk and lastnight slept horribly. He had been going to sleep between 5-7 waking up at 3 nursing and going right back down until 7. This was a perfect schedule for me starting work on Thursday. Last night he was up at 11, 3, 5 and 6:30. I didn't fall asleep until after his first waking. Then he took 3 naps today and none of them was for more than 30 minutes.

Cactus - I just thought of something that may or may not have helped you, but it kind of happened by accident to us. DS would start to stir and wake up at about 1. I would hear the monitor go off and normally would have gone in there, but was so tired one night I just laid there for a few minutes until he started crying. The next thing I knew it was several hours later and DS had soothed himself back to sleep and I had fallen asleep. I never would have thought this would have worked for him. Anyways, it was a lesson for me and didn't result in any "trauma" for me having to let DS cry it out.

[Mystikal]

I'm here.
LKMang I'm sorry to hear about the food allergies. ((HUGS)) It shouldn't be this hard, should it? :(

Sleep my DD never had the four month sleep regression, so I knew nothing about it until I decided to check in tonight. THANK YOU!!!! DS was doing so much better - going down between 6:30 and 7 and sleeping until between 2-3, then up to eat and back to sleep until 6:30 when I had to wake him. The last week he's been going down between 6:30-7, then up at 1 and again at 4, REFUSING to go back to sleep unless I keep him in bed with me all snuggled up, which would be fine if I didn't need to get up at 5:00 to get ready for work. :rolleyes: I hope it doesn't last long.

DS will be 4 months old on Sunday. I can't believe how fast this is flying by. DD is for the most part wonderful with him, but she's getting hit with the jealousy bug in a major way once or twice a day. She likes to hit him on the top of the head, and she throws things at him, too. Nothings working.

Anyway, just a couple pictures of my smiley guy, and one of DD being nice to her brother:
http://i4.photobucket.com/albums/y148/raek622/Kiddos/010-18.jpg

http://i4.photobucket.com/albums/y148/raek622/Kiddos/030-3.jpg

http://i4.photobucket.com/albums/y148/raek622/Kiddos/015-12.jpg

http://i4.photobucket.com/albums/y148/raek622/Kiddos/003-18.jpg

[Eight]

I can't believe Max will be three months tomorrow. Wow.

Today is my last day home. I go back to work on Monday.

Cactus-- I had not heard of this 4 month sleep regression. Oh man. I would have thought, like you, we wouldn't suffer it so badly b/c Max just doesn't seem to believe in sleep.

Your nightime routine sounds sooooooooooo similar to our's. Max goes down, usually, between 7-8 and he used to sleep until midnight or 1 and then up every three hours after that. Which was ok. Not great, but ok. Now we consider it a very very good night if he makes it until midnight. Last night he was up at 10:30 and then every two hours after that. And yep, up for the day around 5:30 or 6. So sounds much like what you are going through.

I have no idea how to change any of this. I don't know if he needs to eat that much or what. I wish I knew.

Our crib is right next to our bed b/c we have a one bedroom apartment with no real room for a nursery. I do wait a bit to see if he will fall back to sleep, but not so much. I cannot imagine what this will all be like when I go back to work. Ugh.

Jessica--interesting on the differences in crying to calm down or crying that ratchets it all up. I think Max is one who cries and becomes much more upset.

Mystikal-- Ben is adorable. I love his smile.

Cherry--How is work going? International travel?! Good luck!

LKMang--That is just not fair that you are still encountering dietary problems. You deserve a break! I can only imagine how stressful and tiring it must. I hope there is some relief coming your way.

Maplekitty--Congrats on the move. How is the new house?

Izzyjune--How how do you get out the door so efficiently? I haven't the faintest clue how I will manage next week. Max is so demanding in the morning, I have no idea how I will shower, dress and get him ready. Oh my.

Ok, sorry for anyone I have missed. I need to go shower while Max is napping. I have a whole lot more to write, but must go de-stink myself.
My last day home is a miserable cold rainy day. Yesterday was sooo nice and sunny. I wish we could have two nice days in a row!
Next week is supposed to be more of the cold rainy ickiness. Oh, what a return to work it will be!

[Ilovemysoldier812]

We're back from our trip. Got back yesterday and I'm so glad to be back.

I'm sorry for everyone thats having sleep issues. I have no advice. Owen sleeps at night just not during the day. I was scared traveling would mess his routine up but it didn't.

First we went to IL which was sooo boring! Next was FL. The weather was so beautiful. We went to Disney, Owen got to go on a couple rides. Then we went to MA. It was alot of traveling in a short time. I'm glad everyone got to meet Owen. He did so well on the plane. Slept every flight.I'll post pictures later.

Question- How long does your baby go Between a BM? Owen goes like over a week which I thought wasn't normal and the ped said to give hime prunes mixed with oatmeal. I really want to wait till he's 6 months. I asked in the BF support thread and they said a week is normal. So i'm going to hold out on the solids. He is such a big boy though. He weighed 15lbs 4 oz yesterday. I don't know his length but I think he's going to be tall like daddy.

mystikal- Ben is so cute. I love the one of him and his sister.

LKmang- I'm sorry about the food allergies.

I'll be back with more so's and pictures

[numberlady]

Mystical - It looks like your DS likes to claw at his face like mine does! He hates me clipping his nails but they grow so fast.
Eight - I hope your first day goes well, and Max lets you get a decent night sleep.
ILMS - I'm glad your travels went well. We are going to attempt our first travel in the car with DS in about a month and I am nervous.

BM - DS still has between 3-5 BM's per day and he is almost 12 weeks.

Back to work - My first couple days back weren't so bad. I picked a good week to go back because it was spring break so a lot of people were out, including my boss. It allowed me to transition back and figure out pumping without too much stress. Nexct week may be different.

We are dealing with neck funk issues. We first noticed some redness between the folds in DS's neck about 2 weeks ago. Cleaned it out real well (I assume it was milk from spitup) put some Lotrimin on it and it looked pretty good. Now it seems we are cleaning it about once or twice a day and it is still red looking and always some crud in there. He hates for us to get in there, and his baby bath is really not good for getting it clean, so I try to get it after he is done eating or on the floor playing.

[Mystikal]

Thanks, everyone, for the compliments on my DS. :) (And DD, too. lol.)

numberlady yeah, he digs his face all the time, and the one time I cut his nails I took a chunk out of his fingertip. It was baaaaad. I used to bite DD's nails, but he doesn't let me do that, either, so my mom cuts his nails while she watches them. lol.

BM DS generally goes once a day, but has gone two days without one this time. That means he will probably have a blowout tomorrow while we are at the peds office for his checkup. lol.

So, DS has his first cold. It's terrible. I'm wondering if it's a sinus infection, as his boogies are a bit green. He's also been putting his hand up to his right ear, so I'm thinking maybe ear infection, too? Poor guy. The cold is going into his chest and his cough sounds terrible. Right now he's sleeping propped up on a pillow in the cradle part of his pack n play. I know it's a no-no, but he's not rolling yet, and there's really no room for him to roll in the place he's sleeping.

DS sat unassisted for about 20-25 seconds yesterday. He was looking up at me and lost his balance and fell backward, but he did really good until then. lol.

[LKMang]

I can’t believe Bradley is going to be 4 months old next week! Just crazy how time flies (and yet, it feels so slow at the same time! How is that possible?). We are still having issues, which brings me to my gross, TMI QOTD…

What does your baby’s poopy diapers look like?

I know there is variability, but I honestly have no idea what “normal� looks like. I have now eliminated wheat/gluten from my diet, which resulted in a lot less mucous. We had one seedy diapers and I was so excited, but now we are back to mucous. When he had less mucous, his diapers looked pretty liquidy and there wasn’t a lot in there when he went (most of it soaked into the diaper). Sorry for TMI, I am just at my wits end trying to figure this out. The diet along with the lack of sleep are really getting to me. And I really don’t feel like it is helping! I was so excited with his stool changes when I took out the gluten, but now it seems to be back to what it was before. I am really looking forward to next week’s 4 month WBV because I’m going to tell the ped that I want to see a gastroenterologist.

cactus – did you figure anything out about whether to sleep train or not? I just got Weissbluth’s book (which so far is a great read) and I have Ferbers. I think we are going to wait a few more weeks before trying anything drastic. Right now we are trying to get Bradley used to sleeping in his PNP or crib for his naps. I was amazed, he actually took a nap in the PNP today (first time in months he slept outside of his swing or co-sleeping with me). His sleep has been terrible, he sleeps one big chunk in the beginning of the night (4-5 hours), then is up every 1-2 hours. He has absolutely no self-soothing methods (which makes sense because we obviously haven’t been teaching him any!). Hope you are having more luck! I have decided that I am not opposed to CIO (of course I am saying this before actually doing it!). And it does seem that 4 months is a good time to begin some form of sleep training (at least all the books seem to think so).

Jessica – my DS is also very dramatic when he is tired. He loves to put his bottom lip out, which just cracks me up, its too cute!! We just got a sound machine and it really helps calm him when I play the rain sound (and also cuts down on the water bill from me running the shower/faucet). Reading Weissbluth has me convinced how important sleep really is and I think I am also willing to give CIO a try at some point. First I’d like to figure out his food issues. We haven’t transitioned to the crib yet, but its gonna be bad, I can just tell! Sorry about you having to go off dairy. It definitely sucks and I just hope all our babies outgrow these allergies/intolerances!

Cherry – glad that work hasn’t been too bad. I know it makes me feel better to know my DH is taking care of DS. Good luck with the traveling!

Izzy – thanks for sharing your crib transition experience. I’m hoping things will get better when we consistently put him in there. I guess we are luck with the diaper. Bradley will scream and cry when he has the slightest wet diaper during the day, but at night he could care less :)

Mystikal – your kids are just adorable! Hope sleep is getting better for you! How long is this 4 month regression supposed to last? Poor Ben for having a cold.

Eight – how is the sleep going? Any better? It is so frustrating to have one okay night and then a really horrible night and not know what caused the difference! Hope you have a good first day of work tomorrow!!!

numberlady – My poor DS is always all cut up on this face. Those nails get so sharp, even when I cut them every other day! Hope this week of work continues to be good. We also have some neck issues, mainly with redness but so far not too bad.

[Eight]

So today is day three back at work. Yikes, am I tired. Max really does not like to sleep. I told him that he is making me question his DNA, as I cannot fathom how a child of mine does not like sleep!!

We have been managing ok in the mornings. I do drop offs and DH does the pick ups. But I think it has only been going so well b/c we haven't had to rush or leave super early for work or the like. I have been taking Max to daycare in his Ergo. He seems to now hate it. I don't know if I have it on wrong or what. But yikes, does he let me know he hates it. We either try to walk or take the bus to daycare.

I am thinking of buying a smaller stroller to use for walking him there as (1) there isn't a heck of a lot of storage room at the daycare and (2) I can't take the idea of the Orbit getting so banged up while in the storage bins.

Any suggestions? Can he go in a Maclaren type stroller now?
LKMang-- thanks for the poop thread! Totally made me feel better! How is the wheat/gluten/dairy, et al free life treating you both? How is transitioning from the swing? We are no better on the sleep at night at all. When do you go the pediatrician's? I hope you get some clearer answers soon!

Numberlady-- oh good to hear you have a more frequent pooper as well. Max has about 3-4 BMs a day. And we have the neck funk as well. And the red skin. It does seem to improve after a bath. I thought the red might be from me giving him is "sponge baths" -- in that I was a bit more forceful in trying to clean the rolls. How is work going?

ILMS-- Sounds like a nice trip. The warm weather must have been fabulous. We had snow showers today, I couldn't believe it.
As I said above, DS has about 3-4 BMs a day.

Mystikal-- I cut Max's finger while cutting his nails on Friday. I felt horrible!!! Is Ben feeling better?

Ok, I am off to forage something for lunch. I have to admit, while being back to work is draining and it is hard to have Max in daycare fulltime, I like being able to pee at will and eat when I want to!!

[numberlady]

I have to admit, while being back to work is draining and it is hard to have Max in daycare fulltime, I like being able to pee at will and eat when I want to!!

Isn't that the truth! While I would love to stay home with DS if that was an option, I would have to change a lot of things in order to be happy doing it.

Work is going pretty well, although DH seems to be coming down with something cold/flu-like. I just hope that is passes quickly and nobody else gets it. DS hasn't been sick yet and I hope he doesn't get sick any time soon!

[cactus]

numberlady and eight, I agree with you completely! Yesterday was my first day back in the office (but since I'm only PT right now I'm off again today :)) and while it was SO HARD to be away from Leo all day I sure did enjoy my adult-company lunch. With utensils! And two trips (solo!) to the ladies room! And no wearing anyone in the Baby Bjorn at any point during the meal! (Although has anyone else noticed that even when they're not holding/wearing/pushing their babies they still do this weird rocking/bouncing thing like there's a baby there who needs to be in constant motion? I think I look like I have developed a nervous tic!)

Here's a new pic of my giant boy from his 4 month birthday this past weekend--he is getting SO BIG! I've already had to put him in some 6-12 month clothes, especially things with feet. He's very tall, unlike either of his parents. ;)

http://images1f.snapfish.com/232323232%7Ffp8%3B6%3Enu%3D3244%3E257%3E5%3A7%3EWS NRCG%3D323%3A8%3A9366474nu0mrj

[aprilshowers]

(Although has anyone else noticed that even when they're not holding/wearing/pushing their babies they still do this weird rocking/bouncing thing like there's a baby there who needs to be in constant motion? LOL - I noticed this the other day when someone else was holding DD and she started crying, I immediately started rocking.

Good luck to all of you going back to work! I work part-time from home and it's hard enough, huge kudoes to those of you who do it out-of-home, especially with pumping and all.

[Ilovemysoldier812]

LKMang- I can't believe all you have had to cut out. I would go crazy but good for you to continue to BF. i have cut out dairy in the past week and its sooo hard.

Eight- I want the Chicco c6 stroller. I like the way it folds up. I really need a lightweight stroller for all the traveling we will be doing in the next year.

Cactus- Leo is soo cute. Owen is also in 6-9 month for pants, He's so tall but Dh is 6'4".I put a pair of my favorite jeans on him and they were so short on him.


We joined The little Gym every mondays. Owen loves it. He enjoys all the babies. He's the youngest in the class. 4-10 months and he won't be 4 months or a couple weeks now but the teacher says he's strong enough to be in the class. I don't know what else to do with him during the day. He really enjoys being out. We're going to do a trial class at kindermusik next week. If we like it we might join that too. He really enjoys being out. I want him to have interaction with other children since he isn't in daycare.

I spoke to soon, Dh IS deploying now. I don't know what to do. I'm really scared to be alone for a year. I have done it before but now with the baby it's going to be hard especially with no family here.

Pictures-sorry so big!

first plane ride.
http://i326.photobucket.com/albums/k425/shawna812812/049.jpg

Disney
http://i326.photobucket.com/albums/k425/shawna812812/098.jpg

Laughing for the first time
http://i326.photobucket.com/albums/k425/shawna812812/187.jpg

I love this outfit
http://i326.photobucket.com/albums/k425/shawna812812/213.jpg

[Mystikal]

ilovemysoldier I'm sorry about your DH. :( I will keep you all in my prayers.

Hey, all! I’m terrible at keeping up so please forgive me. I’m popping in at work for a second, so I don’t really have time to read everything that I’ve missed. I wish I could see pictures at work, but they are blocked.

Anyway, Reuben turned 4 months on Sunday. We had his 4 month wbv on Monday and he weighs 17 pounds and is 26 inches long. He’s a big boy, but he doesn’t look chubby. He’s just very solid. He wears 3-6 month clothes and size 2 diapers. He still wakes once a night (at least) to eat. Dr did diagnose a sinus infection and ear infection, so he’s on a round of antibiotics and I’m hoping will start sleeping better soon. He slept great last night, but he was in bed with me all night, so me, not so much. Lol.

We’ve had a couple firsts this week. Saturday he sat unassisted for about 20 seconds before falling backward because he was looking up at me. Tuesday he rolled over for the first time, from back to belly, but hasn’t done it since. Wednesday he tried cereal for the first time and he actually loved it!!! No gagging and minimal spitting. Yesterday he ate the whole bowl and smacked his lips appreciatively in between bites. Lol.

DD seems to be adjusting well. She is finally getting past the whole “hit baby brother on the head because I’m not getting the attention I want� phase. The other day he was crying while I was in the bathroom and I came out just in time to see DD wipe his tears with a tissue. It melted my heart. I’ll try to post more often, and I’ll try to pop back in tonight with pictures.

[Ilovemysoldier812]

Thanks Mystikal! Ben sounds like a big boy. Owen is such a big boy too. Cute about the cereal.

[meg100105]

Ilovemysoldier - I'm so sorry to hear about your husband. I went through 2 deployments with DH - but I can't imagine doing it with a baby. I'll keep you guys in my thoughts.

[maplekitty]

ilovemysoldier - i'll be thinking of you hun, i can't imagine being on my own for a whole year with a baby!! :(

[Ilovemysoldier812]

Thanks guys! It's going to very tough. I'm already going crazy thinking about it. It hurts DH that he's going to miss a whole year of Owen's life but It's what he signed up for. I have been through one deployment with him before which was really really rough and I'm scared to see how this one is going to be. We got to talk alot last time and this time where he's going isn't too established so we won't be talking as much due to no interent.

[JessicaT]

ilovemysolider - sorry to hear about your DH! I can't imagine that with a baby - I'm sure you will do great though and I hope the time passes quickly until he is back with you!

mystikal - what a cutie! He is a big baby. That's adorable about the cereal and yay on the rolling!

cactus - Leo is so adorable! Calla is in some 6 month clothes as well - yikes! I totally rock and bounce all the time now - it is the such a tic. I can't stop. I hope you are doing well back to work.

numberlady - hope you have gotten over your colds by now!

eight - hope you are getting a little more sleep as Max adjusts to daycare. How is work going? I don't know if you are still using the ergo infant insert, but I have a somewhat creative way to wearing Calla with it - I put her straight up and down, one foot froggy style, the other foot out the side. She seems to prefer it to both legs froggy style and she really hated the infant taco thing. I think I'm only going to use the infant insert for maybe another month though and then thankfully say goodbye to that.

Calla updates - we got back from a trip to San Diego this weekend, Calla's first plane flight. She did ok - she of course pooped on BOTH flights (when she normally only poops once a day so this was quite a feat) and had a blow out on the return, so we were the last people off the plane since I had to completely change her after it landed. And I found out the spare pants were somehow not in the carryon - so then I had a pantsless baby for the ride home. But the real highlight of the trip was on the way there - she was back on yet another nursing strike at the end of last week, so, not surprisingly, refused to nurse on the plane, and when I went to get her a bottle of the expressed milk I had carried for this reason, found that I inexplicably did not have a bottle nipple. Fortunately, we survived, and she was surprisingly not that hungry although I was terrified she would start screaming at any moment. When we got to baggage claim, we literally pulled the suitcase off right there, opened it up, got out the other bottle and I started feeding her while still in the ergo. So definitely, probably one of the lowest points of my mothering career so far, but, everyone is fine and hopefully our next trip will be better!

[Ilovemysoldier812]

JessicaT- sorry to hear Calla's first plane ride didn't go well. Owen leaked through while we were on the plane. I couldn't imagine a blowout.

So I've been thinking alot about DH leaving and it scares me to be alone with Owen all alone. I'm trying to sign us up for a bunch of things so we keep busy. This weekend we're going on a marriage retreat that the Army is paying for. I'm looking forward to it. They have childcare so you can do things like Ski, ice skate, eat a meal alone etc but I'm too scared to leave him. Dh says he will be fine for a couple hours while were doing stuff.

Well gotta run before we're late to kindermusik.

[Eight]

Ok, where the heck is spring? We have had cold rainy or just cold days for what seems to be the entire month of April...aahhh, spring in the northeast...good times...

ILMS-- I am sorry to hear that your DH will be deployed. I think your plan to stay active and busy is very wise. You will be in my thoughts. I hope it goes super fast! I know it must seem so overwhelming at this point. I bet as you get into a routine, it will be more manageable. But still...that is really hard. Owen is a cutie! And a big boy!! The first plane ride shot is great.

Cactus-- I find myself bouncing and swaying at the oddest times. I really can't shut it off! And Leo is adorable! I love his cheeks. And his smile!
Is that onesie from the Gap? We have the batman one. And a Darth Vadar one.

Mystikal-- woo hoo for Ben sitting up unassisted. That is great. And starting solids?! Time is flying!!!

Jessica-- oh, thanks for the tip on the ergo. I keep trying with/without the infant insert. I really think the carrier might be better when he is slightly older. He doesn't mind the bjorn that my husband uses. So either it is the ergo, me and the ergo, or just me. Heh. I have a mei tai that I bought before he was born and have never used. Any experience with one of those?
I hope Calla quits her nursing strikes. It must be so frustrating! OMG, my biggest fear is forgetting something like bottle nipples and being stranded. Sounds like you handled it like a pro, though.

So still not much sleep going on in these parts. Monday was BRUTAL as we had been away for most of the weekend and all the traveling, running around and not sleeping just about did me in. Yesterday and today, I felt slightly better, but not much.

What else...Max seems to be doing well in daycare. I do the dropoffs and DH picks him up. So far that has been working well.
It is supposed to be nice on Saturday and I am hoping we can get out to Central Park or Riverside Park with the kid and the dog.

So one more "benefit" of being back to work, besides peeing and eating at will, I ran out for a pedicure on Monday and I plan on hitting Sephora tomorrow or Friday to get my eyebrows done!

[aprilshowers]

Eight - I have a MT and love it. We used it forever with DD1 (could still now but she prefers to walk everywhere) and have been enjoying it all over again with DD2. It takes a little practice but once you get it down it is easy to get on and off and way more comfortable than the Bjorn. Definitely give it a try!

[PaisleySloan]

Just popping in to say hello. The past few weeks (since 1/8/09 - lol) have been crazy.

We hired a nanny and she started on Monday and is wonderful. Elijah loves her and I feel comfortable leaving him with her. Granted, DH is home as well, but he's so wrapped up in work that it doesn't really count.

I'm having a problem pumping. To be honest, I haven't pumped that much since I came back from my first round of returning to work at the beginning of March. So, I've been trying to get back into it and it seems like my supply has dropped. DS is satiated, but whenever I sit down to pump I get very little. I'm on the verge of tears every time and I'm just at a loss. I try to pump before he eats, after he eats and at random times throughout the day. Monday night, I got about 5 oz. Yesterday barely anything and just now, like less than an ounce. I'm so frustrated. I really don't know what to do. We haven't given him formula at all yet. Perhaps it's time to start supplementing?

Other than this, DS is doing great. So happy and smiley. He has been somewhat STTN. I put him down around 7 and he sleeps in his crib until 11:30 or so. Then we bring him into bed with us and he sleeps until about 6:30 or 7. Last night was weird though, he was up at 3:30 to eat, then again at 6:30. We've been especially sensitive to his "routine" since our nanny started just to try to keep him on track. Here is his picture with the Easter bunny!! lol

http://i650.photobucket.com/albums/uu228/paisleysloan/easter2009.jpg

ilovemysoldier - so sorry to hear about your husband's deployment. I think what Eight said is right. Once you get used to the idea and in a routine, things will be more manageable. Seems like Owen is starting to get way more hair. Elijah is still as bald as they come. Poor little dude!

JessicaT - way to handle that situation. How scary!!! I wonder what brings on Calla's nursing strikes? Odd..

And there goes the baby... gotta run but I'll check back in soon! Hope everyone is doing well.

[Ilovemysoldier812]

Paisley- I love that picture and of course Elijah's hat. Owen has two like that and he's always wearing them. We get lots of comments on it.

[Ilovemysoldier812]

Look what Owen has learned to do over the weekend!
http://i326.photobucket.com/albums/k425/shawna812812/sittingalon.jpg
not the best quality cause it was taken with my blackberry.

He can sit unassisted for 15-20 minutes before he starts fussing to lay down. I'm sad cause he's growing way too fast.

[maplekitty]

wow, strong little guy!!

[smellycatsgirl]

Ilovemysoldier812 - Way to go, Owen! I don't think Ariana is quite there, yet. I also wanted to chime in on the deployment. Try to hang in there. I am scared to death of my hubby deploying. He just got back from a month long TDY about two weeks ago and I thought I was going to lose my mind then, but it all worked out.

Here's a pic of Ariana with the Easter bunny.

http://farm4.static.flickr.com/3654/3432627915_f7d71b95a0.jpg?v=0

Tax Day

http://farm4.static.flickr.com/3368/3442771616_7a61f4e0a7.jpg?v=0

[cactus]

Dude, I think it's too hard for Leo to hold his big self up! I don't see him sitting independently for a long while.

On our radar this week: rolling over is imminent. He spends most of his "floor time" on one side or another and just can't figure out how to get over the rest of the way. Funny thing is he did it before he was 2 months old a few times and hasn't done it since.

Leo still LOVES standing. He would prefer to be in this position than in any other one. And he's strong! Since this is my first baby, I have no idea what this indicates (if anything) about developmental milestones, so we're just amused by our kid's antics.

He's also discovered the dog. By discovered, I mean he now "pets" the dog (by this I mean grabs hanks of his fur in his 4.5 month old death grip ;)). Luckily for us our dog doesn't seem to mind (yet).

Sleep is still crap. We have been doing a little bit of Ferber sleep training because he was still waking up 6 times a night and only feeding him was getting him back to sleep--and I don't think he's really hungry! So we started with trying to get him to fall asleep alone in the beginning of the night, and a week later he pretty much does that. Down at 7, give or take a few minutes, and it's nice to have that predicability even though sometimes he's up after that at 9:30, sometimes 11, sometimes (praise the lord when this happens!) 12:30. We're not really trying to deal with the middle of the night stuff yet, figuring that his self-soothing from going to sleep will eventually transfer. But it's hard! And naps, except for the morning nap, are still crap (and still in the swing...bad mommy!).

And as for me, I'm back to work 3 days/week and it's exhausting trying to do both of these jobs well. Things are going fine with the babysitter...I'm just so flipping tired!

Oh yeah--and I also weighed Leo before his bath the other day (just on my scale with me, with him totally diaperless and naked) and it came out to 18 pounds! Holy toledo! We go to the ped on Thursday and I'm really interested to see exactly how giant he is. I do know he's out of most of his 3-6 month clothing and is even wearing some 9 month stuff. I never thought I would have a huge kid. But he's cute. :)

Hi to everyone else...[Bilovemysoldier[/B], I love the pics of Owen!

[Ilovemysoldier812]

I'll do so's later.

We had Owen's 4 month WBV today and it didn't go as I expected. He is 15lbs 6 oz and 26 1/2 inches. Well I don't know if I mentioned it in here our not but Owen gasps for air sometimes when he is sleeping. Well I brought it up today and she called a specialist to get him in for a sleep study but since he is so young he wouldn't do it till he got tested for reflux so off to the GI we went. He does in fact have reflux which we would have never known. He's being put on a apnea monitor until he can get in for his sleep study. Dh has sleep apnea which I really hope Owen doesn't have. Please pray he doesn't have to sleep with a cpap machine for the rest of his life. ok gotta run some guy is here to set his machine up.

[JessicaT]

paisley - I have been pumping more too with our nursing issues and have been having similar problems. Letdown is totally a state of mind and I have been so anxious lately with our nursing issues that I have been having a hard time with it. So, I am trying to stay in the moment (am i ok right at this moment? yes. ok then) and for pumping, am watching super distracting tv (american idol works for me) and making sure to cover the horns up so i can't see them. I can hear the milk dripping so this is only semi successful but I do a lot better this way. I don't think you need to supplement, I think you just need to relax (which I know is WAY easier said than done. I started seeing a therapist this week for anxiety, so believe me, I KNOW).

[smellycatsgirl]

Ilovemysoldier812- I will definitely keep Owen in my prayers. My husband just had a sleep study a week or so ago and came back with sleep apnea. My father also has it so I know how the cpap machine works. Hang in there sweetie and hopefully they will get him in for testing soon and you will find out that he is just fine!

[Ilovemysoldier812]

thanks smellycatsgirl, btw happy 4 months to Ariana. and sorry to hear about your dh.

[smellycatsgirl]

Thank you. I can't believe that they are growing so fast.

DH goes in for a F/U on Monday to see if they will let him stay in the military. He already has asthma and went through a MEB a few years ago and they decided return to duty, but with this added I have no idea what they will do.

I just pray that Owen will be fine. He's way too little to have to deal with a cpap.

[smellycatsgirl]

We just got back from Ariana's 4 month WBV and she is now...

Weight: 12 lbs 6 oz
Height: 23 1/2 inches
Head: 41 cm

I am so happy that she is doing so well! She rolls over really quickly now from stomach to back and is trying so hard to sit up by herself. She's also been sleeping about a six hour stretch every night in her crib.I can't believe sometimes that she is already 4 months old.

[cactus]

Man, I really wish size correlated with how they slept!

We had our 4 month WBV about 2 weeks late yesterday...

Leo is a big boy.

Weight: 16 pounds 10 oz (he was actually more on my scale at home, but he had a huge poop right before he got weighed at the doctor's office ;) )
Height: 26 inches
Head: 16.5 inches

Unfortunately, he still doesn't sleep well. DH is going out of town from Sun-Tues and when he comes back I think we have to really think about helping Leo sleep better. Of course I am conflicted, thinking about whether he really *needs* to be eating as often as he does at night...but then I started thinking about it another way. Maybe he's exhausted because he's not getting the sleep he needs to get and that's a problem for him too. I just don't know--parenting is so hard! Our ped actually told me that if he's not sleeping well at this point it's my fault and not Leo's. :) He didn't mean it in a completely nasty way, but it's still hard to hear.

I've also decided working is doing a number on my mental state--I'm doing 2 jobs only half-well. When I'm at work, I'm missing Leo and when I'm with Leo I'm thinking about how behind I am on my work. Do you other WOHMs think like this too or am I nuts?

I'm at work so I shouldn't be posting at all, but just wanted to let you other ladies know I was thinking about you and hoping that those who are going through tough times have it easier soon.

[LKMang]

Hi girls!!

Sorry I’ve been MIA. I’ve been reading the thread but haven’t had time to post.

Now that Bradley is 4.5 months, I can update on his 4 month WBV
Weight – 13 lbs, 11 oz
Length – 24.5�

He is still on the smaller side but doing excellent on his growth curve. Because of the food allergies, we are holding off on solids for a while. The ped seemed sure gluten/wheat wasn’t to blame but I’m not convinced yet and I’m holding off adding them back into my diet. Otherwise, he is looking great. He did fine with his shots (and we held off with the rotovirus vac this time).

Sleep has been horrible. We were still starting Brad in the swing (with him waking up every 15-30 minutes wanting his bottle until he eventually fell asleep), then me co-sleeping him (where he would wake up almost every hour for his bottle). Usually he would take 1 or 2 sucks from his bottle, then he’d be asleep again. We have started some modified Ferber sleep training. The first night was surprisingly easy. I seriously was worried he would cry for hours (and we decided that if he did, then we would hold off and try training again when he was older), but he never cried for more that 15 minutes. Last night initially was a little tougher to get him down, but we eventually realized that he needed a diaper change and he fell asleep pretty quick after that. This is seriously the first time Bradley has ever self-soothed to sleep and I wasn’t sure if he was capable. We are still feeding him at night (right now still 3 times at night, which I’m not sure he needs). Eventually we’ll wean him down, but 3xs/night is a ton better than continuously eating, which is basically what he was doing before. (I do have to admit I’m a little bit sad about having him in his own room. This is the first time we’ve slept in different rooms since he was born and I miss him at night! I’m sad he is growing up!)

Food allergies – still suck. I think we had it figured out (we were blood free, low mucus for almost a month!), and the dr okayed me to add a little bit back in and now we’ve had really small amounts of blood the past two days. I’m trying to get back to where I was before.

Yesterday we took Bradley to the beach for the first time! We went to Ocean City NJ. We got to try out his bigger stroller (until now we’ve been using the snap & go with his carseat, which I’m probably gonna keep using for trips to the store, its just so convenient!), but I wanted to get him used to the bigger one since that’s what we are going to take on vaca this summer (we are going to Busch Gardens Williamsburg). He liked the stroller and the sand! I tried not to keep him in the sun too much (he was cursed with mommy’s fair skin). Anybody know about using sunscreen? Is that allowed at this age? I’m gonna check to see if California baby makes one. (BTW, Eight, are you around? I think I remember you going to OC before, so might be able to appreciate how freaking hard it was not to be able to eat Mack and Mancos pizza!!! I can’t wait until I can be off this diet!).

A couple pictures
http://i332.photobucket.com/albums/m351/lkmang/beach.jpg?t=1240789296 At the beach
http://i332.photobucket.com/albums/m351/lkmang/bottle.jpg?t=1240789359 Being a big boy holding his own bottle
http://i332.photobucket.com/albums/m351/lkmang/clifford.jpg?t=1240789388 With Clifford at the library I work at.
http://i332.photobucket.com/albums/m351/lkmang/frog.jpg?t=1240789413 Playing with his froggy in his carseat

Anyway, time to catch up with a couple SOs…

JessicaT – have you tried the crib transition yet? It is going surprising easy so far (of course it has only been 3 nights!). Initially I tried a night of us co-sleeping on the floor on his crib mattress so he would get used to it, but that just ended up with him eating constantly and me having a bad back. I was going to do this for 3 nights (read about it in the sleep lady’s book), but we decided to just go cold turkey. And I’m sorry about the dairy. I totally know how you feel!

Izzy – I know what you mean about being up more with the transition to the crib. I think I am more tired than I was before because I have to get up all the time. And my son, who previously didn’t care at all about a wet diaper at night, will now scream his head off about it, so we have been changing it.

Eight – how is Max’s sleep going?

Ilovemysoldier – I am so sorry to hear about DH’s deployment. I can’t imagine how you two must be feeling. Lots of hugs!! Definitely keep yourself busy. I have (luckily!) only had to deal with DH being away for a week at the most and I made sure to have at least one “outing� a day.

Cactus – Leo is so cute!! We are still in 3-6 clothes, but they are getting tighter. It’s sad cause there are so many outfits he didn’t even get to wear yet! How has Ferber been going for you? Right now we are on night 3 and it only took 7 minutes of crying for him to go to sleep initially. We were in the exact same position as you – multiple wakings. Our naps are still horrible. He wakes up after 20 minutes acting like he is wide awake, then gets tired an hour later. I feel for you, I know how tiring it is!

Aprilshowers – I have been contemplating getting a MT, but we have a Beco and I’m not sure we would need both. DS is still not used to it and can only stand to be in it for a limited time.

Love all the easter bunny pix! I took Bradley and he totally didn’t care. I was expecting tears!

Hope everyone is doing well!

[jenjen0713]

I need to be better at posting in here.

DS is now 3 1/2 months old. He is such a mellow, laid back kid. Time just seems to be flying with him. He rolled from his stomach to his back a few times about a week ago, but nothing since then...but then again, I'm not the best at giving him tummy time either. :o

sleep - Finally, finally, about a week ago he started to give me a long stretch of sleep at night. He actually slept from 10-6 a few nights but now it seems that he will go from 10-4:30, which is totally fine with me. I was so excited to get 6 hours of uninterrupted sleep.

cactus - I think I'm a better mom to my kids because I WOH. I know for me personally, I couldn't be a SAHM. After having my first son, my job just became less and less important to me in the grand scheme of things and I refuse to allow it to consume my time when I'm home. My job gets me from 40 hours a week and that is it. Sure, I still have those times of guilt and missing my sons, but I then remember that I would go crazy if I was home with them 24/7. I need time apart from them and they need time apart from me. It's a hard balancing act.

[Ilovemysoldier812]

cactus- Leo is a big boy! what was his percentile for height?

Lkmang- Love the pictures of Bradley. Especially at the beach. I miss living on the east coast because of the beach. I hope the sleep gets better. We haven't put Owen in his room cause i'm too scared.

some new pictures of Owen
http://i326.photobucket.com/albums/k425/shawna812812/Picture437.jpg

talking to his friends
http://i326.photobucket.com/albums/k425/shawna812812/Picture461.jpg

he drools so much!
http://i326.photobucket.com/albums/k425/shawna812812/Picture466.jpg

[Eight]

I am behind, again! I have been reading along, but have not been able to post.

LKMang-- Oh, no, no Mack and Manco's??! Oh, that is torture. And no Kohr Bros custard? No fair!!! I so love boardwalk food. When in high school, during the summer (or maybe it was college, I don't remember), I used to get my DH (then just my good friend) to drive to Wildwood for the night so I could indulge in curly fries and lemonade and of course, my fav, the kohr bros custard. Oh, youth...

I love the beach pictures. I can't believe how many people were there. But it was hot! How did Bradley like the beach? My family is talking about a mega-blowout week in Ocean City this summer to celebrate some big birthdays (siblings). I hope we can do it!

I have the same questions about sunscreen. A friend of mine told me her ped told her to test a small area and see how the skin reacts. We go to the doctor's next week, I must remember to ask.

It sounds like you are having some great success with the sleep training. How is it going?

Max is still sleeping pretty craptacularly...more on that below.

Cactus--I completely understand your questions on the sleep, or lack thereof. Max is up every hour, two hour or three hours. There is no consistency and I have no idea what exactly it is that he needs or doesn't need when he wakes up. Some are from hunger, but all of them cannot be, right?! I also wonder if part of the problem is the perpetuating lack of sleep...he needs more, doesn't get it, sleeps less, etc.

I hope things get easier for you with work. As JenJen said, I think I am much healthier working. I know I could not be a SAHM. I think sometimes the sleep deprivation makes everything so much harder now and it seems so overwhelming to do everything, but I do think that I am a better Mom as a working Mom.

JenJen--tummy time? What's tummy time? I kid, I kid...but umm, yeah, I need to get a lot more discplined with this!

Smellycatsgirl-- Sounds like Ariana is doing really well and I am very envious of your six hour stretch! How is your DH doing?

ILMS-- Great pictures of Owen. I cannot believe he is sitting so well now. That's fantastic. How is Owen doing? Did they determine if he suffers from sleep apnea?


Aprilshowers-- I must get brave enough to try the mei tai.

Mr. Max: He turns 4 months next week. I can't believe it. Just so odd to think he is not the little peanut anymore. I am dying to know what he weighs. When I was home, I could weigh him every week at our breast feeding support group.

As I mentioned above, sleep sucks arse, still! Max generally will go down for the night between 7-8. Sometimes he wakes up an hour later, sometimes two, sometimes, like last night, not for another three or four hours. After that, it is anyone's guess. Prior to last week, he would wake up every two to three hours, but always go back to sleep. Now...well, he wakes up and is just doing this odd fussing sound and constantly kicking/moving in our arms. I really wish I knew what it was he needed to sleep better.

Last week he had The Daycare Cold and I know that really affected his sleep (wait, effected? I can never remember). Last Sunday and Monday were the worst ever. I don't think he slept more than three hours those nights, and not in a row! It was awful.

But other than the god awful sleep, he is doing well. He loves to look out our apartment windows at the street down below and loves to watch the cabs, people, etc. I think he is really working hard at figuring out the whole rolling over thing. We found him on his belly in the crib on Sunday morning (he actually napped! In his crib!). And then Sunday night, found him with his face planted on the side of the crib and his arms full extended through the bars.

He is just starting to really notice the dog and the cat. He noticed them before, but now he is like, whoooa what is that.

Pumping seems to be going ok. It is indeed a hassle (eeek, have to finish this and go pump. Just looked at the time), but so far, I have been able to keep up with what Max needs at daycare. I had a small freezer stash that helped the first few days of daycare.
Work is going ok, as well. It is a tough adjustment for me to leave earlier than I ever used to...I feel like I am the weak herd member...but at the same time, I want to be home to see Max.
Ok, must go pump.

[Mystikal]

It's been FOREVER. I am no good at this keeping up online with two kids. (Of course, it doesn't help that DH is working two jobs right now to help with the whole "get out of debt thing") I also have an interview for a part-time thing tomorrow night.

Anyway, super-cute pictures, everyone. LKMang Love the one on the beach with the plaid outfit!!

ilovemysoldier sorry about the possible sleep apnea. My DH uses a cpap machine and hates it. I can't imagine getting an infant to use one! ((HUGS)) I will definitely say a prayer for you guys.

I know I'm missing people, but, like I said, it's been FOREVER. Just wanted to drop off a few pictures of my (big) guy. Did I mention he was 17 pounds at his 4 month appointment? He's loving his solids and eats them twice a day. Since we started them he has been STTN (I hope I'm not jinxing myself tonight!)

DELETED PHOTOS

[Ilovemysoldier812]

Eight- We have a consultation next week. So we will see if the Dr wants to do the sleep study. I hope the sleep gets better.

Mystikal- Wow look at that chunky monkey. I love his fat rolls on his thighs. He is so cute! I always love the pictures of him and your DD.:)

[JessicaT]

mystikal - he's adorable. such a big boy! i can't believe that - 17 lbs wow!

eight - glad to hear you are doing well back at work. That is so encouraging. I'm also glad to hear pumping is ok - I am so not looking forward to that. I hope the sleep improves for you - that is so tough. Very cute about the pets - I think Calla is starting to do the same thing!

ilovemysolider - super cute pictures!

jenjen - boy am I jealous of mellow babies. That's great. So good on the sleeping too - I'm glad he is giving you some better sleep!

LKmang - love the beach pictures! I can't wait for the beach! I am pretty sure CA baby does make a sunscreen, but I haven't tried it and am not sure the age recommendation. I was thinking of looking for it soon though. Sorry to hear the food allergies are still giving you some trouble. I'm glad to hear Ferber is working for you - I know many mamas that have had success with that method.

cactus - Leo is huge!! Sorry to hear the sleep is such a struggle. I do think that for us there is some truth to the poor night sleeping leading to crappy days, but if Leo is generally happy during the day, it sounds like he is fine. I can't believe what your ped said, by the way, that is so ridiculous. Every baby is different, if he doesn't sleep well it is not your fault and there is no one way to get babies to sleep well.

us - well, I have had a really bad couple of weeks. I developed some pretty crazy anxiety and have had some horrible, horrible days where I thought I was just going crazy. The good news is that I am now getting a lot of help and support and today I am feeling much better. I had also pretty much stopped sleeping and that was just making me insane so am now taking some meds to help me sleep, which is making a huge difference. It was just so surprising, I guess postpartum issues can come up at any point really but we were doing so well before and then I just totally fell apart.

Calla - let's see where to start...
crib - oh yes, we are in the crib now. we went cold turkey to the crib when we got back from our trip and it has been fine.

sleep training - she has been on two feedings a night for a while now, and then had recently added in a bunch of "comfort" wakings, which was really not working for me. Ahhhh! We decided it was time to ditch the 1 am feeding though, so last week started to soothe her (my husband's job) without feeding her. And ... two nights ago she only woke once at 3:30, and last night only woke once at 5:00, so I think that is fabulous, and hopefully will be repeated. We do need to figure out what to do about the swaddle though, we are still swaddling but I think we will probably need to stop soon, since ...

rolling over! - yeah, back to tummy, big time. Too bad she doesn't love her tummy once she gets there!

finally, nursing - well at least this seems to be better. she is much happier nursing - as long as we are at home. she is kind of too distractible to nurse when we are out and about, but I am just bringing a bottle and milk now if we go anywhere so I can deal and feed her. It's kind of a bummer but it's not too bad. I started taking fenugreek and tea and stuff so I think my milk supply has improved to where it used to be.

4 month wbv is next week so we will see how big she is! She has been feeling heavy the last day or two. She's at least 14 pounds, just not sure if she has made it to 15 or if she is still hanging out inbetween.

[Eight]

Happy Friday!

So Max had his first ear infection...the No Good Miserable Daycare Cold that he had turned into an ear infection, unbeknwonst to me until Wed morning when I arrived at daycare with him and discovered green ooze coming out of his ear (sorry!). Turns out, all the nastiness from the cold went to his ear and the pressure of the fluid in the ear resulted in his eardrum bursting and the gunk coming out. I am about keeled over when his ped said the eardrum had burst, but apparently it is not as dire as it sounds and the eardrum heals and such a thing is relatively common in infants. So Max is on antibiotics. And still not sleeping.

Of course, a mother at daycare complained to the Director, thinking Max had the swine flu. Oh my. That was fun.

Jessica--Yeah, the adjustment back to work was much better than I anticipated. I have been able to pump enough to send to daycare with Max and while I still worry and wonder if/when I won't be able to keep up, things are going ok, so I try not to let myself stress over it. Easier said than done, right!?
I hope things are getting better for you. It sounds like you got the right help and have a good handle on things.

How did you handle the soothing to get rid of the 1 am feeding? Max is still up contsantly during the night.

Mystikal-- Ben is a big guy! And adorable! I love the pictures with his Big Sis. How are things between the two of them? Still good?

It sounds like you are super busy! Good luck with your interview. And I am insanely jealous of the STTN!!!

[numberlady]

I have been so bad about posting. Work has been extremely busy, still trying to get caught up. Then once I get home after spending time with Bryson, dealing with pumped milk, bottles for the next day, dinner and putting him to bed it is 10:00 before I am done.

Bryson is doing great. Not sitting yet, but you can tell that he wants to. He did roll from back to front last weekend, but then got mad because he couldn't get off his stomach. He loves to stand, has been since about 6 weeks old, so we finally bought him an activity center so that we didn't have to hold him standing constantly.


Eight: I am so sorry about Max's ear infection. I hope he feels better soon.
Jessica: Glad to hear Calla is sleeping better.
Mystical: Love Ben's blue eyes. I can't believe how big he is.
ILMS: I didn't ever comment on your DH being deployed and I know it will be unbelievably difficult, but you can do it and it will get easier. I hope DS doesn't have sleep apnea. Owen is sitting up so well.
Eight: Oh my, Max is still waking up so often. I don't know that I could function on that little sleep, especially going to work.
LKMang - I'm glad to hear the sleep training is going well. I hope you can get him sleeping better. What a cutie he is! Bryson will probably have his first beach trip this weekend when we go see MIL. I am worried about sunscreen too, so am curious what you used.
Cactus - i have the work/mom conflict too. I was venting to DH yesterday and he said I should go in this weekend and he would bring Bryson to see me. I refuse to do that and miss any time with him on the weekend. Plus I have to work really late on Monday night and will probably not see DS at all that night.
Smellycatsgirl - We have the same "tax deduction" onesie and I sent it to all my CPA friends on April 15th.

Sorry for anybody I missed. Bryson is starting to wake up.

[LKMang]

Uggh, DH just left for Germany for a week for business. I’m so bummed about him going (and of course it has to be when the stupid swine flu is going around!). I will be having a friend babysit tomorrow and my mom is coming for a couple days to watch him while I’m at work, so hopefully it will be easier, although I get a little nervous about leaving him. Thank goodness I only work 5 hour shifts.

Sleep has been bad. We have not been consistent enough with Ferber, so it isn’t working as good. He goes down okay at night, but is up an hour later. He doesn’t cry that much and eventually goes back to sleep, but is up again in 2-3 hours. After I bring him into bed to co-sleep him, he gets up every hour wanting a bottle (drinking only an oz or 2 each time). He seriously eats about 3 bottles overnight, which I think is way too much. Even if I try to “tank� him up during the day, he still wants more at night, which makes me think it’s a comfort thing. I think I’m just going to try to get through this week the best I can without DH, but once he gets back we need to stop the co-sleeping and slowly decrease his night feedings.

Rolling – Bradley recently learned to roll from back to tummy. Of course now when he is in his crib he will freak out crying when he does it cause he doesn’t know how to go from tummy to back!

Naps – how are everyone’s naps going? Is there a point when naps become longer and he takes less? Right now he is getting about 4 naps/day but they are only 30-40 minutes long (if we are lucky!).

Ilovemysoldier – love the picture of Owen in his jumperoo! He is just adorable! We just started using our jumperoo and Bradley loves it (although his feet barely touch the ground).

Eight – now I have to add Kohr bros custard to my list of things I am eating once I get off this crazy diet. Bradley tolerated the sand (which is pretty good cause DH hates the sand and I was worried that DS wouldn’t like it!). I can’t wait to bring him back. Hope you get down to Ocean city this summer! I keep hoping that maybe cause the economy is so bad, we’ll be able to rent a house for cheap in the fall. I just love it down there. I’m sorry Max’s sleep sucks. I can totally relate! Hope his ear infection is getting better!

Mystikal – hehe, I’m kind of in love with plaid, so I’m thrilled that plaid is “in�. Ben is so cute and your kids are just adorable together!!

JessicaT – Glad the crib transition has gone well for you, I’m so surprised that Bradley adjusted pretty well to it. Sounds like your “training� is going well! We are definitely going to have to start that soon. And we are dealing with the exact same problems with rolling! I wish he liked being on his tummy more!

Numberlady – Hope Bryson has fun at the beach! We didn’t use any sunscreen (I made sure he kept his hat on and he stayed in his stroller most of the time), but I think I’m going to order some CA baby, it seems the most natural.

[Mystikal]

Thanks for the compliments, everyone. We are quite smitten with our "little" guy. lol.

Eight sorry to hear about the ear infection. My DD has been super-close to a ruptured eardrum several times. She never showed signs of being sick (no fever, or ear tugging) until it was super-painful for her. Then I felt like such a horrible mom for not knowing. As far as them getting along...it's hit or miss most days. DD went through a horrible jealous phase when he was about 3 months old and she would just come out of nowhere and smack him in the face or on the head. It has died down and she's usually pretty good with him now, although sometimes she gets rough and we have to remind her to be nice. A lot of the time when he's crying and taking up attention she wants that's when she'll smack him in the face now. It breaks my heart because he's already upset and now he's got to deal with that, too. I'll admit, I've lost my temper with her many times.

Well, I'm wondering if DS's ear infection is back, because he was doing so well STTN and then suddenly Wednesday night he was awake twice in the middle of the night, the same Thursday, Friday, and last night. I'm back to being exhausted. I really hope he's not sick again...

[cactus]

Big day here...Leo STTN last night! Can I get a HALLELUIAH???

I have to admit it was not on his own--we were sleep training him this week...I just couldn't take it anymore. We did Ferber's CIO at bedtime about 3 weeks ago and that worked within a week or so (he now goes down awake, unswaddled, with minimal crying), but we decided to wait and tackle the nighttimes until DH was back from traveling.

Anyway, Leo had been waking up about 4-6 times/night since he was about 2.5 months old and I just could not take it anymore. I was feeding him since I didn't know how else to get him back to sleep and I realize he probably wasn't hungry--just a habit. Our ped gave us some tips, and I asked a bunch of friends.

Basically, we cut out feedings between 10 and 5. He goes down at 7ish, sleeps until I dream feed him at 10 (he doesn't wake up), and then we were going to CIO if he woke up before 5. Long story short, the first night was HORRENDOUS, the second night was much better, the third night was almost (but not quite) as bad as the first night, night 4 was awesome, and last night (night 5) he slept from 7 til 5 with a feeding at 10. Actually, he went back down after I fed him at 5 until 6:15.

I was so so so so dreading this, but I can't believe it seemed to help him so fast. He really seems much happier and more rested during the day too. I feel bad that all this time he might have wanted more sleep but I was bugging him every time he made a peep at night!

If anyone wants to know more about what we did just ask or send me a PM. I don't think every single night will be awesome, but this child had not slept more than 3.5 hours at a stretch since February, so I'm sort of giddy.

[smellycatsgirl]

Eight - She is doing really well, but we have started teething. Now it's a whole new ballgame. She's a ton more fussy lately. As for DH, he is doing pretty well, but we are still waiting on the USAF to tell us what they want to do to him.

Numberlady - My FIL is a CFO. He loved that picture and put it on his desk at work.

[Eight]

Just stopping by to say, AMEN, Cactus!! That is fantastic.
I would love love love to know what you did, if you don't mind. How did Night 6 go?
Shout outs later today after I finally finish these opinions that I should have finished ages ago...

[numberlady]

cactus - so glad to hear that Leo STTN!
smellycatsgirl - Can I ask how you know its teething? Bryson has been a drooling fool for about the last month and everything goes in his mouth. If we give a cold teething ring he takes it. He has been a bit fussier lately but we can't rule out gas, so I just don't know if he is really teething or not.

I just wanted to post because today has been exactly one year since our BFP. What a year it has been!

[Ilovemysoldier812]

Cactus- So glad Leo is STTN. I need some advice. My very good sleeper has just started waking at night, 3-4x. I know he isn't hungry but he likes to nurse for about 5 minutes for comfort. How did you do it if you don't mind sharing with me?

Smellycatsgirl- I hope the AF has answers for you DH soon.

Nmberlady- I think those are all signs he's teething. Owen is always drooling and everything goe sin his mouth. No more teeth yet though.

I'm getting really annoyed with his Ped's office. With everything that they said about everything well they really don't care. I have called over 6x in the last week for the results from the GI. Nothing. All I get is well she's busy now and we will have her give you a call back. Well the Dr thats to do the sleep study hasn't called me back yet with a date.It was supposed to be this week and I got put on hold and it hung up. I tried callin back twice and I get put on hold then it hangs up. i'm getting so frustated.

[cactus]

Well....I'm certainly no expert considering last night he did not STTN, but here's what we did:

I read several different sleep books (Ferber, Weissbluth, Sleep Easy Solution) and thought about it a lot--what would make me comfortable, etc. I also talked to our ped and lots and lots of friends with kids.

We actually worked on bedtime first, and did this about 3 weeks ago. We do the whole bedtime routine and then put him down awake. This was a big change, as he had always been nursed to being fully asleep. We also got rid of the swaddle at this same time, because it was getting unsafe (I was finding it around his face in the middle of the night because he's so active in his sleep!). We switched him to a Halo sleepsack so he can move his arms and love up on his little elephant.

We used the Ferber CIO method with check-ins that got progressively longer. The first night we had about 40 minutes of crying, and after about 4 days we could count on him being asleep within 15 minutes of putting him down. We also learned that there's like a "magic moment" where he's JUST tired enough but not overtired and falls asleep instantly. :) Still haven't perfected this timing though.

We didn't address the middle of the night yet...partially because DH was going to be travelling and I knew we'd have to both be really focused on what we were going to do, because the default is always to pick him up and nurse him even if that's not what he needs because it's the easiest way to get him to go back to sleep!

At our 4.5 month WBV our doctor gave us some tips...he said Leo should be able to go from 10-5 without a feeding. I know this might be controversial, but I think I was finally agreeing with him. I had noticed that even though I was nursing him like 6+ times on some nights, I don't think there was significant milk intake--it was definitely a case of Leo not knowing how to self-soothe...but we knew he could self-soothe now because he falls asleep on his own at bedtime.

So...the ped said to put him down at a normal time (for Leo, 7ish). Pick him up and feed him before I go to sleep (around 10). Amazingly, Leo sleeps right through this but I can get him to eat quite a bit. Then when he wakes up after that, we did CIO. I won't lie--the first night was AWFUL. But the second night was so remarkably better, and since then it's like 2 steps forward, one step back but I'm very encouraged. DH checks on him every 20 minutes, and after a couple of check ins if Leo is still not sleeping he offers the pacifier. I feed him at his first wakeup after 5. I hope to eventually push this time out so he's up for the day at more like 6:30 or 7, but I don't know how realistic this is.

There are a couple of other little things I've learned too--I try not to feed him in response to crying. Like, if it's around a feeding time I will try and wait until he settles down a bit before feeding him. We also always give him tons of loving and gushing ("We are SOOOO proud of you!") when we get him for the day. And he wakes up in a fantastic mood, even if he's cried in the night. We also make a big show of pulling up the window shades and doing a "good morning routine" like we do the bedtime routine so he starts to really get the idea that nighttime is for sleeping.

Naps are another issue. That's next. ;)

Also, I want to reiterate that we do not consider this to have been a 100% success. There is still crying, and that's hard and tiring. It is less and less over time, though. I do really believe that teaching him to be a good sleeper is one of the best things I can do for him, as I've been a bad sleeper my whole life and I know how awful it can be. So I know every parent is different, and that's cool! I just also know I NEEDED to be proactive about the sleeping when I returned to work--I just couldn't function after waking up so often all night. And sure, I'm not well-rested yet, but I'm encouraged that we'll get more consistency with more time.

[ellebelle]

cactus Congrats on getting Leo to STTN! We had to sleep train my DD when she was four months old and it was the hardest thing I've had to go through with her, but also the best parenting decision I've made. This time around, we started DS on good sleep habits from day one and so far things are going really well.

numberlady Those sound like teething symptoms to me. DS has one canine tooth that has broken through the gums and I can see the shadow of the two top front teeth under the gums so those should break through shortly.

Ilovemysoldier812 I hope you can get the sleep study down soon and get this whole sleep apnea figured out. My DH has sleep apnea also.

DS update: DS is a teething machine, has started laughing, and can now roll over from front to back. He still loathes tummy time. His four month well baby visit is next week so I'll update more then.

Anyone started solids yet? I didn't start DD until she was 5 months, so I'll probably wait until then for DS as well.

[JackieO]

I haven't written in ages, and I'll have to come back for shoutouts later, but just wanted to update on our chunkster..she had her 4mo. check yesterday...

She weighs 17 POUNDS! and she's 26.5 inches long.

Crazy how fast she's growing...I'll have to post a picture of her chunky legs/arms. Otherwise she's doing well, sleep at night is great, but during the day is another story...I'll be back later with a longer update and shoutouts for everyone! Hope everyone else is doing well!

[numberlady]

Jackie -DS has sleep issues during the day too. Today he took 2 naps for a grand total of 45 minutes.
cactus - Thanks for posting what you did with Leo. I don't know if we are going to start sleep training or not, but DS has started waking up about an hour and a half after we *think* he is down for the night. He has done this the last couple of nights. I am afraid to get him because I don't want him thinking that it is time to be awake, but at this point we are not to the stage of wanting him to CIO. OTOH I want him to have good sleep patterns (DH does not) so I want to do what I need to do to ensure that.
ellebelle - I always heard 6 months for solids, but was going to ask the ped when we go for DS's 4 month WBV.

Teething - I agree it seems like B is teething, but it has been going on for so long and no teeth yet.

[LKMang]

Cactus – yippee for Leo!!! You have given me new hope for Bradley, since he seems to have the same sleep patterns as Leo. I’m afraid we are going to have to start from the beginning. We also did Ferber CIO at bedtime, but with DH in Germany this past week and babysitters at my house in the evening while I was at work, I totally just caved and co-slept him the whole week. We are hopefully gonna get back on track tomorrow night when DH gets back. He was going down okay, but the constant getting up was killing me and I have *finally* realized that co-sleeping is making it worse – he wakes up almost every time I move and wants the bottle almost every hour. Thanks for posting what you did. I’m gonna read up on Ferber tomorrow about decreasing nighttime feeds and decide what our game plan will be.

BTW is anyone’s baby rolling over in the crib and getting mad about it? Sometimes Bradley rolls on his stomach and he just screams and then other times I will go in and he will be asleep on his stomach. Am I supposed to roll him back over or is it okay now for him to stay there. Also, is anyone using bumpers? We took ours out because he likes to pull it down to his face but now his legs are getting caught in the rails.

Uggh, I’m tired and hungry and just miserable right now. And my throat hurts and I can’t tell if I’m getting sick or if its just reflux or allergies. Man, I’m so cranky right now :(

Hope everyone has a wonderful mothers day!!!

[aprilshowers]

LK - I've been battling a sore throat the past few days too. It's worse in the middle of the night. I hope you get better soon! As for rolling, if he rolls on to his belly and is sleeping then you don't have to roll him back but if he's awake and angry, go right ahead. If he's learning a new skill (rolling in this case) that could cause some sleep disturbances until he masters it. Learning to stand was the worst! We used the Breathable Bumper w/ DD1 and it kept her legs from going through the rails.

[Ilovemysoldier812]

Happy Mother's Day!

[maplekitty]

Well I got a lovely early mother's day present - Ollie has thrush. UGH!
Thankfully I caught it early, so I'm okay and his meds seem to be getting rid of it quickly - but boy oh boy is he one cranky little guy!

Ollie has been rolling too, but thankfully not in his sleep yet. I still swaddle his arms, so he's actually a pretty stationary sleeper...he just moves his head back and forth all night.
He's also just started grabbing his feet - which he thinks is the best thing in the world and giggles every time he does it. Pretty cute!

We started a little bit of solids...but I'm skipping the cereal and starting with bananas. We've given it to him twice now, just some mashed fresh banana mixed with BM to make it really soupy. He loves it! Avacado will be next - but I remember DD hating avacado, so we'll see how he likes it.

Happy Mother's Day ladies! Hope you have a great one!

[Eight]

Happy Belated Mother's Day all! I hope everyone had a good day/weekend.

We had a really quiet, relaxing weekend. It was soooo nice. The weather turned to actual spring like weather on Friday and I was at a CLE seminar so I was home early and could get Max early. My present from the dog and the cat (heh) arrived on Friday -- several bottles of one of my most favorite California reds. Saturday we finally took bags and bags of old clothes to good will, had a nice long walk with Max and finally replaced the "dog proof" trash can that the dog destroyed. See, very exciting!
Sunday we broke in the B.O.B. finally (We have the Ironman). It was great to run again! Though, I had to stop for several walk breaks...which was hard to admit to myself. However, it was gorgeous along the river (if very very very breezy) and so nice to be outside.
After the run, we had second breakfast (well, I guess brunch?) in a neighborhood restaurant, sitting amongst the dressed up in our running clothes and very garish running stroller. Heh. DH (who is the cook in the family) made us a fantastic dinner and we broke open some of the wine. Woo hoo! Oh, and Max and DH made me a video of Max pictures. Max very nicely sent me a "M" initial charm necklace (which I had been looking into), but the one he chose is on back order, so I must wait.
It was a really peaceful weekend and much needed.

Except...Max woke up Sunday night with a god-awful cough and has ANOTHER COLD. This one is just miserable. He feels awful. I cannot believe this. So many of my friends say the first year in daycare is constant colds...but man, I thought we would escape it as we started in the spring.

So as can be expected, his sleep is still utter crap.

Cactus-- Thank you so much for posting your experience. How is it going? I was planning on talking to Max's doctor next week about the sleeping patterns when we went for the follow-up on his ear and also for his four month shots...now with the cold, I am not sure he will get the shots, but she needs to check the ear. Anyway, now I guess I will see how Max's cold progresses. Oh, and we use the halo sleep sacks as well. I really like them.


Mystikal--Yeah, I felt terrible that I didn't know he had an infection. His cold (the one he had then!) had been getting better and he seemed to be feeling better, so it was a shock to hear ear infection. Same as you said -- no fever and no ear tugging.

Maplekitty-- I hope the thrush goes away, and soon! Solids!! That's so exciting. How is it going?

Numberlady--Oh, I know that nighttime routine sooo well. It is exhausting!

LKMang-- Hope you got through the week alone ok. You must be exhausted! I don't blame you for co-sleeping! Anything to make things easier. How is the transistion to the crib going? Are you feeling any better?

ILMS-- Any word from your pediatrician's office?

aprilshowers-- I am thinking about getting the breatheable bumper. Max is all over the crib at night and often sticks his arms out.

Speaking of that, Max is all over the crib all night long. He isn't fully rolling over. It's almost as if he is jack-knifing himself around the crib --lifting up his legs and moving. He rolls onto his side and then back to his back constantly. I keep finding him in different spots, all night long. Does this end??!!!

For those of you who pump-- I feel like I have passed two working mom/pumping mom milestones. A few weeks ago, I forgot the horns to the pump (I leave my pump at work). I discovered it just as I was getting ready for my first morning pumping session. Thankfully, there is a BRU/TRU a few blocks from my office, so I ran over there and picked up some extra pumping parts. I found it kind of funny that I was buying pumping parts amidst all the tourists buying their Geoffrey tshirts and riding the big ferris wheel. Heh.
Annnd, last week I was at a conference on Thursday and Friday, out of the office all day. Because I would be at the conference all day, I had to call the hotel (where it was being held) and ask about any possible facilities. Thankfully, there was a single use handicap bathroom right outside the conference room, so I could use that! Not exactly the most comfortable, but it worked well. I was so worried as to how I would pump while at the conference. I really didn't want to pump in a regular bathroom stall!

[Ilovemysoldier812]

I hope I don't jinx myself. Owen has been napping1! an hour after he gets up he will take a 30 minute nap. Around 2 he takes a 2 hour nap!!! then he's been going to bed between 7-7:30 and sleep till about 8-8:30. He dream feeds around 9:30-10:00 when we go to bed then sometimes he needs to know i'm still there and will comfort nurse for 5 minutes around 3. He used to be such a good sleeper then in the past couple weeks he started waking so much just to know I was still there. He sleeps in the pack and play for naps. If I put him in his crib he wakes up 20 minutes later. He's in our bed at night. I really want to move him but I'm too scared. is this normal?

I still haven't heard anything from any doctors and I'm starting to get so mad. I really like his ped. But I'm thinking of switching. Our insurance only covers certain doctors since we can go on base which I refuse to do.

We did go to the eye doctors today. He has perfect vision. DH has ambliophia(it seems like he has so much wrong with him ha) It's a condition where your brain doesn't tell the brain to use that eye. Pretty much a fancy word for a lazy eye. Dh has it in his left eye and FIL has it in his right.It's correctable they just caught Eric's too late. I'm so glad Owen doesn't have it. He goes back in a year just to make sure again!

[Mystikal]

Don't know where everyone is, but just wanted to drop off a few pictures and an update:

-Rolls back to belly...then gets stuck on his belly
-Is trying to maneuver himself to a toy if he is on his belly
-Sitting up, still unsteady, but getting much better
-Takes between 24-30 ozs of formula a day
-Eats cereal w/fruit in the morning, then fruits and veggies for lunch and dinner. He has liked everything so far, and the only thing he hasn't tried yet are peas.
-Loves to chew on his feet
-Is fascinated by his big sister
-Is super ticklish on the belly
-teething, but the darn teeth won't come though. The poor boy is in a LOT of pain
-Has STTN once since he's been born. Usually will go down between 6:30-7 and will wake sometime between 1-3 to eat. It could be worse...
-Loves to stand and will hold onto my shirt and fully support himself with no help from me

[Ilovemysoldier812]

Mystikal he is so cute! I love his blue eyes.

I like your update. Here's mine-

Rolls belly to back and back to belly
loves to take baths
thinks daddy is the funniest thing
sits up on his own
still nurses like 12 times a day
can get up on his knees to move like an inchworm
loves to sit on the floor and pull at the dogs or play with his toys
STTN but only if he's in our bed


Things have been busy since Dh is leaving Very soon. I can't say when on here but I'll be sure to let you know when he gets there safe. My sister comes in the day he leaves for 3 weeks then my other sister comes right after she leaves. For the first month I won't be alone. Well gotta run Owen's fussing.

[LKMang]

How is everyone doing? The thread has been super quiet lately. Maybe you all are as tired as I am :(

Bradley is doing well. His food allergies have been mostly under control. I tried to add a little soy back in about a month ago and had blood again. Then he had a stomach bug (of course on mothers day!), but he has recovered and diapers are normal again. I have had oatmeal the past few days and (*crossing my fingers*) everything has been good. I’m really hoping he will tolerate it cause it will make my breakfast a whole lot better! He has his 6 month WBV in 3 weeks, so we’ll talk about starting solids then. I’m not really looking forward to it because then I have to worry about my diet AND his diet, but I’m just going to take it super slow and not introduce things too quickly (for either of us!).

Sleep is just totally hit or miss. Last week we had 3 awesome nights – he went down at around 630/7, then got up at 130am, then 530am. Of course the past 2 nights have been bad, with him getting up about 3 times. The worse part is that he loves to wake up around 2am and not go back to sleep until 3am! Some times he plays with his lovey, sometimes (like last night!) he seriously cried for an hour. We are still trying Ferber, so we went in at 15-20 minute intervals, but nothing could calm him down. I finally picked him up and rocked him and gave him a bottle and he eventually went to sleep. So he is still not over the “need a bottle to sleep� mode. I’m going to talk to the ped about when we can stop night feedings. I seriously don’t think Ferber is going to work that well until we stop them completely because he is always looking for a bottle for comfort. Anybody else doing good and have some pointers?

We are taking Bradley to a Phillies game on Sunday! Should be interesting. I’m hoping it doesn’t rain and that it’s not too sunny. I’m hoping he tolerates the Beco better (I had him in it at a parade yesterday and he liked it for about 15 minutes, then wanted out!).

My updates:
-Rolls back to stomach all the time, rarely rolls the other way
-trying his hardest to crawl (looks more like swimming with his arms and legs moving!)
-takes between 26-32oz breastmilk/day
-thinks its hilarious and laughs so hard when you stick your tongue out at him!
-loves books and being read to
-has a blast in his jumperoo
-starting to sit up better unsupported
-loves to stand up when we hold his hands

The only thing that worries me is that he’s not really talking a lot. He is very expressive, but just doesn’t talk that much. He talks the most when he is mad about something or to his animals, but rarely to us. I’m going to bring it up at our WBV. He is no where near doing a “baba� or “dada� sound.


Eight – how are you doing? How is Max doing? Sleep any better? Bradley is totally in his crib now (except for naps in the pack n play). He does pretty well in there, but his sleep is still yucko. Sounds like pumping is going well for you! I can’t imagine how tough it must be to do it at work all the time. I gave up my work pump about a month after going back. I’m so lucky that I’m working part time and my supply didn’t take a hit after giving that one up.

ILMS – is Owen keeping up the good napping schedule? Bradley once took a nap for 2 hours, it was fantastic! Since then, he is back to his 40 min naps, if I’m lucky!. He is same way about napping in his crib, so we are also still in the pack n play. I’m glad you will be having some help once your DH leaves. You are in my prayers!

Mystikal – OMG that picture of your DS looking at your DD is just adorable!!! Love the blue eyes!

[JackieO]

:)Hi everyone! It has been quiet in here lately...Like LKMang,I'm tired and seem to never have time to update. Right now, Lauren has apparently decided to sleep for a bit (and I do mean a bit...) so I'll quickly update.

We seem to have settled into a bit of a routine here. She's up for the day anywhere between 6:30 and 7:30am, takes a few cat naps (no longer than 20-30 minutes), has lunch around 12-12:30, then takes a "nap" in her crib. She got too big for the swing, it wouldbarely move on the highest setting and I just don't think she was comfy anymore:rolleyes:. So we're transitioning to napping in the crib in the afternoon. She sleepsin there at night-has since birth - but nappinghas been a struggle. She'll usually sleep around 30minutes then wake up crying. I've goneback up with a bottle and sometimes she'll sleep, sometimes not. As I type, she is sleeping again, sideways in her crib:) Whatever works!

She's been on solids since her 4mo wcv, so far so good. she doesn't eat much, cereals, veggies, fruits, but she definitely likes it!

More updates:
- We have a tooth!!! finally! one little stub on the bottom!
- Has rolled both ways ...really hates laying down though, so need to get better about floor time.
- jumps in her exersaucer
- is very vocal, very loud but in a happy way;)
- can sit up tripod by herself for a few seconds before toppling over...must practice this more too!
-smiles and laughs alot! makes up for the short naps...sometimes.
- chews on everything and drools a ton
-fascinated by her big sister, the cat and the dog- in that order.:)
-loves to stand...we've even put her in the walker (which we never used with DD1...)Lauren loves it and is actually able to "walk". she gets to where she wants to go. DH has always thought she gets so ticked off b/c she just wants to get up and go...now she kind of can!

LKMang - I feel for you on the sleep/food issues. I hope everything works itself out soon and you are able to get some good quality rest...Have fun at the Phillies game- sounds like a good time! Enjoy yourself! Who are they playing?
ILMS- I'm sorry to hear your DH is leaving so soon..I'm sure it's pretty stressful to think about. That is wonderful that your sisters will be helping you out your first month. Your Dh is doing a great thing serving his country and we all thank him for it. You'll be in my thoughts...
Mystikal- cute pictures and such blue eyes!!! hopefully his teeth will pop through soon...we just got our first one...and the drool hasn't stopped!

[cactus]

http://images2c.snapfish.com/232323232%7Ffp53652%3Enu%3D3256%3E%3B54%3E6%3B5%3E 2347%3B547%3A623%3Bot1lsi

Do you guys believe this huge munchkin? Remember how teeny tiny they all were?

Anyway, lots of stuff going on here...we're coming up on 6 months next week and I can hardly believe it!

These days, Leo is mostly a joy. Well, I wouldn't say his naps are a joy, exactly, but he's a joy. ;)

Here's a laundry list of what he's been up to recently:

getting much better at sitting independently. After he gets tired, he'll occasionally topple to the side or pitch himself backward, but he's mostly pretty good.
is obsessed with his feet. Obsessed. They are in his mouth constantly.
Continues to explore the world with his mouth. It's sort of hilarious. He gets a really curious look on his face, and then the mouth gets opened and he moves in for the kill wagging his little head and zeroing in on his target.
LOVES the dog. Still. He's started reaching for him, which the dog doesn't really like. Luckily he's a pretty chill dog and he just walks away.
Giggles like crazy. What does he find most hilarious? Being thrown in the air (Daddy does this), being tickled under the arms, when I say "No more monkeys jumping on the bed!" in a funny voice, when I buzz like a bee, or when I hold something up in front of my face and then pop out. Hysterical.
Rolled over once in each direction about a week ago. He can do it; he just doesn't seem to be interested.
Wears 6-12 or 9 month clothing, for the most part. He can still wear some of his bigger 3-6 stuff, but they are almost always tight around his thunder thighs.
I weighed him myself the other day and I think he's around 19 pounds. Who knows, though? That's just an estimate.
Still has a crazy Friar Tuck bald spot in the back of his head. It might be finally starting to fill in though.
Night sleep was much better for a while...down at 7, dream feed at 10, and then he wakes up anywhere between 3 and 5:30 to eat again. I try to hold him off till close to 5. But the big problem is getting him to sleep past 5:30 for the day. UGH! I know the problem is the room is too light, but there's nothing we can do about this at the moment.
Eats like a champ, still. Still EBF. Gets pumped milk 3 days/week when I go to work. I think we'll be starting solids next week or so on the advice of the ped. Yikes!
BIG fan of the diaper blowout. Up the front, up the back, etc. Lovely.
LOVES LOVES LOVES his ugly FP Rainforest Jumperoo. He has a total party in that thing, now that he's figured out that he's supposed to jump. It's so funny.
"Talks" constantly. He's an extremely vocal baby. Some consonant sounds (his favorite is "guh" or "gah").
Not a fan of the nap. He usually takes a decent morning nap because he gets up so early, but it's still in his swing AND he often goes the whole rest of the day after that without napping. It's really charming. :rolleyes:

Our big news is that we're moving to Florida at the end of the summer. Yikes! So now the logistics of this with jobs, houses, pets, and babies is making my head hurt. I just guess that life will never be easy again.

Hope everyone is doing well!

[numberlady]

I have been horrible about posting in this thread. I don't even get to CC much, but a couple times I have been ready to post and DS wakes up.

He is doing great. We had a good time at MIL's a couple weeks ago. DS had a great time swimming.

An update on Bryson:
-Loves to "climb mount daddy". DH reclines back in the chair and DS "walks" up his belly onto his shoulders. So cute!
-Sleeps really well (knock on wood). Usually will sleep 11-12 hours a night and most of that is on his side.
-Naps much better for dad than for mom.
-Eats like a champ. We haven't weight him lately, but I think he probably weighs 17-18 lbs.
-Is very vain and loves to look at himself in the mirror.
-Gets very giggly when he is tired.
-And this
[IMG]
Continues to explore the world with his mouth. It's sort of hilarious. He gets a really curious look on his face, and then the mouth gets opened and he moves in for the kill wagging his little head and zeroing in on his target.

- ETA - Can't be bothered with sitting or rolling over because all he wants to do is stand up all.the.time.

Hope all are well.

[Mystikal]

Ilovemysoldier has your DH left yet? I'm thinking of you guys and sending good thoughts and prayers your way. I know you'll get through this.
LKMang good luck at the 6 month appt. DS has his on the 10th. So many of the things you listed in your update my DS likes as well - he loves his jumperoo, and he loves to stand when we hold his hands. LOL at the whole "swimming" thing, because DS does that, too.
Jackie yay for a tooth! We are STILL waiting. *sigh*
Cactus what a chub! I just want to squeeze his cheeks. lol.

So, I just have to ask...
Are my kids ever NOT sick??? Tuesday morning I dropped the kids off at my moms house. DS was acting fine. He ate his breakfast and was playing and laughing. By afternoon he had a runny nose, a cough, and was tugging on his left ear. By evening he had a fever and was shaking like he had the chills. Took Wednesday off of work and went to the ped. He had a double ear infection (left eardrum was about to rupture), sinus infection (omg, the thick green mess coming out of his nose was AWFUL!), and bronchopneumonia.) He is on a cough/congestion medicine, anx, and nebulizer treatments 3x a day. Wednesday night DD started coughing and Thursday morning she was all stuffed up. Took her Wednesday afternoon and she has the same thing. She is on cough meds, abx, and nebulizer 4x a day. We've spent $100 on meds and dr visits in the last 48 hours. Luckily they are both feeling better tonight. (DS STTN last night from 7:30-6:00.)

Okay, didn't mean to be a downer, but I am just SO exhausted now that I'm working two jobs and taking care of kids. *sigh* I am going to bed now. ;)

[Ilovemysoldier812]

Just a quick update on us. DH hasn't left yet but were down to days left with each other. He will be back for Owen's birthday and Christmas which is good. My sister flies in the day he leaves. I'm excited for for her to be here but sad Dh is leaving. I probably won't be on until after he leaves so I'm sorry for no SO's.

[Ilovemysoldier812]

Owen has his first ear infectio n. Double ear infection at that. So remember how I told you we went to see a GI specialist and we never got a call back from his ped about it. I called 5 times and It was always oh the ped will call you back. Today when we went she said so how is the prevacid working and I said umm he isn't on anything. He has severe acid reflux she said. My poor baby has been suffering because of the ped's office. I'm so angry with them. He's been super fussy which I just thought was from teething. Whines alll night long she said most likely from the reflux.:(

[Ilovemysoldier812]

I'm officially a single parent for a year. so far it hasn't been so bad since my sister came the day DH left. Ask me how I am doing when she leaves. It's hard him missing stuff but I'll definately be taking lots of pictures and making videos of Owen when he hits new milestones.

some Owen updates
Gets on hands and knees and rocks(so not ready fr crawling)
Loves to splash in the bath tub
FINALLY has a nap schedule.

What does your baby's schedule look like?
here's Owen's-
7:30-8:00 wakes for the day
8:00 -nurses
when he's done nursing we usually play(he will not sit on the floor and play alone!)
9:00- nap
10:00 up from nap and nurses
then plays again or we run errands
12:30 nurses
1:00 naps
3:30- nurses
4:30 naps again
5:30 - nurses
6:30 we start our bedtim routine, bath, book and we play on the floor.
bed at 7:30-8:00
He's been waking since he's teething

[aprilshowers]

ilovemysoldier - I'm keeping you and your DH in my thoughts. I'm sure you will do great as a single parent. Sounds like a great schedule - we are not there yet but A is only a couple weeks younger than Owen you give me hope that it's not too far away!

[JackieO]

ILMS- Hopefully things are going well for you - I'll be sure to think good thoughts for your DH. Owen sounds like such a big boy, already getting ready to crawl!! I don't think we're anywhere near that yet, thankfully!;)

We too have worked ourselves into a schedule - so yes Aprilshowers it shouldn't be far off for you either!!:)

6:30-7:30...wake up, 1st bottle about 30 minutes later.
8:00 breakfast (cereal/fruit)
8:30-9:30...playtime (in crib/bouncy chair while mommy showers!)
9:30 bottle/nap (anywhere from 5 minutes to 45 minutes...yes I said 5 minutes.:))
10-12 library storytime,playground, playdates for DD1, errands, etc...
12 ...bottle/lunch (veggies/cereal/fruit...depends on my mood!)
1:00 NAP...this one has gotten pretty routine. For the past week and a half she's gone down without a fight and without waking after 30 minutes. She;ll sleep most of the time for about 3 hours, maybe a little more. On occasion she'll only go about 2-2.5 hours...those days are not fun as she is a total crab by 5:30!
4:30/5:00 playtime
6:00 dinner
7:00 bathtime
8:30 bottle/bed....I'dlove this to be earlier but I'm afraid she'd be up at 4am:rolleyes:

It's nice to finally have some predictability...although it is a little monotonous. Hopefully with summer we'll liven things up a bit!:)

Hope everyone else is doing well and the babies are just a growing!!!

[numberlady]

I wish I got back here to post more often, this thread is sooooo quiet.

ILMS - I am thinking of you and the fam. I can't imagine how hard it must be for you and DH to be apart from each other and your DH to be missing so much in Owen's life. With technology, I supposed you can be sure that they don't miss each other too much. I would be PO'd at the doctor as well.

Bryson is extremely fascinated with his hands. He will stare at one of them while he turns it around, then watch it as he puts his fingers in his mouth. Too funny! He is really starting to roll around a lot back to front, front to back. He is still not sitting on his own, but if you sit with him, he will sit up and play. We started cereal last week and he absolutely hated it at first, but by the end of the week he would open his mouth wide when the spoon got close.

His rough schedule (that DH relays and I see on the weekends):

7:15 - Wake then eat & play
9:00 - Nap for about 1.5-2 hours (usually eats again before this one)
11:00 - Wake, eat & play
1:00 - Nap (usually about 2 hours)
3:00 - Wake, run errands
5:30 - Nap
7:00 - Wake, play, eat cereal, bathtime
8:30 - Bedtime

[Ilovemysoldier812]

Hello everyone. It's been really quiet in here.

Things here are going ok so for I guess. Numberlady, you are right the technology these days is just amazing. Dh has the Blackberry storm which is supposed to be the only phone that works over there. I have a blackberry pearl so we have been talking through the blackberry messanger which is free. If we were to text it would like .50 cents a text. I have been sending him tons of pictures. I also sent him an audio of Owen saying dadada which he started saying 3 days ago. I know it's just a sound but it's so cute. I'll say "where is daddy?" and he will go dadada. We have tooth #3 popping through man does nursing HURT!!!

Has anyone started solids? I'm really at loss as where to start. I have a recipe book to make my own food. I just don't know where to begin! His ped said we could skip the whole cereal since he gets belly aches alot. He has acid eflux really bad and I have done alot of reading online about foods and it irritating their throats. I know certain things I eat bothers him.

[numberlady]

ILMS - We started cereal about a week ago and DS hasn't had any problems with it. Of course he has not had any stomach issues prior to that. I was going to use Earth's Best baby food. I toyed with the idea of making my own, but once I found them I decided it probably wasn't worth the time. I hear you are supposed to start veggies first before fruit and I would start with one veggie at a time to be sure there is no allergic reaction.

[JackieO]

ILMS - DD has been on solids for a while now...just wanted to share a website with you that I read about on here. www.wholesomebabyfood.com

Itwill give you ideas and some guidelines about solids. Hope that helps!

[Ilovemysoldier812]

Owen had his 6 month pictures today here are a few

http://i326.photobucket.com/albums/k425/shawna812812/10.jpg

http://i326.photobucket.com/albums/k425/shawna812812/2.jpg

http://i326.photobucket.com/albums/k425/shawna812812/4.jpg

[Eight]

Hey, everyone! We are a quiet bunch. I have been reading, but haven't stopped to post.

ILMS-- How are you doing? I hope things are going as smooth as possible. That is great that you and your DH can BB with each other. Crazy how technology has changed distances between people. Owen is adorable. I am still amazed at all he does. I the first shot. He just looks shmushable! 3 teeth??!! Wow.

JackieO-- Thanks for posting that website. I will have to check it out. Max is fascinated by the cat and dog as well. He is really starting to reach out to touch them. So far, both animals have tolerated his increased intereste pretty well.

numberlady-- how is the Earth's Best? Do you (and Bryson) like it?

Mystikal-- How are the kids feeling? I hear you on the constant sickness. Max just cannot shake this cold/cough/snot fest. I hate it. I must call the ped every week or so. I just hate it. Beautiful pictures of Ben. That shot of him looking at his sister is just lovely.


cactus-- wow, a move to Florida?!! That sounds like quite an endeavor. How is it all going? How is Leo doing with sleep?

LKMang-- How was the Phillie's game? I have yet to go Citizen's. Just made it to the Linc last year! Did Bradley like the game? We are headed to Ocean City for a week in July. I am really looking forward to it. We will be renting a big house with a bunch of my siblings. I can't wait to take Max to the beach!
As for us: Max's sleep is still anyone's guess. We have worked on going to bed sleepy but awake or just awake and that has seemed to work out well. The nighttime sleep is still all over the place. Some nights are ok and some are not.

We have not started solids...We go for his 6 month appt at the end of June and I will talk to the ped then about it. I have to say, I am in no rush. Seems like it would be so much more work and Max seems just fine without them.

Max is a rolling fool but does not seem to like to roll from belly to back. Which creates all sorts of issues during the night b/c he constantly rollos onto his belly and then gets pissed that he cannot roll onto his back or side again. Sigh.

He isn't sitting up on his own, but he likes to be propped up so he can get his toys or to check out the world. He does tripod and then topple over.

He needs to see everything. Everything. It is pretty funny. As I said above he loves to watch the cat. This morning he grabbed the dog's tail, except he had no idea it was the dog's tail, it was just something cool to grab that was right next to him. He attempted to put it in his mouth, but had little luck. I am not sure the dog even noticed.

Other than that, things are going well.
Vacation -- anyone have vacation plans this summer? We are headed to the NJ shore for a week. Not very glamourous or exciting, but I am looking forward to it. If the sun ever returns and it stops raining, that is.
We will be with my family, so lots of extra hands for babycare!

Ok, have to run. I know there was more to say, but work beckons.

[JessicaT]

Hi, everyone, it has been quiet in here lately! I haven't posted in forever. Sorry, I am going to skip SO's because I am back at work finally! So here is a little update on baby Calla.

I can't believe she is almost 6 months. She already has 2 teeth - started to get the first one around 4 months. She has bitten me a few times (oww!) but fortunately does not do it often. We're still nursing, although now that I am working, she is getting pumped milk 4 days a week with the nanny. We're in a nanny share with another baby girl her age and it is working out great - they are adorable together!

She's started laughing, although it is sometimes elusive, and just this week has started sitting with less support, sometimes she can tripod for a bit before she falls over. She rolls over all the time, although only back to front, so she's not really mobile at all yet. She's still eating once at night but otherwise sleeping from about 7-7 so it's pretty manageable.

She is also in love with our cats - she "pets" the cat which usually involves pulling out fistfuls of fur. Poor cat is so attention deprived he tolerates this sometimes!

I think she's come down a bit on her chart - I'll find out for sure at her 6 mo WBV but she is around 17 lbs, which I think is a mere 80% down from her 90% a few months ago.

I don't think I posted about this, although I can't remember so maybe I did, but I had a pretty acute anxiety episode that started around 3.5 months, so we had a really rough time for about a month since I couldn't sleep, eat, and was having a lot of issues with my letdown. Fortunately I got a lot of help and am medicated now and we were able to nurse through it, and I've since gotten my supply back to normal so things are MUCH better.

Since about 5 months though she has been SOO fun.

No solids yet although we are probably going to start in the next week or so - she is showing all of the signs of developmental readiness so I think it is time!

Happy friday, have a good weekend everyone!

Here's a couple of relatively recent pics:

http://farm4.static.flickr.com/3201/3609853562_911cb9b221.jpg?v=0

http://farm4.static.flickr.com/3415/3609861080_080e2e9da3.jpg?v=0

[Ilovemysoldier812]

Eight- I am in no rush to start solids either. My MIL keeps saying I'm starving him by not giving him solids but he is satisfied with BM.

JessicaT- Calla is so cute! I hear you on the biting. Owen has bit me twice so far. I'm sorry to here about the anxiety episode.

Things are crazy here. My sister leaves sunday and I'm a little nervous. My other sister and her family is coming July 1st- 5th. Then I will officially be alone till I go back home in September to visit. I hope everyone is doing good.

[LKMang]

Wow, how is everyone doing?? We are doing good. Bradley had his 6 month WBV – here are his stats

Weight – 15lbs 10oz (little less than 25%)
Length – 26 inches (between 25-50%)

Ped thinks he is doing great. A little small, but following along on his own growth curve nicely.

We have just started solids. I totally find it to be a pain, especially with his food allergies/intolerances. We have done 2 days of rice cereal, and he is not too happy about it. He reaches for the spoon and acts like he wants it, takes 2 “bites�, then clamps his mouth shut. Maybe he’s not ready or maybe rice cereal is just really gross. I’m not really pressuring it. We are gonna try a little each day, but I figure he’ll eat it when he’s ready for it. I may try some sweet potatoes and see if he likes the taste better.

I’m happy to say that my diet is a little bit better. I’ve been able to eat wheat/gluten, and also things with soy lecithin & soybean oil and haven’t had any problems yet (*knock on wood*!). I’m really hoping he is outgrowing them. Of course I am trying not to go too crazy eating stuff, but I just get so excited when I can add something back into my diet that I go a little overboard.

Sleep still sucks!!! We are trying Ferber again – we are really trying to break his constant need for a bottle to fall asleep. We are also trying to decrease the amount of times he eats at night (he was still getting up 3-4xs/night to eat!). Ped said he is at a good age to try it and we are aiming for a feed around 1am, then again at 5am (sometimes he gets up for the day at this time, on a few lucky days I can get him to go back to sleep). His naps are also horrible, but I’m taking it one step at a time. He is the king of “naplets� – he takes a bunch of short, 20-30 minute naps during the day. Wish I could figure out how to extend them.

Vacations – we just got back from a quick trip to Williamsburg, VA. We went to Busch Gardens for 2 days and Bradley really had a blast (aside from the car ride – 6 hours was way too long for a 3 night vaca)! He loved to look at everything and he *loved* the train! It was so cute. We rented a house and stayed with my mom, sister, nephew (who is almost a year older than DS), and my cousin. Brad loved being around other people and he was really talking like crazy (which made me a little more relieved since he hadn’t been talking too much before). He go to go in a pool for the first time and loved it! I seriously think he is bored being back at home this week with just me & DH to look at. I signed him up for baby time at the library, which starts next week.

I am also hoping to get down to the shore in September and I’m trying really hard to convince DH that we need to bring DS to Disney in December :)

A couple pictures…

At the Phillies game
http://i332.photobucket.com/albums/m351/lkmang/brad386.jpg?t=1245455172 http://i332.photobucket.com/albums/m351/lkmang/brad392.jpg?t=1245455216

On vacation
http://i332.photobucket.com/albums/m351/lkmang/bg119.jpg?t=1245455069 http://i332.photobucket.com/albums/m351/lkmang/bg200.jpg?t=1245455092

Hating rice cereal
http://i332.photobucket.com/albums/m351/lkmang/bg258.jpg?t=1245455141

ILMS – Owen’s pictures are so adorable!!! He looks like a little man! It’s crazy how fast they grow. I’m so glad you are able to keep in contact with your DH and I’m sure it makes him feel better to see pictures of Owen.

Numberlady – Bradley is also infatuated with his hands. I’m glad to hear that Bryson started to like solids – I’m hoping Bradley does too!

Eight – the Phillies game was really fun! Bradley lasted about 3 innings in the seats, but it was really hot, so we walked around a little. I want to bring him back, but I swear, I don’t think I paid attention to a single inning while we were there. Next time we might get a babysitter! Have an awesome time in Ocean City! I’m hoping we can get down to the boardwalk again one of these days.

Jessica – Wow, 2 teeth!!! Bradley’s haven’t come in yet, but the ped thinks any day now. Sounds like her sleep is going well! I’m so glad that you are feeling better!!

Anyone else just love this age?? They (well, mine) aren’t too mobile yet, but he just loves exploring. His new favorite thing is a shark book my cousin got him. Every time I open the page to the great white shark, he starts talking to it. So funny!

Glad to hear that everyone is doing well.

[numberlady]

LKMang - Bradley is too cute. Love his face in the pic by the pool. Bryson started out with the rice cereal the same way as Bradley by clamping his mouth shut and I though the same as you...this stuff must be nasty. Within a few days he was kicking his feet and opening his mouth wide for it. So give it a couple more days and I think he will start liking it. I'm sorry his sleep is still bad.
Jessica - What a cutie Calla is!
Eight - The only Earths Best we have used so far is the rice cereal, we haven't transitioned to "real food" yet, but that is what I plan on using. He likes the rice cereal so far. Bryson had the same issues with rolling onto his tummy in his sleep and not being able to roll back over. We had many wakeups as a result. I started giving him more wake time on his tummy and within about a week he was a rolling fool back to front and front to back and he stopped waking up at night again. He sleeps on his tummy a lot now.
ILMS - I can't believe Owen is standing up with support already. Wow!



Biting - Bryson still doesn't have any teeth, but I am dreading the teeth/boob meeting! He has gone through a couple of phases of rubbing his gums with my nipple. That feels good:eek:

[Eight]

LKMang-- I love the pictures from the stadium. They are fantastic! And the picture of Bradley eating the solids! Oh my goodness, too cute! A six hour car ride? Brave woman!

Jessica--Calla is adorable. I love her polkadots! I am glad to hear things are going with nursing and pumping and returning to work and that you are feeling better. Good news! Your nanny share sounds great! Do you switch houses or always in one in particular?

Numberlady-- DH wants to make Max's food, but I know that may not be so feasible, so I think Earth's Best or something like that will be the way to go. At least, that is what I am planning! Hopefully giving Max more time on his belly will work the same wonders it did for Bryson. I am so tired of these wake ups. But whenever we put him on his belly, he is like, eh, I think I will just rest my head. No teeth here either. And Max has definitely clamped down pretty hard a few times...OUCH.

ILMS-- I hope your sister's visit went well and that you enjoy your visit with your other sister. I hope things are going well!

We are home this weekend and then next weekend we are headed down to Philly to my parents. Their town does a nice 4th of July celebration (my DH and I both grew up there) and we might walk in the baby parade with Max. But regardless, we want to take Max to see the parade and all the activities that go on at the town lawn afterwards. Max turns 6 months on the 4th!! Inconceivable!!
And then the weekend after the 4th, we head to the shore for a weeks. July is pretty much gone and it hasn't even started!

I am so ready for this awful weather to be gone and summer to start. Someone told me that for the month of June, there were only 4 days with no measurable rain fall. Ugh. Please, please, summer, come back from whereever you are hiding!!

[cactus]

Hi ladies! I haven't checked in in a while and I'm happy it seems like our little group has had a bit of a revival! We have some CUTE babies! I can't believe they're so old...I've been thinking of last summer when I wasn't even halfway through the pregnancy and I can't wrap my mind around how much has happened since then.

Sooo...Mr. Leo is almost 7 months old! I can't even imagine. He's still a chubbalub. He had his 6 mo WBV a couple of weeks ago and here are his stats:

Weight: 18 lbs 12 oz (though seriously, he did not stop moving on the scale so I think the nurse just picked a number that flickered by, so this could be a little high or a little low depending), 75th pctile
Height: 27 inches, 75th pctile
Head: not sure, but it was 25th pctile (but DH and I also both have pretty small heads so no one is concerned)

He is doing GREAT! lkmang, I totally agree that I love this age. Though Leo *is* mobile now (more in a moment), so I'm a little on-edge about that.

We started solids at 6 months. Rice cereal with EBM--um, no thank you! He hated it. He made the funniest faces, poor guy. We tried mixing it with first bananas (Earth's Best) and then a couple of days later sweet potatoes. Neither was a hit. He also couldn't really figure out the mechanics of eating at all. Most of it wound up on his face and he was much more interested in the spoon than the food. We were away this past week and my mom fed him some applesauce, which he liked, and then a few days later MIL tried pears and OMG, Leo loved it so much he was doing this crazy little head wiggle to try to eat them faster and was getting them up his nose, in his hair, etc. It was hysterical. I'm just glad he won't be on a liquid diet forever. ;) Still nursing, though he's so much more distractible now so it's harder.

Still no teeth, though he's been drooling to beat the band for like 2 or 3 months now. DH and I both walked before getting teeth (that's how long it took!) so I would be more than happy to wait.

Soo...he's a mover. Right around 6 months he had a huge developmental explosion where within the space of a week he was rolling in both directions and sitting up (we put him in a sitting position and he no longer needs to prop himself up with his arms). It's so cute--I feel like he's so much more of a person now that he sits and looks around and interacts on eye level with you. And he loves his toys too. But he is so active. I cannot put him down and turn my back AT ALL anymore...he covers a lot of ground. Yesterday evening we were flying back to LA and had a layover in Vegas (ugh) and put a blanket on the floor of the airport so he could play, and I swear he was crawling. I am so not ready for this--we don't have the space!

Sleeping is back to terrible. We were doing GREAT from about 5-6 months, and it was my fault it got screwed up...I gradually let a couple of night feedings back in (not because he was really hungry, but because he woke up and I was so tired and I knew that feeding him would put him back to sleep) so I feel like it undid all the work we did on his sleeping. Also I knew we were traveling this month so he would get screwed up so I figured, why bother? Well, now we're back and it's time for sleep bootcamp again this weekend. I am SO dreading it. The good news is at the ILs this week he napped in a crib for the first time ever! It's time to put the smack down on that one at home, too. I'm actually thinking the trip might have weaned him off napping in the swing, thank goodness.

I will come back tonight and try to post a photo--I'm at work and don't have access to any recent pictures!

[Ilovemysoldier812]

well we had Owen's 6 month WBV yesterday. It didn't go well, Owen hasn't really gained much in the last 2 months. His ped wanted me to stop nursing all together and just do formula. She said she thinks my supply wasn't good enough for him. So I cried. My friend who just had a baby luckily was going to see a lactation consult so I went along. She did a weight check then i nursed and did another. He's getting enough milk from me so she had me call the nutrtionist. He has an appt next monday with her. The LC just thinks hes ready to start solids which I planned to do when he turned 6 months. This is all so frustrating. He hasn't had formula yet which I don't plan on giving him.So hopefully the nutritionist will have some answers for us.

[Eight]

ILMS-- I am sorry to hear about Owen's weight gain. From everything else you have posted, it sounds like he is doing really well. How awful for your ped to say it was your supply and that you had to stop nursing --without ever checking to see if that was the problem! I am glad you could see a LC. Any word on what might be going on? Did you see the nutrionist today? Any further developments?

Cactus-- You and Leo are certainly busy these days! How are solids going? We were going to start this past weekend, but didn't. I hope we can try this weekend. I think. Any other food successes besides pears? So cute on Leo being a mover and a shaker. Max has yet to sit up unassisted. He seems on the verge of it...but not quite yet.
How did sleeping bootcamp go?

It seems our weekends always end in a craptastic night's sleep for Max and us. We just cannot get this kid to nap on the weekend and it seems to be wreaking havoc with the start of our week. We tried everything to get Max to nap yesterday afternoon (his weekend morning naps seem to be ok. They usually last an hour). I think we got maybe 25 minutes. Added to the lack of a real nap Saturday afternoon, Max was a mess yesterday evening. He went down an hour early (6 vs 7), but then just had a miserable night's sleep and was up for the day around 4:45 and just cranky. I wish we could find a solution. He doesn't seem to nap if we are out or if we are home...well, he slept yesterday morning while we were running (he was in the car seat attachment on the BOB), but then yesterday afternoon when we went back out, no nap. Came home, he fell asleep, put him down...awake in 25 minutes or so.

I think I am just exhausted and at my wit's end. I think we are going to have to do more sleep training at night and see if that helps (as naps we only have the weekends to work on and we are away for the next three weekends). I need sleep!!! I feel completely dysfunctional these days b/c of the chronic lack of sleep.

Other than that, the Kid cracks us up. I agree, this is a fun age. He loves to watch the "bigger" kids at daycare. He loves to pull his toys out of a basket or a box and thinks it is the best thing ever to sit and do this. He loves to play with his pacifier, including tossing it and trying to retrieve it.

Ok, I had figured out how to post pictures, but have to run. Time to pump and must get some work done. Will try the pictures tomorrow!

[Ilovemysoldier812]

Eight- We went and saw the nutrionist today. She wants me to start solids twice a day. She thinks that will get him to gain some weight. She just says some babies start to follow their owen curve around 6 months. We go back the 10th for another weight check and see if if the solids are helping him with gaining weight. Right now she's not to concerned because he looks healthy and is hitting all his milestones. I'm sorry to hear about the sleep issues. Owen was really bad at napping during the day too. Some days I have to get out of the house just so he will get a nap in the car.


Has anyone moved to a convertible seat? Is it easier to get them in and out of the convertible vs the infant seat? I'm asking because its PITA to get him in and out. when he go places Owen refuses to be carried in his seat so we have to take him out and he sits in the shopping cart. He looks so funny cause he's so little.

Things are getting normal. I miss DH but I'm glad I have Owen to get through this. One of my friends has a 5 week old and her husband left when DH did. I feel for her because her baby has reflux and colic!

[LKMang]

ILMS – I’m so sorry to hear about Owen’s weight gain. I’m glad the nutritionist was able to help you out. It sounds like the solids will help him out. Bradley fell off his curve a little bit at 6 months. BTW, we just put Bradley in the shopping cart for the first time this past weekend and he looked SO tiny!! I got a little teary-eyed.

Eight – have you read Ferber at all? I don’t know how you feel about CIO, but we have been doing it again for the past 2 weeks and Bradley’s sleep has really improved. Our ped told us to try picking a time in the middle of the night that we would not feed the baby until that time (we picked 2am). We put him down for bed around 645-7pm, he is usually really sleepy or even asleep, but he wakes up when I put him in the crib. He does cry for a little bit, but once he gets to sleep, he usually sleeps pretty soundly. Also with Ferber, if he wakes up in the middle of the night, you wait a minimum amount of time before going in to comfort him. Bradley has actually learned how to put himself back to sleep! He has only been getting up once during the night to eat (sometimes around 230, sometimes around 430), which is great compared to the 4-5 times he was getting up before.

Naps are still hard. I don’t really like Ferber for naps (he tells you to let them cry for up to a half hour (while periodically checking on them), but then just give up on that nap and if they fall asleep somewhere else, that’s okay). I’m torn between teaching him to nap on his own and risk being cranky or just letting him use the bottle or car to get to sleep and know that he’ll actually get a nap in.

We still haven’t really done solids. We just got the highchair so I’m going to try again tomorrow. Yesterday I felt in Bradley’s mouth and felt a tooth coming in!! Then this morning I felt again and there was another tooth! So it is getting both his bottom teeth at the same time. I can’t wait until they come in because he has been extra cranky and I know he’s in pain.

[numberlady]

This thread sure is slow. I swear I posted recently, but now I don't see it.
LKMang - We are doing solids in his bouncy chair, still haven't gotten a high chair yet. I'm glad to hear Bradley is getting some teeth. Maybe that will help his sleep a bit?
ILMS - How are solids going. I'm glad you are making the transition well with DH away. We haven't changed carseats yet, I was actually coming here to ask the same question. I am pretty much done carrying DS in the carrier portion of the carseat because it is just too darn heavy and he seems a bit cramped when I put him in the seat.

So I have a few questions, maybe we can revive this thread:
QsOTD: When do you plan to move to a convertible carseat? What type of highchair do you have and do you like it? When do you plan on lowering the crib mattress?

Posting to save and will come back and finish SO's once DS stops his grunting.

[numberlady]

I'm back. Sometimes I don't know if DS's grunting is from him going #2 or just a form of communication. This time it was because he was tired or playing on the floor and it was time for a nap. It seems that it is almost innate that men think that grunting=communication :)

Eight - I'm sorry that Max's sleep isn't better. Bryson has been boycotting naps for the last few days as well and it has been bad for us since he is so fussy. It is not normal for DS to do this, so I can only imagine going through it on a routine basis.
Cactus - We are in the same position with teeth. Drooling excessively and fingers and everything else in the mouth all.the.time. for the last 2-3 months and still no teeth.

I agree with all the pp's that this is such a cute age. DS loves to sit on the floor and play now and I really feel like he is "grown-up" since he is sitting now. We have a thumb sucker on our hands. It actually started pretty early on, at maybe 2-3 months we knew he was sucking his thumb to go back to sleep in the middle of the night. Now every time he goes to sleep if he doesn't fall asleep eating, he sticks his thumb in his mouth and falls asleep.

I hope everyone had a nice long weekend!

[Ilovemysoldier812]

I'll do SO's later but I wanted to share this cute picture of Owen.
http://i326.photobucket.com/albums/k425/shawna812812/7-6-200974828PM.jpg

[Eight]

LKMang-- We have tried a Ferber-like approach to putting Max down at night and that seems to have worked well. He generally is pretty easy to put down. However, it is the lack of weekend nap that makes for rough Sunday nights,which often carries into Monday or Tuesday. I guess that is something we have to really work on. Max still wakes from once to three times a night and I really really think we are ready to cut down on those. I just don't know how or rather, what is the best approach.
And since we are in a one bedroom, Max's crib is right next to my side of the bed. I have no idea how to do the delay going to him routine as he knows we are right there and gets pissed when we don't move fast enough. :cool:
Did you try solids yet?

ILMS-- very cute picture of Owen. It sounds like your meeting with the nutritionist went well.

numberlady-- Ha! I think I have been known to grunt when severely tired.

QsOTD
Convertible Carseat: We have not moved into one yet and I was wondering the same. I really don't know when to do it. Max is not near the weight or height limit of the infant seat, but he is not a fan of it. One reason why I am dragging my feet is that the infant seat (part of the Orbit system) is very easy to install with a seatbelt in a cab and I like having that ability. But given how cranky Max is in it, maybe we should switch soon. I just have to decide which one to get --one of the Britax ones or the Orbit one.

Solids/Highchair -- We tried solids this weekend. Max was sooo not interested. So I think we need a different game plan. We tried sweet potato. I am thinking of trying it again, with breastmilk mixed in. And if that doesn't work, trying a fruit.

So we don't have a highchair and currently have been using the bumbo. I need something very compact. I like the stokke chairs, but they don't seem to make much sense at this point as they have no tray.

Crib mattress-- we haven't moved it down yet. So far it does not seem like we need to.

Ok, must run. But will try to come back for updates, etc.

[Ilovemysoldier812]

Lkmang, which highchair did you buy? We have a booster seat that attaches to the chair and I hate it!

Numberlady- I was looking into buying the chicco pollyfor the highchair. For the convertible carseat I think Owen will be switched over real soon. Getting him into the infant seat is such a pain. He arches his back and screams. I'm looking into the britax marathon. As for the mattress Owen isn't in his own bed so I can't help there.

We started solids last week. So far he LOVES them. He's had sweet potatoes, squash and avocado. He had an allergic reaction to the squash. I gave him some puffs today. He is so lazy. He has the pincer grasp down but he screams for me to put them in his mouth.

Anyone tried a sippy cup? which ones are you using?

[LKMang]

QOTD – We are still in the infant carseat but like most of you, I think we need to go to a convertible soon. He is starting to not like being in the car (and he used to love it!) and I can tell it’s getting to be a tight squeeze. I really want a Britax, which unfortunately is not in the budget yet. Must keep my eyes open for some sales! I must say, I will miss the infant car seat a little when he falls asleep in the car, but it is getting very heavy! And I will miss using the snap & go. I have been lugging around the Peg Perego P3 and it just seems like a pain for going out. Great for the park or going on an “outing”, not fun for a quick trip to the store!

Solids – okay, after hating them 3 weeks ago, Bradley now loves them!! We are still doing rice cereal (ped said to take it really slow cause the food allergies) and he loves them. So anyone whose babies don’t like it right now, just give it some more time. We are gonna try sweet potatoes this weekend, I think. I’m hoping to spend some time in the kitchen this weekend pureeing and freezing a bunch of things. I barely have time to make our dinner during the week, let alone his!

Highchair – we are using the Graco Contempo
http://www.toysrus.com/product/index.jsp?productId=3330192
We like it so far. Its easy to use and it folds up really skinny (which is good cause we don’t have a ton of room)

Crib Mattress – have not lowered it yet and probably won’t for a while. DS can’t sit up on his own yet, so he isn’t trying to escape.

Crib Bumpers – anybody still using them? We took them out for a while – once he started sleeping in his crib, he would put his face right up to them to sleep and it freaked me out, so we removed them. But last week he woke up in the morning screaming because his leg was through the slats all the way up to his butt and I think he thought he was stuck. So we put them back in. I still don’t like it cause he likes to hold on to them when he sleeps and I’m so nervous he is going to suffocate himself. Is it safer because he is older? I dunno what to do about it!

ILMS – omg, owen is adorable!!! Little army man!

Eight – I can’t imagine how hard it must be with Max in the same room. I think Ferber would be really tough to follow! We are lucky and have 2 bedrooms and we have started closing the door to his room (not all the way, we leave it open a crack so we can peek in) and I think it has helped.

We are slowly pushing his nighttime feeds closer and closer to morning. Right now, we will not feed him before 3am. I’m hoping to move it a half hour every few days until we are closer to his waking time (which lately has been 5am!). Usually he’ll get up at 5am, lay with me for a little bit and we fall asleep together for another hour.

Naps – how does everyone do naptime? Before we were putting Bradley down in the pack n play in the living room, but we recently moved the “mattress” down and have been using it more like a play pen with his toys. Today I started to doing some Ferber in his crib – morning nap was a disaster, but he actually slept for a little during his afternoon nap. I have been getting into the habit of still trying to use the bottle to get him to go to sleep, but it hasn’t been working lately. He’s been eating a TON of food (more than he needs) and still not going to sleep, so I know that has to stop and I have to try to get him in his crib.

[numberlady]

Carseats - I would love to get a Britax too, so those of you looking, if you find a sale please post so I can check it out too. It is disappointing because we spent a lot of money on our carseat and extra base station. We got the Chicco Keyfit 30 because I thought that it would last until he was 30 pounds. Nobody told me that he would not like to be so reclined back way before he hit 30 pounds:(
Crib Bumpers - We have always used them even though it is recommended not to. Bryson has been pushing himself to the top of the crib so that the top of his head is touching the bumper.

LKMang - Bryson loves sweet potatoes, so I hope Bradley does too when you give them to him.
Ilovemysoldier - We have been looking at the Chicco Polly also. I just can't decide because I am afraid that he won't be in it long enough and am considering just getting a booster style high-chair. Such a cute picture of Owen!

Here is a recent picture of Bryson. I think his hair is starting to grow.
http://farm3.static.flickr.com/2666/3699997956_a142b4798c.jpg?v=0

[JackieO]

Hi all...just pluggin along here, getting ourselves into a pattern that sometimes feels like groundhogs day:rolleyes: DH and I just had a 'discussion' about it- a sometimes loud discussion, but all is well. It's just hard to see the other's viewpoint sometimes...

QOTD - yeah, we're still in the infant seat, but planning on moving into convertible seat soon...I just can't believe we're already at that point. We have a Britax from DD1 we'll use...

Solids - She loves them...haven't found anything she doesn't like.We've tried a few stage 2 foods/combos, she only eats about 1/2 a jar but it's a better variety. We started puffs, I actuallywas breaking them into pieces at first for a few days, but she's gettingwhole ones now and actually gums them down - so cute.

Highchair - we're using the one we had with DD1...it's a fisher-price, has a reclining seat, and she sits well in it. We started feeding her in her bouncy chair when we just started solids...the Bumbo would have been a good idea, but she started stiffening up like a board and pulling herself right out of it at about 4.5 months:cool:, my dainty little flower. Seriously the girl is like a ton of bricks!

Crib mattress - we haven't lowered it yet, but I did mention to DH the other day we'll have to do that soon too. As for crib bumpers, hers are still on and she grabs them too LKMang, mostly when she's tryingto get to sleep. I've had moments of freak outs where I stand in front of the video monitor to make sure she's breathing:p

Naps - we've worked ourselves into a pretty good schedule...about 2.5-3hours after she wakes up she'll take a 30 minute nap on me in the recliner (i'm not ready to fight this battle yet:rolleyes:), then about 12:30 I get her down for an afternoon nap in her crib which will last anywhere from 2-3 hours...then another catnap before or after dinner. Some days we struggle and I have to go back up to her room and feed her/change her. It can be a battle, but I've made myself set a limit on how long she'll fuss before I go back up and she usually works it out.

ILMS- great pic of Owen...just like Daddy! I did a similar picture for DH for father's day of both girls in one of his shirts and ties. We have a booster seat that attaches to one of our dining room chairs too but for now we're using the highchair..Ithink w/DD1 we started using the booster around 9/10 months. Lauren loves her solids too and waits for me to put the puffs in her mouth..right now she just has puffs all over her hands and rubs her hand around her mouth without actually getting anything in there! Oh, and we do have a sippy cup that she mostly just plays with and chews on. I think it's a nuby, but it has a soft nipple like a bottle. She seems to like it although she doesn't actually drink much out of it...

Eight - I feel for you on the napping...it's been a struggle for us too although we (knock on wood) seem to have gotten through the worst I hope! But I agree, when DD doesn't get a good nap it does carry over into the next few days. Hopefully you can find something that will work for Max!

Numberlady - thanks for the thread revival! This is a fun age...sort of like the calm before the storm, before they get mobile!!
ETA: cute pic, he's so cute!!! and he has more hair than Lauren!

So Lauren's new thing is rolling in her crib and sleeping on her belly...I usually make DH go in and flip her back when we go to bed:p I'm sure at this age she'd be fine but I'm not yet, so flip her we will! I think she's getting close to crawling, she's got her arms straight and her legsmoving, but her belly is still on the floor...once she figures that out, we're in trouble. This little girl is a whole different ballgame from her big sister so it should be interesting!

[Eight]

Numberlady (and anyone else)-- Re the Britax: albeebaby.com has a 15% off coupon for all items not reduced. Britax is not excluded from the 15% off (some other brands are). Not a huge sale, but I guess something.
albee offers free shipping for items over $100 and there is no sales tax if you are not in NY. It also looks like they have a few Britax on sale as well. Though, some patterns appear to be reduced more than others.

Ok, must get back to work. Have so much to do before we leave for vacation!

Also, Numberlady, I was totally thinking of your post yesterday when I walked into the living room carrying the boppy and Max grunted at me (he was in DH's arms). It was time to eat!

[Ilovemysoldier812]

numberlady- Travelingtikes has them for $199.99-$279.99 but the ones that are $279.99 you save $50 and that brings it down to $229.99. not much of a sale but the ones for $199.99 aren't bad.Bryson is so cute. I love those chunky thighs.

Lkmang- I'll have to look into that highchair, I really like the print.

JackieO- We have the nuby soft spout one and I was worried it would be hard to trainsition to the hard spout. He can drink out of that one but with the hard spouts he can't figure it out!

naps- I nurse Owen to sleep for his nap then I put him in his crib.

I'm putting Owen in daycare for either 2 hours/week or do 4 hours/week and split the 4 hours into 2 hours twice a week. I get 20 hours a month free daycare since DH is deployed. I don't have any help at all! So I think thats what i'm going to do for me time. I'm just nervous.

[cactus]

Hey ladies! Exciting to see some activity in this thread!

Here's my handsome 7 month old...

http://images1f.snapfish.com/232323232%7Ffp934%3Enu%3D3244%3E257%3E5%3A7%3EWSNR CG%3D326%3B85%3A755325nu0mrj

high chair: We have the Fisher Price Space Saver, which goes on a regular dining room chair. It's great for us because it, um, saves space!

solids: It took a few weeks but he got the hang of it and now Leo is a good little eater! He gets 2-3 "meals" of solids each day, even though I'm pretty sure he's mostly still getting his nutrition from BM. In the morning before I go to work I nurse him and then I give him breakfast of a little oatmeal mixed w/EBM and a fruit (pears or apples). His babysitter gives him part of a jar for "lunch" in the middle of the day, and then about an hour before bedtime he eats about 1/2 jar of veggies. So far he's tried peas, sweet potatoes, and squash. He loved the squash the best and refused the peas...so far the peas have been the only thing he hasn't eaten at all. We moved to oatmeal (Earth's Best) from the rice cereal because he wasn't a fan. I also give him his Born Free sippy with a little water when he eats in his high chair, and he mostly plays with it but I think now he might be drinking a little too. I had all these grand plans of making my own baby food, but unless the day magically gets an extra couple of hours added to it I just don't see that happening. :)

naps: We FINALLY had a breakthrough! Leo exclusively napped in his swing until 6 months. Ugh. We went on a trip for a week where there was no swing, and when we came back we packed up the swing and started putting him in his crib for naps. Um, the first week or so was sort of a disaster--a couple of days of no napping at all and just screaming instead. I am happy to report that he's finally (FINALLY!) getting the picture and is on something of a nap "schedule." Morning nap from 8:30-10 or so and afternoon nap from about 1:30-3. Give or take, sometimes more and sometimes less. Bedtime by 7. For naps, I change his diaper, put the shades down, put his fan on, put him in his sleepsack, feed him, and give him his elephant lovey and pacifier--he seems to go to sleep pretty fast if he's tired enough. Makes him SO much happier when he's had a good nap! Unfortunately, night sleep is back to sucking but that is 100% my fault. :( I'm just too exhausted to be consistent.

carseat: The one piece of advice I would give myself and anyone else for future pregnancies--if your kid hates the infant carseat, don't make him be in it! Leo HATED his bucket seat from day one. I listened too much to everyone else who said their kids loved the seats and they were so convenient, yadda yadda...seriously, Leo never let me transfer him out of the car while sleeping anyway, so who was I kidding? We actually were given the Britax Roundabout as a shower gift before he was born so it had just been sitting in BIL's garage, and I believe it is safe for babies from 5 pounds and up. We put it in the car RF about 2 weeks ago and this child loves the car! Literally, night and day. So had I known or trusted my instinct I would have put the convertible carseat in there a lot sooner. And he's no dummy--that thing looks totally first class compared to the Snugride! Leo votes yes on his big boy seat!

crib mattress: Leo covers A LOT of ground in his crib and is also about to start crawling (tons of rocking on his hands and knees) so I'm thinking we may be lowering the mattress soon.

numberlady and ILMS, Bryson and Owen are so cute! Ladies, more pictures of babies, please! Sounds like everyone is doing well!

Oh yes--I had a question for you guys...we are moving to a new state next month, and I'm probably going to send Leo to daycare starting in September when he's about 9 months old. I know the basics (safety, adult: baby ratio, hours, cost, etc.) but what are the kinds of questions I should be asking daycare providers that I might not be thinking of? If your kids go to daycare, what do you like/not like about your provider? Thanks!

[Eight]

http://i823.photobucket.com/albums/zz159/mookmarv05/batman.jpg

[Eight]

Ok, tried to post a picture, can anyone see it? I am guessing I have done it wrong...again...what exactly do I need to do to post from photobucket?

ETA: Ok, I think I got it, but it is huge. Off to make it smaller.
That is Max around 5.5 months. And me.

[cactus]

eight, you guys are both very cute! ;)

[IzzyJune2006]

I'm still reading this thread even though DD was early and became a November baby.

lkmang, about the crib bumper There's a product out there that a safe alternative to the pillowy crib bumpers. It's a mesh bumper (http://www.toysrus.com/product/index.jsp?productId=2266849). We've been using a traditional bumper ever since she started scooting back and crying when her head hit the rails, and her arms started to stick out between the slats. DD sleeps on every side of her body , back, belly, side... when sleeping on her belly, she often has her face burried on the mattress or her hand. I doesn't freak me out now that she is so mobile. The girl uses every square inch of her crib!

carseat... we switched to the convertible last week. She was always complaining about getting into the snugride. She still doesn't seem to like car rides, so I don't think it's the seat. She does ok when she has her favorite car toy ... an Ernie plush and a pacifier.

crib mattress We lowered it a couple of weeks ago. She's really trying to pull up now but not yet doing it.

sleep She is still a very good sleeper. For the past couple of weeks though she's been going through a phase. I don't know if it's typical for her age or what but there are more random cries and it's been harder to get her to stick to the sleep schedule. There is just so much growing up happening for her; solids, trying to crawl/stand, communication, new interests/toys, etc.

solids I'm actually a little embarrassed to say that I don't follow the guidelines very much this time around. DD will grab anything within her reach and wants to eat whatever we are having. So after the first few weeks of introducing new foods, I now frequently give her almost anything soft. Luckily we don't have any bad reactions. She was biting into an ear of corn the other day and I couldn't stop her without her throwing a fit. She munches on pizza crust (I take it away when it gets soft).

That's what she looked like last week in the infant seat!!! Not a baby anymore!
http://media6.dropshots.com/photos/207410/20090702/182631.jpg

[portlandbride]

So glad to see this thread revived!

I’ve been gone far too long to attempt SOs, but I can answer some of the most recent QOTDs.

Carseat – We are still in the infant but I recently moved DD#2 into a new one so that the Roundabout is ready for him. I have started to leave the bucket in the car so I might as well switch it over. Maybe something to do this week. I think he’ll really like it although he doesn’t mind the bucket sine the girls are there to entertain him.

Solids – We started right around the 6-month mark. I am not all that consistent with them. Sometimes he gets them a few times a day sometimes not at all. We’ve done sweet potatoes, bananas, avocado, watermelon, pears and apples. We’ve done both real food, either on his plate or in one of those mesh thingies, and baby food. We also do puffies and teething biscuits. He likes food okay; sometimes he eats a lot sometimes he doesn’t. I think it is kind of a pain so I will be glad when it’s only real food. Oh, and I’ve also done crackers and pizza crusts. He likes to suck on those.

Highchair – We have a Fisher Price one. I like it because the seat cover is plastic and wipes down really easily. We will switch him to the FP booster that attaches to the chair when we get a bigger table!

Crib Mattress – We haven’t lowered it yet but should. I need to get DH to do this. I don’t ever put the side rail up since I am so short so it is good to have it a bit lower.

Crib Bumpers – We do use one and have with all three kids. I’ve never really worried about it. It’s securely tied to the sides and he sleeps more in the middle of the crib, not up against the sides.

Sleep – Here is my biggest issue. He goes down pretty easily, which is such a nice change! DD#2 took at least 45 minutes to an hour every single time I wanted to put her to sleep and he only takes 10 minutes or so. Naps are good, he takes one in the morning usually for about and hour and one in the afternoon for anywhere from 1.5 – 2.5 hours. He goes to bed between 6 – 7 depending on when he got up from his last nap. Now here’s where it gets bad. He is up at least 5 times a night to eat. Sometimes he wants to play which kills me. Last night he was up from 3:45 – 4:30 and again from 5:00 – 5:30. When he woke up at 6 and wanted up I fed him then put him back in his crib. I stayed in the room with him and he cried a little for exactly 6 minutes then went back to sleep for 2 hours! I’ve never done any type of CIO with any of my kids, but he seems to just need to work it out a little himself. I always stay in the room but I do let him cry a little. Not too much because I don’t want to wake my DDs.
Also, he always sleeps in his crib, both for naps and bedtime. He used to sleep in his swing but we weaned him of that a few months ago.

Sippy Cup – We have a Nuby one that is small and has a soft straw. That’s the one I started all of my kids on. He will also drink out of a cup if you hold it for him and out of a hard spout.

Pictures – All of your pictures are so cute!

As for us – Things are good here. He is a great little guy and still super mellow. He loves his sisters and just laughs and laughs at them. So glad he is my third. He doesn’t really roll at all, but he is rarely lying down except for sleep. Otherwise he is sitting up and watching everything around him. He also loves the dog and cat. Luckily the dog loves him too and the cat just stays away.

Okay, I’ve been working on this since this morning. Hope I haven’t forgotten anything!

[Mystikal]

Hey all! I could probably write a book with as long as I've been gone. Let's see if I can answer the QsOTD

Carseat DS outgrew the weight limit on his infant seat by 4 months, so he's in a rear facing seat now and he loves it.
Solids Started solids around four months old. The only thing we've found that he doesn't like is macaroni and cheese. He is also very interested in our food when we eat so we've been giving him pieces of bread, etc to eat while we eat.
Highchair we need to get him one. We feed him in his bouncy chair and we need something to put puffs on so he can work his pincer grasp.
Sleep he goes down usually around 6:30 or 7 and will usually wake around 4-ish, but will take a bottle and go back to sleep until 6 or so. If he doesn't wake at 4 he will sleep till 5:30 and be up for the day. Takes a good morning nap but a lousy afternoon nap. (This makes for a very cranky baby in the evening.)

He turned 7 months old on Sunday and has two teeth. He got his first one on the 28th (my birthday!) and the second one on his 7 monthday. He army crawls all over the house and he loves to pull himself up on you and stand.

He is on allergy medicine as well as reflux meds, and he takes soy formula (his spit up has dramatically improved with the soy.) He loves his big sister and she is the only one that can make him laugh belly laughs. It's great. He's also very ticklish.

We just got back our family portraits so if you want to see them go to www.thecameraseye.biz and click on sessions and events. Then the password is Family with a capital "F". It will start with my maternity portraits, but there is a place to click for "my galleries" and you can choose the kids 09. There are a lot. :D

[cactus]

mystikal, your kids are gorgeous and they look so much alike! I always like to see pictures of Ben because he and Leo share a birthday. :) I still can't believe how big our boys have gotten! Great photos...thanks for sharing.

portlandbride, I've got a frequent night waker too. It's hard...it must be even harder with other kids around who are trying to sleep! It sounds like you are doing great, though.

izzy, J has gotten so big! She is a tall girl...was her sister like that too? It was amazing to me what a difference the convertible carseat made for Leo. He also HATED getting strapped in the Snugride.

[Mystikal]

cactus thanks! I actually saw you on LJ today. :)

[numberlady]

Carseats- Thanks for the sites for the Britax. I guess what I really need to do first is figure out which one I want. I guess maybe I need to post in the carseat thread because DH keeps DS, so if they go anywhere during the day it is in his car, and on the weekends we always take my car. So I guess I need to get 2, but $400-500 for 2 Britax is not in the budget along with a highchair.
crawling - So Bryson is not crawling yet, but he is getting up on his hands and knees. Instead of rocking back and forth he does this bunny hop thing and pushes his arm and legs straight out and lands on his belly. I wonder if the rocking will come next.

ILMS - That is nice that you get MDO for free. It is a nice benefit and one that you deserve.
Cactus - Leo is a very "pretty" baby. Glad to hear Leo is napping better. I hear you on the carseat thing. I wish I had known not to waste the money on an infant seat. I knew I wasn't going to be able to use the carrier that long anyways and actually used it longer than I thought, but like you, everyone told me I had to have one. Oh well.
Eight - I can see it. Beautiful!
Izzy - We went through that over the last couple of weeks too with the sleep issues. Knock on wood, we seem to be getting back to our normal schedule but it was a rought 3 weeks and I am still trying to get caught up on my sleep.
Portlandbride - I'm sorry he is waking so much at night still. That must be exhausting. I know I couldn't take it when mine was waking so much.

[Eight]

Popping in for a quick update. We had Max's 6 month appt yesterday (he was 6 months on the 4th -- we told him all of the fireworks were for him;)).
He is tipping the scales at 17 lbs 4 oz and is 28 inches long. My desire for a new pediatrician was further strengthened after this visit. She just keeps saying that there is no reason for Max to be waking up to eat and that absolutely we should not be feeding him at night (she said that at his 4 month appt too, I think!). Oy, whatever lady. You offer no suggestions as to how to go about that except just leave him be when he wakes up during the night. Seems to me there is a little more involved in sleep training than her rather truncated version of it.

I guess I just don't like her approach in general. She gave me some wonky advice about breastfeeding that I just ignored. At the time I told myself we would find a new doctor, but I just never seemed to have the time or energy. I've gotten a few recommendations from some friends, so I think I will check those out.

Ahem...anyway...my office is in the midst of serving as a set for a scene for the movie Step Up 3 or something like that. All I know is that it is a "Disney 3D dance movie". How funny is that. My side of the office has been taken over by film equipment and the kitchen has been commandeered for craft services. It is crazy out in the hallways! Apparently they are using the head partner's office. I am not sure how this came about, but it serves to distract me from work!

Ok, speaking of which, we leave tomorrow for the shore for a week, so I must get some things done. I can't wait to see Max's reaction to the beach!!
Sorry, no time for shout outs. Hope everyone has a good weekend!

[Ilovemysoldier812]

I love all the pictures!

Carseats- I think I'm going to get the roundabout 50.

Crawling- He can get on his hands and knees and rock but rolling is much easier! He rolls everywhere and gets into EVERYTHING!!!

He can pull up on things and it's really going to give me a heartattack!!

Good news! We went to the nutritionist this afternoon and Owen gained 10oz since last monday!!! She says to continue nursing and giving him solids! I'm so happy and I'm glad I didn't listen to the ped and give him formula.

Baby food- I made my own but we have so much going on I went out and bought some earth's best. I also found Happy bellies organic puffs, which might be good for LKmang's Bradley. We use the rice cereal by them. Has no dairy or soy.

[numberlady]

Eight - Go with your gut on the ped. I agree, it seems like she is not being helpful at all. I am in the middle of the No Cry Sleep Solution to see if we can bring normalcy to our sleep situation. Bryson will STTN some days and last night he was up 3 times. I just can't seem to figure out why. I know that he can go 10-12 hours without eating, but when he wakes up I feed him because that is the quickest way to get him back down. Probably not the best parenting, but we also have to do what works.
ILoveMySoldier - Congrats on Owen's weight gain. I need to check out those organic puffs. I bought some Gerber ones at the store yesterday because B's highchair will be here tomorrow. When I got home I looked at the ingredients and was amazed at all the "stuff" in them.

New QOTD - How are you all bathing your babies? I have recently been putting Bryson's baby tub inside the tub so that I can get it fuller and he can splash all around and not get water all over the floor. He is sitting on his own and rocking & rolling, so I'm not sure if it is time to put him in the big tub or not. If so, are there any safety or comfort items that you all use?

[Ilovemysoldier812]

Numberlady- We use this in the tub.
http://i326.photobucket.com/albums/k425/shawna812812/duck-bath.jpg I tried just sticking him in the tub without it and he wants to crawl and it scares me!

[Ilovemysoldier812]

I just bought Owen the britax roundabout 50. I love it! It was a little hard to install but other than that we are both happy. He talked and laughed in the car. Usually he screams. :)

[JackieO]

Hi everyone!

We're back from a 4 day packed vacation to the inlaws house. My BIL & SIL were up from Florida with their 2 kids so we got to see them and the grandparents for a few days- which was enough;) We had plans to go to an amusement park, and while I almost didn't take Lauren, I did and she was wonderful!! She rode in the stroller and slept for 2.5 hours in the afternoon- so I couldn't have asked for more. Our 4 hour car ride was another story - it ended up asa 5 hour ride with all the stops we had to make...I forgot how fun it is to take a road trip with a baby.

As for updates, she is now in her convertible seat. We had a Britax Roundabout for DD1 that we kept...so far she seems to like it. I'm more worried about going shopping now, sitting her in the cart, etc. I do have a cart cover though so hopefully she'll like it. It just doesn't seem possible that we're already to this point!

Lauren also had her 6 month appt. this morning.
Weight: 20 pounds, 7oz.!!!
Height: 28.5 inches
She is a chunker.

She also had to get 3 shots, but we're now done with those until 12 months:D

ILMS - We bought that same tub for Lauren and she loves it. However when we were at the inlaws we did both girls together in the big tub and she lovedthat too.., I'm thinking I'll get a nonstick pad for the bottom and stick her in the big tub, when she's done we'll just add water for DD1. Oh, and woo-hoo for Owen's weight gain!!!:)

Ok - I'm off to start my loads and loads of laundry while the girls are napping...hope everyone has a good weekend!

[cactus]

Bathtime: We've been putting Leo in the big tub with one of those little mesh infant reclining seats since he was tiny since he HATED the baby tub. It's worked well thus far--we lay him on the recliner covered about 1/2way with water and soap him up, play with some toys, etc. We use a cup to pour warm water on him to rinse his tummy, etc. Then we take him off the chair and help him sit and lay back to wash his hair. He's such a mover now that this is getting tricky, plus I don't think he really needs the special seat anymore. The thing is, we're moving in about 3 or 4 weeks and I don't want to do anything special to outfit our apartment's crappy bathtub in the meantime, so we're just trying to wait it out until we're in our house next month. I'm also thinking of getting the non-slip surface for the bottom of the tub and just going whole-hog in the big bath for him when we move.

I swear, I almost have a heart attack every time I take him out of the tub though--he is so wet and squirmy and slippery that I am worried he's going to shoot right out of my arms. I will be much happier when I can be sure he can stand and I can just put him down and dry him off, though I'm also sure that comes with its own set of challenges. It brings to mind my dog after his bath--running madly and trying to shake and dry off. Yikes. :)

[Ilovemysoldier812]

JackieO- glad your visit with the inlaws went great. Lauren's almost 5 lbs heavier than Owen!

Cactus- Bath time is not fun for us here. He keeps pulling up on the side. Eventually he will give me a heart attack.


We have crawling!!! He just started yesterday but it's so darn cute. He is so slow. I'll post a video later. I have been taking lots of those lately for DH.

[cactus]

Just curious...how strictly are you guys adhering to the "give a new food only every couple of days" advice? We were doing that at first and now I'm finding that I'm offering L much more tastes of things off the table...especially chunks of fruits and veggies that I can give him in his mesh feeder. Wondering what you all are doing about introducing new things.

[Ilovemysoldier812]

Cactus- We were following the 3 day rule but then just like you I wa giving him veggies off my plate.. I was just givig him whatever I grabbed out of the freezer(I make my own) But he was constipated so I'm going to try and figure out which is making him constipated.


Here he is!
http://i326.photobucket.com/albums/k425/shawna812812/th_Picture695.jpg (http://s326.photobucket.com/albums/k425/shawna812812/?action=view&current=Picture695.flv)

[JackieO]

Holy cow - look at Owen go!!! Now you're in for a whole new world ILMS!!! He'll be after everything;)

Cactus - what kinds of things do you put in the mesh feeder? We have one for Lauren, but I never used one with DD1,so I'm not sure where to start...

[numberlady]

ILMS - How cute! He is so deliberate with his hands!
Cactus - Like others we were pretty strict on the 3 day rule at first, but now we give him a little bit of whatever. We don't have a mesh feeder, but may have to get one. That seems like a good way to give him a variety of foods.

[Ilovemysoldier812]

We have a mesh feeder, I have only put banana in it. But I think thats what made him constipated. Cactus, what are you putting in it?

[cactus]

The mesh feeder is great! So far he's had a chunk of ripe peach, some cantaloupe, and last night a piece of watermelon. He sort of sucks at it, sort of gums it--he has no teeth yet (but one seems on its way). I also stick it in the freezer with fruit in it and then he loves to have his "peach..." It's like half food, half game!

I like it because he's getting the tastes and I am not worried about choking.

FTR, we got 2 of them for about $5 at our grocery store. Munchkin brand, I think.

[JackieO]

the one we have is by munchkin too...it came with a food grinder we bought...which i haven't used yet either. Lauren is definitely my 2nd child -I am so not on the ball this time!;)

Anyway, I did buy some cantaloupe (sp?) and honeydew to try in it, maybe with dinner tonight. I'm also having a hard time waiting inbetween new foods...3 days seems like a really long time!

[Eight]

The mesh feeder discussion is quite timely. We just got one and I was wondering what the heck to do with it. As to solids, Max has so far conquored avocado (almost typed gaucomole. heh.) and bananas. I think we will give sweet potatoes another go and then I am not sure what next. Maybe pears?

I am with others on how it seems far too long to wait the three days. So far we are sticking to it, but that is out of laziness and/or lack of time.

We also just ordered a high chair. After looking for ones that folded up and were compact, we decided on the valco baby astro high chair. It is supposed to fold up quite compactly and still be sturdy and comfortable. Here is hoping.

We are back from our week at the shore. It was a great week, but it was exhausting! Despite the legions of family members around to do Max duty, I still seemed to have no downtime. We did manage to get in some good runs sans baby and that was great. However, Max had a great time playing in the sand (he reserves judgment on the ocean). And just really blossomed being with his aunts/uncles, older cousins, grandparents...and his parents.

Though, I was mourning the loss of my favorite thing -- napping on the beach! (that is, naps for ME on the beach! :o).

LKMang-- don't hate me, but I had massive amounts of Mac and Mancos. But never got around to getting any kohr brothers!

Cactus-- I think you asked a while back regarding questions for daycare. I am not sure if you are still interested, but some questions to ask (forgive me for the randomness of them, I can't remember what we asked!):
teacher/child ratio
what is a typical day like for the baby (what activities/schedule, etc)
sick policy
food rules/requirements (for sending with your DS to daycare)
when will DS move to the next room -- do they require certain things (potty training, walking, etc.)
how do they handle transition
what are the backgrounds of the teachers

I know there are more, but I can't remember. And also, some are things I have thought of as time has gone on.

[LKMang]

OMG, I am so behind! Glad to see the thread so active!

Food – we are still taking it very slowly. I am worried he is getting behind (I keep reminding myself this is all for “practice”). We were told by ped to wait about a week between new foods because of the possible food allergies. So far he has had rice cereal, sweet potatoes, and this week we have tried apples. I have been making it for him (a friend of ours lent us her Beaba steamer/processor). This week I have started giving him 2 “meals”/day. He is only getting about 2 Tbsp per meal. I have no idea if this is good or not? I also just bought him a sippy cup so we will probably try some water at dinner tonight.

We have a mesher thing, but haven’t used it yet. At the rate we are going, the kid will be 5 before we get to peaches or cantelope :/

Car seats are my new obsession. I seriously can’t figure out what to get. I am leaning towards the Britax Marathon for the one in my car (where DS spends most of his time). I’m stumped on the one for DH’s car. I am loving the way the Combi Coccoro looks (and it is supposed to be really light weight, which would be great for airplane trips), but I haven’t seen it in person yet.

Crib bumpers – DS is still laying on them, almost like a pillow. I definitely have a few freak out moments cause he is a belly sleeper. Which I think is funny because in the beginning, he hated being on his belly!

Sleep has *knock on wood* gotten better!!! Lately he has been going down around 6/630 and sleeping until 330 or so. Feed him and he’s back down for about another hour or so. I keep hoping maybe we will extend that last week and he will last until morning. Last week he slept until almost 430am, which is the closest he has been to sleeping through the night. You would think I’d be feeling great with all this extra sleep, but I am as tired as ever. I guess 7 month of sleep deprivation takes time to get over! Naps have been impossible, as always. I just ordered Weissbluth’s book – I don’t really like Ferber for naps.

A couple SOs…

Numberlady – definitely check out albeebaby.com for deals on some Britax. They have a girly pattern in the marathon on sale which I’m considering getting and just buying a new cover for. They usually have good deals on patterns that have been discontinued.
Bryson is so cute!! Look at all the hair!

JackieO – I hear you about “groundhog’s day”. I am constantly trying to think of new things to do cause the days get really boring and I think DS gets bored to.

cactus – omg Leo is just adorable!!! I can’t believe how fast our babies are growing! Glad to hear that his napping has gotten better! Hopefully the night sleep is soon to follow!

Eight – Max is too cute! Love the picture of the two of you! I’m very jealous of the Mack and Mancos :) We are going down to the shore for a week in September. It will be right after Bradley’s 9 month appt and I’m secretly hoping the ped decides its time to test cheese :) I’m dying for pizza!!! Glad you had a good time!!

ILMS – that video of Owen is so cute!!!

QOTD – what do you do to keep your baby entertained? We read, play with his toys, go for walks at the park, and go to storytime at the library. I am getting stumped at what else to do with him.

[LKMang]

Oops another question - what stroller is everyone using? I know our days with the snap n go are coming to an end. We have a Peg Perego P3 which is great for long trips, but I'm thinking I need an umbrella stroller for quick trips to the store. The P3 is huge and heavy and just seems like a pain. Any suggestions? I'd love a Maclaren, but I don't think it is in my price range right now.

[Ilovemysoldier812]

Food- I make my own and he gets a cube and one tbsp of rice cereal mixed with it, if not he spits it out. We do that 2x a day.

Carseats- We have the britax roundabout 50. So far I love it. It's the same size as the marathon has the same height limit just weight limit is 50lbs.

QOTD- We go for walks, read books, we go to kindermusik classes and the little gym. He loves playing with his toys. he can keep entertained for up to 45 minutes of just playing alone.

We have a doctors appt today with Owen's ped. We had one yesterday but they were realy busy so we rescheduled. I asked the nurse to weigh him and he weighed 16lbs 5oz. His ped was standing there and said well good weight gain then they looked at his chart and had it down he weighed 15lbs 10oz. NO he weighed 15lbs even. well when I said we didn't do the formula. She said we need to see you as soon as possible. I have all my resourses printed off of kellymom.:) I always have the breastfed baby chart that the nutrtionist gave me. She said most peds go off the formula fed chart. I'm frustrated he has gained 1lb 5oz in 3 1/2 weeks! The average gain now is 1.5 oz a week and I will show her that to if she wants to bring that up. I don't know why she is so stuck on formula!!! he's gaining just fine and he's hitting all milestones. She can take her formula and shove it. sorry for the vent. If today doesn't go well we will be changing ped's.

first day in his big boy seat
http://i326.photobucket.com/albums/k425/shawna812812/Picture676.jpg

[cactus]

lkmang, we have the BOB which is enormous but awesome for just walking around town. We've been doing a lot of plane travel plus Leo switched to the big carseat so we needed something to keep in the trunk to replace the Snap and Go. We did tons of research on umbrella/folding strollers. I really went back and forth with spending a little more money to get the Maclaren and spending less money and getting something that might not be as nice but might need to be replaced (or might not have as many features). We're currently about to close on a house and are really trying to pinch our pennies, so we actually tabled the issue...but then my BIL/SIL bought us one as a gift!

They got a great deal on a brand new Maclaren Quest on Ebay--I think it's a prior year model. The color is super ugly (black with like a neon green trim) but it is a breeze to use, very easy to fold once you have the hang of it, and lightweight. That particular model reclines, has a shoulder carry strap, and has a little more padding than the Triumph, which is the next version down. My only complaints? Small sunshade (though I think you can get an attachment for that), and no cupholder which is a bit of a pain though I understand a small thing in the great scheme of things. :) I know I'm a bit spoiled by the BOB. I think they paid something like $100 for it on Ebay...they retail for a lot more. We wouldn't have bought it for ourselves but have been thrilled with it so far.

Had we been left to our own devices, we were leaning towards the Chicco Capri, which is about $65 at BRU. It seemed like a good value, and split the difference between the high end strollers and the $19.99 cheap ones. It used to be the Chicco C9, I think, which gets good reviews from Baby Bargains.

Also, we considered the Maclaren Volo which is the cheapest no-frills Maclaren...doesn't recline, but people seem to like it a lot.

ILMS, woot woot to Owen on his weight gain! Good for you! Love the cow carseat.

Eight, sounds like a new and different kind of vacation with Max. Travel with the babes, in my experience so far, has been a bit humbling and not at all relaxing. Thank you for the daycare question suggestions!

[numberlady]

Bryson's 6mo WBV:
Weight: 19lbs 4oz
Height: 27 in

I will be back for s/o's, I thought he was asleep in his crib, but just started crying out.

[Eight]

I thought I had posted Max's 6 month stats when we went to his visit (gulp, almost a month ago), but I can't find them. So here they are, a month after the fact:
6 month stats:
17 lbs 4 ozs
28 inches
Don't remember head circumference at all.

QOTD:
Since Max is in daycare M-F, we are left with the weekend for purposes of figuring out what to do with him. For the past month or so, we have either been out of town on weekends or have something going on here at home, so that has altered the whole "what we do with him" on those days.
Otherwise, we have a fair amount of playgrounds near our apartment and we have the two parks, so that always gives us somewhere to go with him. Often on a weekend day, we spend the morning at home and then head out for errands after Max's morning nap (if he takes one...though, he is usually ok with the morning nap). Since we are in the city, that involves walking with him in the stroller or carrier. I guess that is an activity of sorts.

Strollers:
LKMang: Ebay is a great idea for a Maclaren. Also check craigslist. I always see some on the NYC craigslist. People need to get things out of their places as soon as the kids can no longer use them. And often people sell a stroller after one or two uses b/c it just doesn't work for their needs.

We use a maclaren to walk to daycare and then have the Orbit for the weekends and other times. We have a BOB Ironman jogging stroller that we only use for running. Although, we did use at his stroller when we were down the shore. It was hard to get used to the fixed wheel.

Food:
We had been adhering to the three day rule but have wandered off of that this week. It is really hard sticking to it.
Speaking of craigslist, I found a woman selling a new beaba babycook for 1/2 price! It has been really fun to use. And it is so easy to use.
I have been also using some jars of the earth's best when we don't have anything homemade on hand. Max seems to love those equally. However, we have only done bananas, sweet potatoes, apples and pears.

I have a question, when is ok to give DS yogurt? He will be 7 months next week.

Cactus--humbling is a very good description for traveling/vacationing with an infant. We haven't even flown with Max yet...I can imagine that will bring a whole new level of humility upon us.
That is a great gift from your ILs! And good luck with your house.

ILMS--great job on the weight gain. You must be so relieved. How is your summer going now that your visitors are gone? And thanks for the info on what you feed for solids. We just ordered some containers in which to freeze the food and I wasn't sure what to give him.

LKMang--that's awesome that Bradley's sleep is better. I keep saying we will figure out a strategy for Max's sleep and it just doesn't happen. Oh, I just bought tix for us to go to a Phillies/Mets game here at the new CitiField. Max's first Phillies gear has just been ordered.


Phew, this is a long post. Next week Max's daycare is closed for their "vacation", so DH and I are splitting the week. He is off M/T/F and I will be off W/R/F. We hope to both take off on Friday and head to VT where my sister and her family live. If we don't, just have the day together at home.

Max is really starting to enjoy solids and is definitely interested in eating more.
He seemed to have just blossomed in the past few weeks. He seems so much more interested in and engaged in playing with his toys. He is also "talking" a lot more. And he can't get enough of petting the dog.