January 2005 Mommies - Come on in! :) [Archive]

Lizzie Beth

06-28-2005, 07:27 PM

So I was just going over our old thread and seeing who's made it over... Part of the reason I had an adverse reaction to the new boards is that I didn't want us to lose any of our buddies... If we really start posting in earnest over here, our thread is going to fall off completely over there, and I want the less-frequent visitors/posters to be able to find us.. So I went over the list, and out of the 17 of us that hung together to the point of posting birth information, there are only about 11 that have posted in the last couple months or so.

There's six of the "regulars" who are already here:

Saphirimal
30 YO
JAB
Ali
NNB
Lizzie Beth

and then there's Jenzen, who has posted recently enough to know about this, but hasn't joined yet...

and then there's our less frequent posters that have posted w/in the last 2 mos, but not lately:

labride
romansluv
Brio
lokahi

then people we haven't heard from in a while:

whywait
Rich'sbride
Hannah
Simplebride
Indianbride
Sassydog

If anybody sees them, let 'em know, ok? I'll try to remember to keep bumping up the thread so they've got a chance at locating us...

Lizzie Beth

06-28-2005, 07:45 PM

of baby chatter! We took Susannah for her first dip in the pool on Sunday, and she had SUCH a good time! I just knew she was gonna scream when her little toes hit the cold water, but she was just so enchanted by the novelty of it all, she didn't complain a tiny bit!!

http://images.snapfish.com/3443242723232%7Ffp63%3Dot%3E2329%3D%3A33%3D6%3A%3A %3DXROQDF%3E232393862%3C283ot1lsi

There are no smiling pictures because she was so completely focused on her little legs kicking up a storm... She's that way in the tub, too. Completely focused on kicking and splashing in the water, she won't even look up when you talk to her. And oh, what a terrific nap she had after getting out of the pool!!

We've got a CRAZY weekend coming up...my BIL's wedding is this Sunday (this is the one where I went to the Bachelorette party a couple of weeks ago...) DH's cousin is coming tomorrow night, then my mom is coming Thurs. night to keep the baby during parts of the festivities... Rehearsal & Rehearsal dinner is Friday, then we have two parties on Saturday, then the wedding on Sunday, and a BBQ on Monday. And I have to help DH (best man) come up with the toast.. It'll be a relief to go back to work!! So if I'm MIA this weekend, y'all will forgive me...

Good Lord, I'm glad to already be married...all this wedding hysteria brings back memories of my own... The only thing that makes me the teensiest bit envious of the bride is that she will be relaxing on a beach in Hawaii for the next two weeks...

BTW, does anybody have any ideas on planning DH's toast? I think he should keep it short and sweet and focused on both the groom AND the bride. Any funny ideas?

He has a funny story about the groom, when they were 8 & 10 they went on a cruise with their parents, Dan won $5K at the slots in the ship's casino, and DH ran to get their Dad because they were scared they wouldn't be able to claim it because they were underage. DH will say something about how he really won the jackpot back then and today w/ his bride... Other than that we got nothin'.

twinnyme

06-29-2005, 04:55 AM

Yeah, the whole CC vs. WC thing is getting a little out of hand, but I'm just glad to see that most of us "regulars" have made it over here - I'll certainly let others know if I "bump" into them!

Beth- has the bride and groom at the wedding you're going to known each other since they were 8 and 10, or are you talking about DH and the groom???? Either way, great story, but I'm terrible at toasts so I don't have any suggestions! Have a wonderful weekend and lots of fun - hope Susannah does well. (Btw, I'm glad to have a link to her blog again - I love lurking in it every once in a while.... I even tried to set one up for Becca but I got impatient and didn't get very far!) I think my style with my family is to send Yahoo photo albums of her about 1/2 times a week.

Re: QOTD's - can't really help. We unfortunately still have two spit-up stains on our carpet from two throw-up sessions in the swing! (We now put a blanket under the swing, though she hasn't thrown up in a while.) I figure we'll probably re-carpet when we sell the house so why stress over it now? You can tell I'm such a great housekeeper, huh?? :D We DID try some special carpet remover cleaner we found at the supermarket but it didn't work very well! I'd love other ideas.

Also - haven't seen a change of fussiness since the hot weather began but then we're rarely outside.... She's in daycare all day then we go home to start our evening routine. Maybe that'll change when I'm home more.... I feel so bad that she's rarely outside except to go in and out of the car!

Becca had applesauce again last night, and rice cereal. I alternated spoonfuls of each and made the rice cereal less watery and she loved both last night! So cute. She ate SO much, too, so hopefully she'll gain a little more weight. Didn't sleep as well, though - 7:20 to 1:30 a.m. and then until 7 - well not well for US, but better for her. 11 hours in total with one night wake-up versus the previous night which was 9 hours straight. So really, this night's sleep was better for HER so I'm just trying to think that way from now on. AND she ate her 1:30 bottle in 20 minutes flat - loving the new #3 nipples! AND Dave fed her - even better! :) I just feel like such a bad mother when people ask is she sleeping through the night and I have to say no, but then as I said to Dave this morning, we know her best, right, and respond to her the way we think is right. At least it's only 1-2 times a week that she wakes up at night; it just seems more to me - I think I'm going to start charting it so I can see it visually and feel better.

Love the photo of Susannah in the pool!! I canNOT wait to take her in my parents' pool this weekend - my sister said not until 6 months but I figure 5.75 months is close enough. I'm sure we'll get lots of photos. Did I mention that my sister bought matching 4th of July shirts for Becca and my two nephews to wear at my parents' on the holiday? I hope we can get a photo of the three of them with all of them happy - the last time we tried one was crying, one was trying to escape and only oblivious Becca was content. We're heading to NYC/Manhattan on Saturday morning (after Becca's first feeding, which for once I'll hope stays steady at 5 a.m. so that we can beat traffic hopefully), then to NJ on Sunday afternoon after we meet up with a friend from Florida who's there to visit her parents, too, and who hasn't met Becca yet! I'm sure I'll be on again before the weekend, but have a great holiday, everyone!

(And sorry for the long post but I'm excited to have our group together again! Did you guys see the "CC Posts of the Future 2035" (or something like that thread) in Chit-Chat (I think)?? Hilarious!

ETA: I blew-dry Becca's hair for the first time last night! She cried a little but I think she really liked it. Since we give her her bath at night, it gets wet and usually is still wet when we put her to bed, which I know is not good. So I decided to incorporate blowdrying into the evening routine.... She used to LOVE it to help her sleep when she was little, but I think she thought I was a little crazy last night! :) :)

AusAshMommy

06-29-2005, 07:06 AM

Ok so I didn't realize the competition between the two boards was so much so...WOW!!

Anyhew, sounds like everyone's got full plans for the weekened. We just got an invite lastnight to head to the National Zoo with a good friend of mine from college and her hubby w/their little boy. We're hoping another college buddy of ours will join us with her DH and son. Should be fun! If it's not too hot, if so we'll have to bail, can't have Ashley out too long in the heat.

As for swimming...gosh Ashley's been in the pool since she was three months old after we moved into our new place and had an indoor pool to use...she's not been too keen on the cooler water of the outdoor pool, but loved it this past weekend when the water in the baby pool was similar to the air temp...I think it's just sunscreen your not supposed to use before 6 mos...

Spit up stains, good grief we have many. Dreft works well on her clothes and as for our laundry/sheets and such, just washing the clothes in cold water pretty much right away helps get them out. We have tan carpet so the stains in the carpet don't stand out as much.

Ashley's always been one to enjoy the warmer temps over cooler ones. We take her outside with us whenever we take Austin out and she seems to enjoy it. Though when she gets too hot she'll get cranky and we'll take her inside...otherwise it doesn't bother her as much.

Well ya'll back to work...SO HAPPY to see our crew back together again!

lokahi

06-29-2005, 12:33 PM

lokahi
babies: Elton & Andrew
born: 01/10/2003 and 01/16/2005

Aloha! I'm glad I found the gang, please include me. Thanks!

It's been a busy month of June. My 2 year old Elton has speech therapy every Tuesday and group therapy every Saturday. And my little Andrew had an on & off again cough which was asthma so is on the nebulizer.

I'm still a SAHM and an on-call sub for the preschool. Has anyone applied for WIC? Is it worth it? A friend referred me to the program and we have an appointment in July to find out if we qualify.

Hope everyone is doing well ;)

AusAshMommy

06-29-2005, 12:59 PM

Lokahi ~ So glad you found us!!! YEAH the gang's getting back together slowly everyone's coming to play!!! :D

WIC...hmm...I've heard good things about it here and have been referred to them myself. I checked out their website and make too much :-( Would have helped for formula/diapers/daycare expenses w/Austin...good luck @ your appt!

Have a good summer!

SaphirimalMei

06-29-2005, 01:06 PM

Hello lokahi!
You've been added to the list :)

Sorry, no time to type :( Work is WAY TOO BUSY all of a sudden!

faerycloud

06-29-2005, 06:29 PM

Hey Mei, i am not a january mommy but i wanted ot stop in and say hello to you, i am so not liking the boards, but i did post a great recap of my trip in Jamaica, you should go check it out

Lizzie Beth

06-29-2005, 07:07 PM

Hey, y'all-

So. very. tired. And it's only Wednesday.

SaphirimalMei

06-29-2005, 08:01 PM

Hey Sonia!!! I'd love to hear all about Jamaica (lucky girl!). I'll head over when I'm done here...assuming I can find your journal that is :rolleyes: I'm having such a tough time over there. I like thing all neat and easy. I'm spoiled :p

I agree with Beth. This week had sucked azz all the way around. The best I can say about it is that it's 1/2 over.

Speaking of my use of profanity ("azz"):
Anyone else have a potty mouth? I admit that I kinda do. I am trying to change my ways though since I reviewed a home video recently and discovered I said the F-word. :eek: What kind of shining example of motherhood am I if I have to bleep out my own home videos? :p

twinnyme

06-30-2005, 05:16 AM

Hi Lokahi - welcome back!

Beth and Marisa- sorry you've had bad/tiring weeks. Hope you can recuperate over the weekend (though I know you have a busy weekend planned, Beth! But at least it's a fun weekend!)

Re: potty mouth - yes, unfortunately, and especially in the car. :rolleyes: What can I say? I drive 1 hour 20 minutes per way to work each day and it gets frustrating. But I've always been like that in the car. Anyway, I've TRIED ("tried" being the operative word) to curb it since Becca but it still slips out every once in a while, more than I'd like. Working on it!!

Btw, Marisa, I like your description of the the way you created your WC/CC name! Very interesting. For some reason I'd always thought of something exotic (like it being derived from sapphires or Sappho or something like that!). Great way you chose it, though! :)

Well, it's not busy for me today! Today is my LAST official full day of my current job. My last day is "officially" July 5th but I'm taking that day off, then starting the week of July 11th I'll work 12 hours a week for three weeks (through the end of July) here and my 18 hours at the new job. Starting in August, I'll just be doing the 18 hours. (Btw, since I resigned officially in the new fiscal year, I'm getting paid for my vacation days - only 11 instead of the usual 15 because I didn't accrue vacation while I was on maternity leave. We accrue for the following fiscal year, which works out nicely for me!)

I posted a lot in the "Sleep Teaching/Healthy Sleep Habits Healthy Child" yesterday and tried out something new last night with Becca. Two people there suggested I try putting her to bed earlier. So I did and it worked! I put Becca to bed at 6:10, after a dinner of solids and a small (3 oz.) bottle. Not a SINGLE peep of protest from her as she went beautifully to sleep! I actually think that Becca has been trying to give me a cue (or a clue?) the last few days; she tends to look at her crib longingly sometimes now and I just didn't realize it until last night, though I know she's done it before. Anyway, it was amazing to have so much time last night to get things done - and honestly to relax a bit. I was still asleep by 9:00 but I actually had some down time to myself. And the good news for her is that she didn't have to cry when she went to sleep! (which I always feel so bad about). DH was shocked when he came home and everything was calm and quiet - he said "baby girl in bed already?" and I was proud to say yes! (though I felt bad he couldn't see her; he's been working a lot lately and actually got home relatively early last night, at a time when he usually would see her - but as HSHHC says, it's not a reason to keep a child up). He was amazed, and I reminded him that "sleep begets sleep" (as I use as my mantra from HSHHC).

The "bad"/confusing news? She still woke up at 2:40 a.m. to eat. But again, for her sake, the 8 straight hours she got, then going back to sleep about 3:30 until I left (6:15) and probably later is good for HER. (Btw, her normal wake up time is 5 or 6.) When she woke up last night, I heard her at 2:40 and she seemed to be talking to herself/playing so I didn't go in immediately. It soon escalated to crying, though, so I went in and tried the pacifier for a little while - didn't work, as usual. So I gave her a bottle and she ate 4 oz. Since she'd had four 6-oz. bottles yesterday (a record for her), I figured she really didn't need to eat, but was just up for the companionship. I'm going to try to just feed her 2 or 3 oz. tonight, and then keep going down to 0 oz. and then the pacifier, and see if that helps. (As you may remember, a few weeks ago, I was prepared to try that, and then that night she started STTN spontaneouly for about 12 nights straight.)

I also wrote down all the times she woke this week (to visualize it) and she slept through the night only twice. (Strange that our perception is that she does it more; I guess that's good, though.) I figure if I put her into bed at 8 she may sleep "through the night" (8 hours) until 5, but she's so overtired then and ALWAYS cries herself to sleep then. So I kind of want to find a happy balance for her - but until further notice, she'll be going to bed at 6-ish from now on.

One question, though: I know my family will flip out if we put her to bed at 6 when we're in NY this weekend, and I know that we were kicking ourselves after her baptism that we had messed up her routine, and said we'd never do it again. But honestly we only see them maybe once every other month and I want them to have time to get to know her, so I'm THINKING of keeping her up until 7 or 8 there, since we know she can do it, and that the only real issue is having trouble getting her to sleep. She remains generally happy until 7/8, just cries then when she's put in her crib.... But I also don't want to make the same mistake we made at her baptism, either, so anyone want to convince me NOT to keep her up later while we're there? (Also, how do your babies react to changes in routine? I really do not want to get her SO dependent on a routine that she can't handle change, but I want a routine for the majority of her time.) Any advice?

Hope everyone feels less tired soon! :)

Jenzen01

06-30-2005, 09:36 AM

Ha! I finally made it!

I had some problems with my email, so I had to open another account ...

Anyway, I'm so happy we're all assembling ourselves again. I've been lurking for the past few days, but I haven't been able to post because of registration problems.

So, please add me:

Jenzen01
Baby: Gabriel (Gabe)
Born: Dec. 21, 2004

News from Gabeland:

1. He's crawling, and he already found the electric plugs. Our world will never be the same ...
2. He's started throwing temper tantrums. Last night, I gave him his mesh feeder bag with some melon in it. He was all excited until he bit into it and realized it was cold, so he started screaming and crying and made himself turn red. My mom said I should think of it as his only way to express how disappointed he was. So sad ... I'm still unsure of how to deal with tantrums in one so little. Any thoughts?

I'll be back to read more ....

Quite busy today, and I have tomorrow and Monday off.

Jen

twinnyme

06-30-2005, 09:41 AM

Welcome, Jen! Glad to see you made it!

No thoughts about discipline but can I ask about the "mesh feeder bag"? What is that? I've seen it mentioned on a couple of threads.... TIA.

Wow, CRAWLING!! When you get a chance, I'd love to see a photo of Gabe crawling! :)

Jenzen01

06-30-2005, 10:55 AM

Here's a pic of Gabe from about a week and half ago before he really started moving. This was his first attempt at getting his body off the ground.

http://images.snapfish.com/3443382%3B23232%7Ffp3%3B%3Dot%3E2328%3D%3B%3B5%3D3 %3A%3A%3D%3A5833%3Bb28294623%3D32329%3B846%3A924nu 0mrj

Mesh feeder: The best gadget ever! It's a mesh bag on a handle, and you can put any type of fresh food in it without worrying about choking. I'll see if I can dig around for a photo. We've given Gabe pears, apples, cantelope and bananas in it. (don't do bananas because you'll never get it out of the mesh)

And while I'm at it ... here's one of my latest favs of Gabe:

http://images.snapfish.com/3443382%3B23232%7Ffp54%3Dot%3E2328%3D%3B%3B5%3D3%3 A%3A%3D%3A5833%3Bb28294623%3D32329%3B846%3A925nu0m rj

marchfamily

06-30-2005, 01:25 PM

Ellie loves the feeder bags. And yes, we did banana....not again.

Jen - Love the latest Gabe pic - what a cutie-pie!

SaphirimalMei

06-30-2005, 02:06 PM

Hey Jen, nice to see ya! You're on the list :)

I can't believe he's crawling!!! Jilly's still immobile, for the most part, but she's gotten the hang of rolling to wherever she wants to go, or just scooching to rotate herself around on the axis of her belly. J's not keen on stuff that's too cold either. I gave her a cold bottle one time and she pitched a fit!

~~~~~~~

My baby is going to be 5 months old tomorrow!!! :eek:

alisong

06-30-2005, 06:42 PM

Hey Guys,

Did anyone else see this on WC? :( :mad:
http://boards.weddingchannel.com/thread.jspa?threadID=495320&tstart=0

I went through our old group thread, but didn't get back to the beginning. I deleted one photo of Felix. Jen, there's one photo you might want to delete (for me it was on page 20, but I think that depends on your settings).

SaphirimalMei

06-30-2005, 08:30 PM

Ali,
Thanks for letting us know.
I submitted a request to have my journal deleted. :(
It sux, but it's better than having to sit around thinking about some pervo getting excited about looking at my little baby girl <shudder>

marchfamily

07-01-2005, 05:50 AM

twinnyme

07-01-2005, 05:56 AM

Hey gang! Did you all see the post about baby pictures? A couple weeks ago I went through most of my old posts and deleted the pictures of E. I went back through our last WC Group post and there are a ton of baby pictures posted. Totally up to you guys, but thought I would let you know.

MarchFamily - thanks for the reminder. I tried to go this morning to delete my photos but I can't figure out how to edit an old post.... Do you know how? I posted in the Tech Thread on WC to ask how, but haven't gotten a response yet.... I couldn't find an edit button on my posts. My photos start on page 66 and go through the end, so I really want to delete them. I remember your being the leader in this (I think it's been a LONG time since you posted a photo of Ellie) and I think I was in denial, but given these announcements, and the fact that WC is becoming more defunct, I think I'm ready to delete all my photos!

An idea, which everyone can totally nix: Maybe once a month we can do an email swap of photos, though, just so everyone can get a face to see so we can keep up to date? Or maybe the first day of each month, we post photos for an hour or so, and everyone can look then we can delete the photos. I'd hate to miss seeing all your beautiful babies on a regular basis. Just an idea.... Let me know what you think.

marchfamily

07-01-2005, 06:04 AM

Melissa - I like your idea - post and delete. I love seeing the babies! I do post pictures in my LJ and would be happy to share that with ya'll!

Regarding deleting pictures: Log in, go to the thread, go to a post - there should be a bubble looking thing (like when a cartoon has a thought or comment) in the upper right hand corner of your thread. If you place your mouse pointer over it, it should say "edit". Click. Edit your post (it has to have a title - I added removed and deleted the text/photo and replaced with "removed"). Click save. It's a TOTAL pain!

I emailed the admin about deleting my journals, but tried to go back and delete photos where I knew they were. I have deleted probably a hundred posts in the last couple weeks trying to get my personal info off the boards. Me, paranoid?

twinnyme

07-01-2005, 06:46 AM

The button's still not there, arrghh! :mad: I don't know why! I'll keep looking for it - or email the administrator soon. Also, though our thread says it has 114 pages, the "last page" is 85 - which is in April sometime. Anyone know how to get to the end? Thanks! (Never mind - I think I can just keep hitting "next" - annoying. I'd much rather start from the end and work my way backwards....)

I'm also going to delete some of my Yahoo photo albums, I think - esp. any photos of Becca in a diaper! (shudder)

marchfamily

07-01-2005, 07:42 AM

Melissa-
I changed the viewing to "Friends" on my yahoo photo albums. You can email your friends and family for them to view (under Share an album - don't think they have to be a yahoo member) and it will expire in 90 days. Anyone use blogger out there? Now I'm concerned about my blogs being viewed too (LizzieBeth has one I think). What's this world coming to?

alisong

07-01-2005, 09:25 AM

An idea, which everyone can totally nix: Maybe once a month we can do an email swap of photos, though, just so everyone can get a face to see so we can keep up to date? Or maybe the first day of each month, we post photos for an hour or so, and everyone can look then we can delete the photos. I'd hate to miss seeing all your beautiful babies on a regular basis. Just an idea.... Let me know what you think.
Or we could just have an LJ community - Heather (Rich'sBride) and Tamie (whywait) are over there now (tho I don't see either of them online much - I guess two kids are way more time consuming than one!). The community settings can be set to default to "friends only" - i.e. only members of the community would be able to see photos. I'd be happy to set one up, if there's interest.

SaphirimalMei

07-01-2005, 09:53 AM

that sounds fine to me, but i still havent gotten the hang of LJ yet...I stink! :p

AusAshMommy

07-01-2005, 10:14 AM

LJ would be all fine and dandy...but I just can't for the life of me figure out how in the world to use it...

Honestly, I'm going to stay here and on another board I'm part of; it's too hard keeping up with two message boards,let alone three...

Sorry ya'll...but i'm an LJ rejectionist...don't like it much...just my $.02

As for the pics, i'm all for sharing once a month, then deleting them all the next day or so...

alisong

07-01-2005, 03:26 PM

You Luddites. :p ;)

I'm fine with posting pictures only for a day or so, then removing them.

Where were we on QOTDs? Spitup stains?

Strangely, we haven't really had any issues with spitup stains - perhaps it's because we don't have any carpets? Our living room furniture is all cheap IKEA, and I'm going to purchase an extra set of covers so we can just replace the current ones when they get too nasty.

twinnyme

07-02-2005, 03:23 AM

I admit it, I am a bit of a Luddite! I prefer WC over LJ, too....

Well, we're off to NY. Great news - Becca slept beautifully last night, from 7 to 5:30 a.m. We're thrilled, and now we're off. Happy 4th of July, everyone!

lorbo

07-03-2005, 09:33 PM

thought i'd join in finally!

lorbo
name: Lori
babies: Brooke 1/22/03
James 1/18/05

i'm a bit apprehensive about posting, being that James was premature by almost eight weeks and developmentally, he'll be behind all of the other babies in this thread-in theory hopefully. he's already rolled from back to belly and belly to back. he's not sitting by himself yet. i do think he'll be crawling soon, because he moves himself around when he's doing some floor time and he's always pushing his legs. my boy was 15lb 7 oz at his last dr's appointment. his birth was quite traumatic, being that we dealt with rh issues, an in utero blood transfusion and an emergent c/s that brought him in to the world. he spent five weeks at two different NICUs before coming home to me. then, a month later he had to go to Children's Hospital in Philadelphia because of continuing problems with my antibodies and hemolytic anemia. we were seeing the doctor twice a week for what seemed like forever and he's been on vitamin E, trivit with iron and another iron supplement, and folic acid. his hemoglobin level kept falling and we were thinking we'd be visiting CHOP again, but everything started picking up slowly. his last hemoglobin was 13.4 and he's turning in to quite the chunky monkey. he loves his momma and my milk-DH says he won't be a rebellious teenager because he'll be attached to his mom's boob. he spits up a lot, but it's not stopping his growth-he gained two pounds in a month at the last appointment. he's got the greatest smile with the biggest set of dimples-his smile just lights up the room. can't think of anything else.

Lizzie Beth

07-05-2005, 05:13 PM

Hi, LORBO - come on in!!!!

Sorry to hear that James had such a rough start, but it sounds like he's made a great comeback!! And frankly, we're all over the place, developmentally speaking. My little girl (who should be about 2 1/2 mos older than James, developmentally) quickly learned that her belly is not a fun place for her, so the rolling over is pretty much done. She'll roll over onto her side to sleep, but that's about it. I'd bet a tidy sum that she'll never crawl, either. C'est la vie. I'm not worried. ;)

Good Lord, y'all, we just had the weekend from h-e-double hockey sticks. BIL's wedding was this weekend, and MIL - though normally much better than tolerable - about drove me crazy. She has a tendency to go a little nuts before any big family event (I learned this before my wedding...) and she blew a head gasket when she found out I wasn't taking DD to the church. Think of it - Daddy was best man and I was reading in the wedding, so neither of us could've sat with her the whole time. My mom was taking care of her, but nobody could guarantee her behavior in a huge church with 200 people. Not to mention she started teething last week.... Instead, I took her to the reception for photographs, and she attended most of the cocktail hour. She was in a pretty decent mood, so the photographer got some decent pictures (I hope) and she mingled with the guests at the cocktail hour. I made a point of going over to MIL w/ DD and saying, "ok, now who do you want to see the baby now?" until she was out of people to introduce. So frankly, I think I did my bit. I know MIL is more than a little P-O'd, judging by her behavior at the post-wedding brunch, (she barely spoke to me or the bride...) but she'll get over it. She kind of has this fantasy notion about DD's tolerance for social events. I know pretty well just how far DD can be pushed, and then I let my girl off the hook. She was starting to get antsy by the time I sent her home with mom, but all-in-all, she did VERY well, especially considering her tendency toward stranger anxiety.

And, of course, I knew you'd all want to see:

http://images.snapfish.com/3443757523232%7Ffp54%3Dot%3E2329%3D%3A33%3D6%3A%3A %3DXROQDF%3E2323946%3A48%3B89ot1lsi

This is the best picture I have on my camera...hopefully there will be some better ones.. Anyhow, we survived this weekend...yay!! And I bought DD's christening gown on Friday at Strausberg Children... I'd post it, but I can't find a picture on their site. So now I need to find a church and set a date...etc., etc. The fun never ends!!! :rolleyes:

SaphirimalMei

07-05-2005, 08:02 PM

Welcome Lori! You have been added to the list :)
Don't worry about James being "behind". Like Beth said, our babies have been all over the page developmentally speaking. Plus, age aside, all babies have their own pace. Sounds like he's doing great, though! 15 lbs 7oz! Holy Moly! Jilly may be closing in on 15lbs, but very slowly. At 26+ inches long, she's more the long and lean type (unlike her mommy! :p). I think my Jillian is closest age-wise to James if you're counting adjusted age. Jilly was supposed to be born on 1/22, but wanted to bake a little longer and was finally born on 2/1. (I think she was just holding out for an Amethyst birthstone :D) I hope you stay in this thread! It'll be nice to have another mommy and baby join us :)

Beth - I'm with you on the weekend from HE-LL! I felt like I barely got any rest since there was so much to do. I tried to play catch up on housework and totally overdid it. Sadly, DH wasnt much help (but when IS he?) so I was running around frazzled to the core. Thanks for posting a pic! As ever, Susannah is an absolute DOLL! She totally got her pretty skin and cute nose directly from you :)

Jilly was an absolute monstah on Monday. She was the biggest crankypants ever!!! She was just crying and crying...and crying and crying!!! Ugh! It was easily my most trying day as a mother yet. I have no idea what was causing it...no fever, not too hot, not too cool, fed and changed, etc. I think it may have been her fangs, but if so it was the worst I've ever seen her because of teething. The fangs haven't broken the skin yet, but they're getting closer. I can't wait til they come in! If they're the only teeth she gets for awhile, she'll be a hoot on Halloween :D

In happy news!!! I've been using Baby Signs and signing to Jilly. I've only been using 2 signs: the sign for milk, and the sign for diaper. Well today, Phil made the sign for milk to Jilly and she started freaking out opening her mouth and making her hungry noise! It's working!!!!!!!!!

I guess I'll do another Question of the Day:
Do you notice your babies being crankier on any particular day? Jilly's cranky day is always Sunday, and if it's a lond wekend, it's Monday...I totally don't get it.

marchfamily

07-06-2005, 10:20 AM

Welcome Lorbo! I agree with the others, sounds like James is coming along swimmingly!

Lizzie-Suzannah is just gorgeous!

Quick picture post - will remove shortly!

twinnyme

07-06-2005, 01:16 PM

Welcome, lorbo and James! My Becca was born a few days before him, and she JUST learned in the last couple of weeks to roll from back to tummy. She seems to be rockin' and rollin' on her stomach and lifting her legs now - liking tummy time more - so I'm becoming officially scared and we MUST childproof this weekend!

Lizzie - great pic of Susannah. Love the dress - I remember your posting it a while back, but it looks much better actually on her! :) Sounds like you handled your MIL well this weekend during the wedding. We also stuck to our guns about Becca's sleep schedule this weekend - put her down between 6 and 8 even though that was tough for us (had to come in early) and for our family (less time to see her). But she slept well, through the night ALL weekend, and was still up at her usual 5:15 a.m. time each day!

MarchFamily - ADORABLE photos of E. Love the close-up one especially!

Well, we had a wonderful (but busy) weekend in NY/NJ. Took our little girl to Times Square for the first time - to meet a friend who's from there but lives in Florida now. We walked from Lincoln Center to Times Sq. and put Becca for the first time forward-facing in the stroller. She loved it and was SO stimulated! My mother called her a "country girl" now. Anyway, we had a wonderful holiday with my whole family and just had a relaxing time once we got to NJ and my mother's pool. (Photos below.) It took her a while to warm up to it but by the third time she was splashing up a storm - and she splashed in her bath last night, too, which she hadn't really done before!

My first day of the part-time job was today. Overwhelming as all first days are, but good. I just hope I can find a little on-the-side freelance editing (or some other similar well-paying at-home type work) to pick up a few more hours each week. So I'm stressing about that a little, but otherwise all is well.

[deleted photos]

Jenzen01

07-06-2005, 02:41 PM

good grief ... just caught that warning about the online photos ... i went into my host site and deleted everything, so the links in the WC thread should be invalid now. that way, i don't have to go back through all of those pages. yuck! thanks for the warning.

news from gabeland ... he's a professional crawler now and into everything. he's also been waking up at 3 every night for the last week or so, so i let him cry it out last night. that was painful. we listened to him scream for 30 minutes before he fell back asleep.

for the 4th, i took gabe to the vfw parade. he was all excited about it until the ambulence went past. we had big crocodile tears and a very scared little boy. i had to leave the parade early.

be back later ... busy at work this week.

ttfn,
jen

Lizzie Beth

07-06-2005, 04:54 PM

Ok, so the internet weirdo thing has me freaked, too. So bookmark Susannah's blog if you want to keep sneaking a peek, cause I'm deleting the link in a few days..

Thanks, everybody, for the nice compliments on Susie... She was so freakin' adorable, you just couldn't stand it. BIL's wedding photographer went NUTS over her - I was surprised, I thought he'd be a little irritated at having to deal with a baby, but he was just thrilled with her. Now if my irritation w/ MIL would just simmer down a bit, I'd be completely blissful...

Saphirimal- Sorry to hear Jilly was a pill on Monday.. Speaking of, I know we've been debating the Hyland's - I started using them last week. A couple of times they've been an absolute godsend. Other times they don't seem to work - but maybe those times teething hasn't been her issue. Dunno. But several times she was literally heartbreakingly crying, in a way that is pretty out of the ordinary for her, I slid 2 tabs under her tongue, inserted bottle, and presto! Happy kid. At this point, I literally don't care if they're made of cocaine. :rolleyes:

Marchfamily - E is so cute, I CANNOT STAND it!!! :p

Twinny - what, you think "30yearold bride" is getting annoying??? ;) Twinny's cute, though, I like it... LOVE the pic of Becca in the pool!! What's that she's in?? It looks great! Does she love it? It got awfully tiring holding up Susannah all by myself, I'd love to try something like that. Ok, now how many times do you think you get to come up to NYC and not have lunch (or even breakfast) w/ Susie and me? Let me know if this ever works into your schedule - I'd love for Susie and Becca to get a good look at each other.. I was thinking your first day was coming up soon...glad to hear it went okay. I am still investigating my possibilities, but I think I'm staying put for the rest of the summer, at least. And about MIL - I think I did okay, but I am really just on the edge about letting her hear exactly how I feel on a number of topics. Please tell me how awful that would turn out and how I should resist that temptation at all costs.

Jen - Wow, Gabe's really gettin' around!! Susannah would be so jealous!! I know, I need to go around and delete pics, too... I hate it when the nuts define how we communicate... Sigh..

twinnyme

07-07-2005, 04:23 AM

Hi everyone.

DH and I talked openly and honestly last night, and I now feel MUCH better about my first day of my job and our future financial position. The guy is going all out - tax planning, etc. - so that really helps. Anyway, on to day 2. It's nice to have flexibility. I've been up since Becca has been, at 5:30, but she's now taking a nap (started at 7) and when she gets up I'll be dressed and ready to go. I think my schedule's going to end up being Tuesdays and Thursdays 8 to 4 and Wednesdays 8 to 12 or something like that. We'll still put Becca in daycare for Wed. afternoons, but I'll clean the house, grocery shop, do things like that - until she's old enough to sit in the grocery cart, anyway!

Lizzie - I'd love to get together with you. You're on LI, right? We actually have a wedding there (FAR out on LI - I think near Sayville) the weekend of August 13th - maybe we could figure out something then? Let me know. The pool thingie was a float that my mother's apartment complex pool had - I'm not quite sure what it was, but I saw other people bring similar things, so maybe you could find one at Target etc. It was like a double ring with a net seat (sort of like on an exersaucer). It was great - a little big for her, so next time I might try to find a smaller one before we arrive!

Jen - sounds like you've been busy with the crawling and crying Gabe. Hopefully his sleeping is still doing well. Poor little boy - a scary ambulance! Has anyone noticed their babies being more sensitive/aware of sound lately? Becca seems to be the last few days - turns her head to every little sound. She was always curious and looking around before but now it seems tied to sound.

Forgot to answer the QOTD yesterday: I don't notice any particularly crabby time, though we had one last night! (Finally figured out she wanted to eat and go to sleep - guess the earlier bedtime is working.) But nothing regular. Marisa - I can't remember, was it you who also had the challenging Sunday last week? When you said it was your most challenging day of motherhood? I guess that is definitely a pattern if it was this Sunday/ Monday, too. Just a question/idea: Do you stick to the same (or similar) routine on the weekends? Could that be affecting Jilly?

AusAshMommy

07-07-2005, 10:41 AM

Hey Ya'll ~ Sorry I seemed to vanish, I've been off because Antoinette's been closed...

Anyhew, this weekend was awesome! Friday started it off very interesting, we had some SEVERE thunderstorms come through the area thus causing power outages all over the place...us included. We lost power around 11pm for about 20 mins and then when it finally came back on we only had half power...oy! Meaning, we didn't have AC, use of our gas stove because there was no electricity going to it, no use of the dishwasher, dryer, and light in the half bath & foyer area. We had light everywhere else in the house and use of the fridge and washing machine (BTW, the washer/dryer sit right next to each other) Apparently, what happened was there was a down power line somewhere near us and Pepco was to come fix it Friday night. Well needless to say they didn't get there until Saturday night late. So here we were without power in our kitchen nor did we have AC...and it was HOT HOT HOT that day. The kids were getting cranky and we didn't have much option. So we went to the grocery store and Taco Bell for dinner and waited for the AC to come back on. We woke up Sunday morning to no fan/clock/ac/lights anything...1/2 hr later though everything came back on. It was so hot in our house that Ashley spent the night in a diaper...if that sais anything, LOL!!!

Anyhew, Sunday we just hung out at the pool and the house chillin' literally from the AC. Monday, Jimmy worked, but when he got off we went and had dinner w/my parents and then came back to our place to watch the fireworks from the fairgrounds.

Tuesday & 1/2 day Wednesday I spent hanging out with the kiddies! Was a lot of fun!!! Austin and I spent most of our time playing, and Ashley spent most of her time rolling around on the floor and giggling/spitting up and just laughing hysterically at her big brother!

We've finally got her on a solids schedule where she's getting three meals a day...WOW!!! So that's great for her and she's LOVING it.

Now I'm back at work...wishing I was still home with my baby's!

SaphirimalMei

07-07-2005, 11:18 AM

Jeez... this site is giving me probs today. I think I'm just going to lurk for a little bit and see if it gets better so I dont run the risk of losing an important post. (well, as "important" as my posts are anyways :p)

alisong

07-07-2005, 02:58 PM

Me too - argh!

Not much new 'round here. Our latest super-annoying problem is rolling-related: Felix the compulsive roller will roll onto his stomach within a minute or so of being put down on his back. He then spits up, and will smear it around with his hands if I don't clean it up fast enough. I guess it's because of the stomach compression from lying on his front, but it sure is annoying.

Jenzen01

07-08-2005, 06:26 AM

Morning, ladies.

Gabe did a little better last night in the sleep dept. He didn't wake up until 4:30, so I fed him then instead of letting him cry it out, and he went back to sleep until 6:30.

He is turning into such a little squirt. Crawling everywhere, and now he laughs on his own. He thinks it's funny when I feed him and make smacking noises as I pretend to eat his food. And, he mimics me and makes "mmm, mmm, mmm" noises when he has a mouth full of food.

He cracked me up the other night because he was playing with plastic kitchen stuff on the floor, and I put the colander on his head. He looked so cute that I got the camera out, and then he started grinning for the camera. I think he's figured out that he's supposed to smile at the camera.

Glad it's Friday ...

Hey, are any of you still paying hospital bills?

marchfamily

07-08-2005, 10:39 AM

Finally, I'm able to get back into the thread. Deleted E's pictures - should have more from her photo shoot later this month.

QOTD: Who's doing professional 6 month pictures? We decided to have a photographer do candids rather than Kiddie Kandids, Sears, etc.

Re: Hospital Bills - we were really lucky - One copay when they confirmed pg and $250 deductible for delivery.

twinnyme

07-08-2005, 10:47 AM

Hi everyone. We're off soon to Becca's 6-month WBV. Can't believe she'll be half a year next week!!!

QOTD: We're not doing professional photos - I take enough myself! :)

Btw, MarchFamily - thanks for the reminder to delete Becca's photos. I still have to get over to WC to do it!

Re: hospital bills. I don't think we ever got a bill - so I guess we were also lucky. No co-pays for OB visits, and nothing paid for the hospital either.

Jen - sounds like Gabe is a happy, fun-loving little boy (except, of course, when ambulances go by....). Glad he's sleeping well, too. Ever since we've been back from NY Becca has basically been on a 6:30/7:00 to 5:00/5:30 schedule. It's great, and I'm just hoping it lasts this time!

Ali - you've probably tried this but how soon after eating are you putting Felix lying down? Maybe if you waited a little longer, he wouldn't spit up...? Could he play in his bouncy seat sitting up or in his exersaucer or something? That's what I try to have Becca do right after she eats. Just an idea. Of course, we don't do much tummy time, although Becca's beginning to like it a little more, especially once she gets there on her own!

Lara - sounds like you had a great holiday/weekend, despite the power outage! Yikes. We have Becca sleep in just her diaper sometimes, because even with our central air for some reason her room is the hottest (and coldest)....

Marisa - hope you're able to get back on the site soon. It was frustrating yesterday b/c I kept getting error messages, too. Oh, well. I'm sure they're working out the kinks!

Well, I've been stalling long enough. Becca's asleep and I was hoping she'd wake before I had to transfer her to the car to go to the doctor's. Oh, well, hopefully she won't wake fully up.... I'll report back with stats later on or this weekend sometime. We have friends coming over tonight - they live in GA now but are from MA originally and they have three kids, one just a month older than Becca. So that'll be fun but I may not get back on here until tomorrow....

alisong

07-08-2005, 11:14 AM

QOTD (photos) - I think I mentioned our pro photographer neighbor - she's offereed to do 6 months shots as well, but I have no idea when we'll be able to pin her down. :rolleyes: There's also a WC/LJ friend who's trying to get into the photography biz and has offered to take some shots for us.

Hospital Bills - just the $250 copay for us too. For future reference, I really should have paid it beforehand! I just didn't get around to it, and it was a total PITA to have to pay it as we were leaving with brand new baby.

Sleep update - I'm almost afraid to write this, but Felix has been sleeping so well lately. We put him down at 8pm, and most of the time he doesn't stir until 6am! Naps aren't so great, but he doesn't seem grumpy or tired during the day, so I'm not going to stress about it.

Melissa - That sounds like a very reasonable schedule for your new job. It'll be nice to have some Becca-less time to get things done too! Good luck at the WBV.

The annoying thing about the Felix-rolling-over-and-spitting-up problem is that it doesn't seem to matter how long it's been since he last ate! It's worse if I put him down immediately, but he'll still spit up if it's been an hour.

Ooh, and an update from a looong time ago: I finally got around to asking my boss (an MD with two kids) about when you really need to medicate a fever. He said a) to allow for sleep, and b) anything equal to or above 40°C (so 104°F).

Jen - I'm impressed that Gabe's crawling already! Did you have to do much in the way of babyproofing? I'm glad to hear that the sleep situation is improving, if slowly.

Lara - Sorry 'bout the AC woes! There's nothing worse than a hot sweaty baby.

marchfamily

07-08-2005, 11:21 AM

Hey - has anyone noticed changes in their baby's BMs? E went 7 days - Yikes!!!! Guess some of those solids are making in into her tummy.

lorbo

07-08-2005, 11:32 AM

as far as hospital bills...i've finished my weekly-biweekly phone calls to the company a few weeks ago. nobody wants to see all those bills. James in utero care, including the transfusion, then c-section-five week NICU stay and the other NICU stay puts him in the 200, 000 dollar range-let's just say the insurance company didn't want to pay that bill. i'm still fighting the company to pay for the u/s-our insurance changed ever so slightly Dec 1st and we were told those u/s and dopplers were 30 bucks a pop-i was having 2-3 u/s a week until James was born. the hospital says i owe them for 11-but i've appealed to the company twice and was denied-so i took it above their heads to the PA insurance department and the department of health(my health insurance booklet had a blurb where appeals should go). i haven't heard back from them, other than they have my long letter with many many attachments regarding necessity of the u/s, discrepancies in the insurance company's "policies," and no clearly defined statement as to what is considered a routine pregnancy vs a non-routine pregnancy-my fight is that it is a non-routine pregnancy where the perinatal doctors were mostly in charge of the health of James-so it wasn't just a radiology charge, that it was a dr's appointment, and my pregnancy could be deemed routine for me-therefore i shouldn't have to pay for the u/s. it was quite the letter and i'm proud of it.

lorbo

07-08-2005, 11:35 AM

here's the last paragraph of my letter..
I am writing to you, both the Bureau of Managed Healthcare and the Pennsylvania Insurance Department, in hopes that this appeal will be made on my family’s behalf, so that we will not be responsible for the co-payments for these visits to the perinatalogists, dictated as necessary, not only by my primary obstetric/gynecologic groups of doctors, but also by the perinatal group to which I was referred by the primary set of doctors. This was not a routine pregnancy by any means. I need to reiterate that my son had an in utero transfusion at 30 weeks of gestation, and the ultrasounds and dopplers following that procedure demanded an emergent cesarean section. Without those ultrasounds and dopplers, my son would have died in utero. My question with regards to maternity care, is…maternity care is so important to the health of the developing child and helps diagnose and treat conditions that were once fatal to the fetus, so theoretically, all maternity care, both routine and non-routine, should be considered necessary to the perceived and intentioned successful outcome of the birth of a healthy child, shouldn’t it? This pregnancy and my previous pregnancy were deemed high risk immediately, as the doctors had titers that pointed to Rh sensitization. My husband spends thousands of dollars from his income to make sure his family is provided for medically, with regards to general health, emergencies, etc. I am at a loss as to understand why ******* is finding that these were routine radiological procedures, and has concluded that we are responsible for the co-payments for something that was obviously medically necessary and was not elective on the parts of my obstetricians, my perinatalogists, or myself. By making us responsible for contributing to the prenatal care of this child through ultrasounds and dopplers, I fear that this refusal from ***** to pay for continued perinatal care may set a precedent and if I were to get pregnant again in the future, I could not possibly afford to have multiple ultrasounds and dopplers, and that in itself, would predispose any future pregnancy to an unhealthy, or possibly even a fatal outcome.

so, yes, still paying for the hospitalizations theoretically!!!
my cranky boy is teething up a storm and i'm coming to the realization that he'll need to start on rice cereal soon, because he's packing on the pounds and he's killing me with all the nursing-not that i'll stop nursing, but he's such a big boy and my mom keeps saying he needs to have that to fill his big belly. we're preparing for James' christening-i know it's a bit late...but with all the excitement with his hemolytic anemia and dr visits...i tried to come up with a may or june date, but everybody was busy. we've just had carpet put down and the house looks much better than it did!!! now...i'm just a bit worried about the smell of the carpet and James with his preemie status. he's doing well though and currently asleep. maybe i'll drop a pic off and then delete it in a bit!

asilversun

07-08-2005, 04:16 PM

Hey, I found you all! It's la_bride2003 here. I'm not in LA, I'm no longer a bride, and it's definitely not 2003, so it seemed time for an update. I picked "asilversun" because the only song lyric I know that uses "Karen" is James Taylor's "Carolina in My Mind" ("Karen, she's a silver sun..."). So that's me.

Eli's doing well. He had his six month check up last week and he's exactly tripled his birth weight (up to 16.5 lbs). He's in the 90th percentile for height and 60th for weight (28.25"), which is great considering he wasn't even on the charts when he was born. His shots could have gone better - the poor kid had a 103 degree fever. I'm glad that's over. No teeth yet, but he's rolling like a pro.

I'm glad you're all here and everyone's doing well. I'll try to keep up with this thread a little better than our old one. (Oh, the things I could do if only Eli would nap... :rolleyes: )

Have a great weekend!

lokahi

07-08-2005, 06:39 PM

QOTD
Photo-
Andrew had his 4 months photo at Sears so we will probably do 8 month photo. I also want a portrait of the boys together, so hopefully they cooperate.

Hospital Bills- I can't remember the total amount but we had to pay :mad: (hospital, OB, Ped & epidural).

Sleep update- Andrew has been doing well. He usually falls asleep after his 'dinner' bottle @ 8 p.m. He sleeps through the night and is an early riser @ 6:30 a.m.

It's nap time when I go crazy! I put Elton in his room to play while I try to put Andrew to nap. He's really sensitive to sound.

-----------------------------------------------------------------------
cross-post from LJ
I know it's the wrong holiday. I wanted to see if Andrew could find the lion costume (Elton's 1st costume). But he's obviously outgrown it and mind you, it's a size 3-12 months!

Andrew's 9 days shy from his 6 months birthday and he's wearing 12 months clothing :0

Anyho, at least I can say he wore it once (in July). Hee-hee! Enjoy ;)

SaphirimalMei

07-08-2005, 10:09 PM

Hello y'all!
Karen - Groovy to see you here! I'm glad Eli is doing well despite the shot induced fever...poor little guy :(

lokahi - That pic is so cute! I can't believe Andrew is growing out of the costume already!!!

Lori - What a horrific ordeal with the insurance company! I'm sorry you're having to go through all that. Hopefully someone will finally pull their had out of their butt and set things straight. good letter!

Amanda - Havent really noticed a change in Jilly's BM's but we're really not doing solids that much yet. She still can't quite get the hang of the spoon, but she sure know's what it's for. She gets so excited when she sees it and opens her mouth wide wide wide! However most of what goes in comes right back out and she gets really frustrated...I think this is adorable. Those were super cute pics of lil miss E by the way :)

ali - we are having the same spit-up problem with Jilly. She'll urp, then if I dont get it right away, she ends up smearing it all over herself! EW!

Jen he mimics me and makes "mmm, mmm, mmm" noises when he has a mouth full of food That is so freakin cute! :D So funny that Gabe has turned into such a ham for the camera!

Lara - So awesome that you were able to stay home with your kiddos :D Crazy thunderstorms! Bummer about the no power thing...no a/c stinks when it's super hot!!!

Melissa - I can't remember, was it you who also had the challenging Sunday last week? When you said it was your most challenging day of motherhood? I guess that is definitely a pattern if it was this Sunday/ Monday, too. Just a question/idea: Do you stick to the same (or similar) routine on the weekends? Could that be affecting Jilly? That was me. It was horrid! Nope, we stick to roughly the same schedule: 1 morning nap, 1 afternoon nap, then later on bath, book and bed between 7:30-8. Seriously, I have no idea what it is.

**pics removed**

twinnyme

07-09-2005, 04:05 AM

Marisa - I love Jilly's dress in the first photo! Great pictures!

Lokahi - glad to hear that Andrew is sleeping well. I love the lion costume; it's funny, but just the other day I was thinking of Halloween (I know it's early :rolleyes: ) but it'll be fun to dress up Becca. I have no idea in what, I just know that I probably won't be making it!

Karen - it's nice that you found us - great to hear from you! I like your new "name" and it sounds like Eli is doing great!

Lori - I started to write this yesterday but then Becca cried and I went to her.... anyway, I'm sorry you're going through this hassle with the insurance company. What a shame that they put you through this cr** after you already had a tough start with the baby. Like you don't have enough to deal with? Anyway, I hope there's a positive outcome. And have fun planning the christening!

BM question: Definitely I have noticed a difference, and it started around the time we introduced rice cereal and applesauce - the nurse yesterday said that both of those are binding. She ALWAYS had one BM a day before that, and then it was suddenly every 2nd or 3rd day and last Tuesday she had an obviously-painful bout of constipation. Poor kid. So I didn't give her solids that night. We're now on pears, which is supposed to be less binding, so we'll see if it makes a difference.

Speaking of eating and weight, the news was a little concerning at yesterday's WBV. All is fine except for Becca's weight. She is 13 lb. 12 oz. (exactly 5 pounds more than her birth weight) and 26.5 inches (born at 22 inches). Her height I think the doctor said is in the 90th percentile (or maybe the 75th - but somewhere way up there) but her weight is in a very low percentile - which wouldn't necessarily be concerning, except that it has dropped in percentile. I think he said she was in the 50th percentile at birth then it dropped to 25% and now it's 15% or 10%, somewhere around there. So we've scheduled an appt. for mid-way to the 9 month WBV, in late August, to do a weight check. For now he said to feed her normally (though to increase her solids feedings to 2x per day instead of once as we do now) so we can see if she settles on the curve on her own; if she doesn't, and keeps moving around, then there may be something of concern. He asked if she vomits or has diarrhea frequently but I said no so he said she's not losing calories that way then, and is taking in a good amount of calories (about 26-30 oz. of formula a day) so he's not that concerned yet - but obviously concerned enough to see us in 1.5 months instead of 3 months!

Her shots went okay - I gave her Tylenol about 1.5 hours before we went and another dose afterwards (4 hours after the first dose). That was it, and she slept on the way home, and went to bed early - at 6 (slept until 5:30 this morning!). I feel bad because our friends last night didn't get to see them - but they have 3 kids of their own under 5 y.o., so they understand. And it was great to see their kids! We had a lot of fun and actually stayed up until 11 p.m. for the first time in a long time!!! :D :D :D

ETA: 6-month photos - wasn't planning on it but one of the women who was over last night is the woman who took Becca's christening photographs. She mentioned that when the weather gets nice again (it was 60s and pouring all day yesterday) we should get some photos of Becca. So maybe I'll take her up on it and do it for her 6-month birthday! That would be fun.

Lizzie Beth

07-09-2005, 08:37 AM

Hey, yall - sorry I've been MIA - I just get more and more tired toward the end of the week...

I am just sick over what happened in London. I can relate a little bit, but it's really that general sinking feeling in your gut that I think everyone shares. I also feel terrible that the night before they were just celebrating getting the Olympics.. I've never been much of a fan of the war in Iraq, but I am very supportive of rooting out these groups - wherever and whenever possible - and just obliterating them.

We are still recovering from BIL's wedding last weekend. Thank goodness we have nothing major planned this weekend - maybe DH, DD and I can all get a little downtime!!

Lokahi- Andrew is adorable in the lion costume...now I can't wait for Halloween!!! Susannah is in 12-mo clothing, too..

Saphirimal- Love the pics of the Jilly bean! She has the best smile!

la-bride/silversun - Good to see ya! Glad to hear Eli's doing well.. Did you have any trouble finding us?

twinny- Glad to hear Becca's doctor visit went okay. As to Becca's weight issue - did the Dr. offer any thoughts on why she takes so long with her bottles? All I have to say is that you are one patient mommy - but then, Becca does have her considerable charms. I'll email you about your upcoming trip to my area, sounds like it would be a good chance to get together!

And, although this isn't a pic of our baby, there was an adorable 3-month old at the brunch we went to last monday:

http://images.snapfish.com/3443%3B53523232%7Ffp3%3Enu%3D3238%3E942%3E5%3B9%3E WSNRCG%3D3232%3A382%3C467%3Cnu0mrj

I swear, this is the cutest puppy I've ever seen. It's hysterical to see him with his dad (a single father) and daddy has to keep disciplining him over and over - he's like a toddler, into everything... But SOOOOO cute! :D

Hospital Bills- I don't know that we ever had to pay much of anything... My OB visits didn't have a copay, and the hospital did send us a bill, because the insurance was denying Susannah's bills as DH's work had not done the stuff to add her to the policy. But since that was straightened out, we haven't heard anything else.

6-mo pictures I'm counting the professional photographer at BIL's wedding as the 6-mo shots. But I'm also scheduling some for our visit home in August, since I know someone good there; hopefully we'll get some good shots of both of us together....being the photographer in our family, I get lots of great shots of DD and DD with everyone else on the planet...but none of me.

twinnyme

07-09-2005, 08:59 AM

Lizzie Beth - glad to hear you'll all get some downtime this weekend.... well needed, I'm sure.

Actually, Becca hasn't been taking as long with her bottles lately. I guess I forgot to mention this but we switched to #3 nipples a couple of weeks ago, and she now eats much more quickly - anywhere between 10 and 30 minutes for a full bottle (thank god). I didn't mention how long it takes her to eat at the ped.'s because I didn't think it was relevant but now, hmmm...., well, if in August we need to discuss possible reasons for her slow weight gain, I can bring it up then. But hopefully she'll be doing better by then. Weird since I nor DH certainly have a good metabolism or by any means are thin people!

I hear you on the never getting photos of you and DD when you're the photographer in the family - it's the same here; I usually have to specifically request a photo of me and her!

twinnyme

07-11-2005, 06:39 AM

Me again - with a quick question. But first, how was everyone's weekend? We had a great weekend, as my previous posts discuss - except for the news about Becca's weight. But I'm not too worried about it yet....

My question is, last night I found Becca in her crib rolled over onto her tummy. She was whimpering (but not crying; I'd actually just gone into her room to check if she was asleep yet) as if she didn't want to be there, so I turned her over. That's the first time (I know of) that this has happened. DH had also forgotten to take her bib off, so I rolled her back over, took the bib off, and then helped her go back to sleep by keeping my hand on her tummy for about 5 minutes. (She HAS been sleeping well, except has been a little fussy the last couple of nights going to bed - but we've stayed consistent and she still sleeps through.... 11 nights now and counting!)

Anyway, if this has happened to you, how did you handle it? Afterwards I got to thinking that maybe she might have done it (i.e. gotten back on her back) on her own eventually and if I help her she never will. But my first instinct was to help her breathe again and so, I turned her over. I also know that the SIDS risk decreases once they can turn over on their own, but of course I was just still a little scared. Thoughts?

asilversun

07-11-2005, 07:05 AM

Melissa - I was worried about this when Eli started rolling and I asked an occupational therapist who came to one my new mom's groups. She said not to worry, that they can take care of themselves when it comes to breathing. I find Eli sleeps much better on his side and his stomach, anyway. But if you're concerned about it, you could try one of those sleep positioners that might prevent her from rolling.

Lizzie Beth - I didn't have any trouble finding the thread, once it occurred to me that there might actually be a thread. :p

Jenzen01

07-11-2005, 07:23 AM

Good morning, all.

Hosptial bills - We've paid about $1400 out of pocket since December. We have a $600 family deductible and then we pay 90% until we meet $1200 out of pocket and then it's at 100%. Unfortunately, we met the $1200 just before the end of the year, and now I have to start over ... so some of Gabe's very expensive EKG/heart ultrasounds are coming out of my pocket. I'm still messing around with insurance. Grrr....

Gabe is either sick, teething or both. He's got a nose full of snot, a cough and he's biting everything, including me. :( Cranky, cranky, cranky boy.

We visited my mom and dad this week, and discovered that Gabe is grandpas' boy. He cried for my mom and then kept crawling over to Grandpa to sit on his lap. It was pretty funny, but I felt a little bad for my mom. My brother has a 2-year-old, and he is definitely Grandma's boy, so my dad said that now they have one of each: Grandma's boy and Grandpa's boy.

We went swimming in my aunt's pond, and got nibbled on by the bluegills. Those buggers are mean! My dad got bit on his nipple. :eek:

Melissa, don't worry about the rolling over. At this age, they're going to do what they're going to do.

Lizzie Beth, that it the cutest puppy. That's the breed of dog I've always wanted.

lokahi, Gabes' in 12-month clothes, too. i just realized that the 6-month stuff isn't working. darn it, because most of the 12-month stuff i have is for the fall. we must have big boys.

cute pics of jilly!

ttfn,
Jen

twinnyme

07-11-2005, 07:33 AM

We visited my mom and dad this week, and discovered that Gabe is grandpas' boy. He cried for my mom and then kept crawling over to Grandpa to sit on his lap. It was pretty funny, but I felt a little bad for my mom. My brother has a 2-year-old, and he is definitely Grandma's boy, so my dad said that now they have one of each: Grandma's boy and Grandpa's boy.

This is TOO funny - Becca did the same thing this weekend, but just the opposite. She cried and cried and cried whenever Papa (FIL) took her, though after a while went to Nana okay. We had every theory - it was the glasses he was wearing; she's getting "strange" (their word, which I finally figured out to mean she's having stranger anxiety) but we finally figured out that she was just hungry! It was only 3 hours since her last feeding, so it was a little strange, and that's why we didn't figure it out sooner. We felt bad for FIL, though he kept saying "that's okay, she'll love me another day."

Thanks for the reassurance about the rolling over. Sorry that Gabe has been cranky. I am going to post an article on biting that I received today in my weekly Baby Center newsletter - it was of interest to me because Becca's definitely biting more, too, and while I laughed at the beginning, it's getting a little concerning. So the article was interesting to read. It may not apply to you, but since you mentioned it, I figured I'd post it and let everyone draw whatever conclusions from it that they want to! :D

Article (http://www.babycenter.com/expert/baby/babybehavior/6886.html?scid=momsbaby:20050711:2232:14782:5687)

SaphirimalMei

07-11-2005, 07:52 AM

Melissa We're still using a sleep positioner for jilly to try to keep her sleeping on her left side because of her head misshapenness. This only has a limited amount of effectiveness. For the first half of the night, she's fast asleep and hasn't stirred from the spot i left her in, but in the morning, when I go in to get her, she has successfully freed herself from the confines of the positioner. I find it shoved in the corner and jilly is usually on her belly laying crosswise in her crib. I tried using a positioner with taller sides and she frees herself from that too :p

I forgot to answer the QOTDs:

Hospital bills: $750 flat copay. Not to shabby. We were really responsible about saving throughout my pregnancy so when the bill came for the hospital, we just paid it all outright.

6mo pictures: My stepdaughters are coming out from Ohio (where they live with their mother) to visit for 2 whole weeks from 7/30-8/13 :D We will be doing a family portrait while they are here and that will count as Jilly's 6 month shot :)

~~~~~~~~~~~~

I had a really great weekend. Saturday in particular. Phil & I went out on a DATE! An honest-to-goodness DATE! We left the house at 5pm. Went out to east sushi (finally!!!!), wandered around The Hill (area in Boulder) for awhile then went to see They Might Be Giants at the Fox Theater. It was really really nice. Jillian was a perfect angel for the babysitters and was in bed by 7:30.

SaphirimalMei

07-11-2005, 07:59 AM

only 3 hours since her last feeding Wow! Right now Jilly is only making it 2 hours between feedings (5oz each time). Maybe she's hitting her 6mo growth spurt early???

twinnyme

07-11-2005, 08:05 AM

Marisa - Becca usually goes 3-4 hours between feedings now, especially since we introduced solids. But maybe that's why her weight isn't so great...? Who knows? I know that we deliberately tried to space it out more (though always feeding on demand) because she eats so slowly and when she eats slowly it IS like we're feeding her every two hours (or less). But I thought it being spaced out ONLY 3 hours was weird - I thought every 4 hours was pretty usual at this point. Anyone else care to chime in?

And congratulations on the date!! It must feel wonderful. Our first "date" (with the bartering babysitting agreement we made with the other couple) was supposed to be on Saturday, too, but then BIL's birthday dinner was scheduled for Sat. (we found out on Thursday arrgghh!) and had to cancel. We are babysitting their baby for the first time tomorrow night, so they can celebrate their anniversary. It sounds like you and Phil had an amazing time!

Can you believe our babies are six months already (or soon to be, as in our case)???

Thanks for the advice, everyone. I don't think I'm going to go back to the sleep positioner, because she seems to LOVE stretching out to sleep. I'll just check more regularly now and if she seems to be in trouble I'll do something about it. But maybe she'll just get used to being on her tummy more - which isn't a bad thing. :)

SaphirimalMei

07-11-2005, 08:36 AM

especially since we introduced solids Aha! That's probably the difference. Jilly is not really into solids. She's still not sure what to do with her tongue. Most of what she gets in there, comes right back out again.

Do y'all think that this is something that is helped by practice? or more by age?

twinnyme

07-11-2005, 09:19 AM

Actually, I have to say that Becca isn't really into solids too much either yet, but we're working on it. It's kind of strange how one day we have the tongue problem and then the next day it's miraculously gone and she eats just fine, then the next day we're back to problems with getting that darn tongue out of the way again. :confused: :confused: I'm also having trouble figuring out HOW to create a solids and bottle schedule but we're kind of playing it by ear. The stretch to 3-4 hours kind of started before we introduced solids, but is more pronounced now, I'd say, because of solids.

Spent a lot of time this weekend looking up freelance jobs for the side. I'm actually pretty encouraged by what's out there.... Just hoping my luck continues to hold out for this last piece of the puzzle - I lucked out pretty well to find such a great part-time job close to our home, so I'm hoping my luck hasn't fizzled but will just continue to generate good news.... I figure once I build up a freelance clientele, I'll be okay. I am just thankful that I'm not trying to do this completely on my own - I am NOT cut out for an entrepreneurial personality; I'm just happy that while things may be tight for a while, we CAN do this - or at least try it - BECAUSE Dave has a good job we can fall back on for at least the necessities, if not the little luxuries. I have to say that I already miss a little some of the luxuries but once we settled into the routine and get through this tight spot, I think we're all really going to enjoy the changes in our life! Let's hope so, anyway!

alisong

07-11-2005, 09:21 AM

Good morning all!

We had a pretty good weekend - my sister came down for a visit (with two cases of wine! good sister!) and we went to a birthday party for another baby from my mom's group. She's Brazilian, so the food was amazing and oh so plentiful.

Feeding timing - we're about on every three hours, sometimes stretched to four. We haven't started solids yet, and Felix certainly isn't hurting in the weight dept (I estimate he's 18 pounds now). I think this is just one of those annoying "every baby is different" things.

Sleep positions - Yeah, I wouldn't worry about it. Felix will occasionally get frustrated when he rolls over at night, but we usually find him sleeping on his tummy in the morning. If you're really concerned, you could always remove the bumper for now (if you're using one at all).

Karen - Glad you found us here!

ack! baby stiring, gotta go

twinnyme

07-11-2005, 09:31 AM

If you're really concerned, you could always remove the bumper for now (if you're using one at all).

ali - Is the bumper a problem with the rolling or just when they can start standing and pulling themselves up using it? Acck, I didn't even think of THAT!

alisong

07-11-2005, 12:06 PM

I'm sorry Melissa, I didn't mean to give you something new to worry about! There's some theory that crib bumpers could contribute to SIDS risk because they inhibit airflow, and might lead to rebreathing. That said, our crib bumper is in place, as Felix wakes himself up without it by clacking his feet along the slats.

romansluv

07-11-2005, 02:14 PM

I'M HERE FINALLY!! :p

I have to say, the new format to WC SUCKS bigtime. It's just too bad but this place is really neat. Now I just need to learn how to move around here. How can I add images in my posts and my signature? Is it similar to the WC?

Anyhow add me to the list please....

ME & DH: Roman and Monica
DS: Isaac 12/28/04

Update on Isaac:
He had his 6 mth check on 6/28. He is now 18 lbs and 30 inches long! Very tall boy. He has his two bottom teeth with the third coming in. Crawling, he is getting there. He has the movement of his legs down but can't seem to figure out what to do with his arms. But I give it another week or two before he is a pro at it.

We had his first swimming class yesterday and he loved it. He kept splashing his hands in the water and moving his feet like he was running. He was also tripping out on the older children who were screaming or crying and clinging onto their parents for dear life.

My lil man is a great sleeper. I'm still playing around with putting him down at certain times that works for him. If we put him down too early, he wakes up once between 2am-4am for a feeding. If we put him down by 9, he sleeps thru the night so I think we have our definite time though it is still late.

Sleeping Position Isaac is a crazy sleeper. He is now accustomed to sleeping on his stomach so he will move over 30 times throughout the night and luckily doesn't wake up upset. If he is uncomfortable, he just finds a place to get comfortable. Because he sleeps thru the night, I still find myself waking up at least twice just to check on him. We have a monitor but I feel much better when I see him!

Feeding Times We are on every 4 hour feeding and I feed him a fruit in the am and a veggie in the evening. My baby can eat and shows lots of interest in my food and drink.

I'm also letting him use a sippy cup to begin getting used to it. That's what my doc suggested anyway!

I'm so glad to have found you ladies. Since I've started a new job, I won't be on as much but definitely checking in.

SaphirimalMei

07-11-2005, 02:45 PM

Monica - Long time, no see! I'm glad Isaac is doing so well! He sure is a big boy :D Congrats on the new job! I have added you to the "master list".

asilversun

07-11-2005, 03:06 PM

Eli's finally going three hours between feedings, and for us that's serious progress. He'd been eating every two hours (if that) up until recently. I don't know how much of a difference the solids are making in that. He's been having oatmeal and some fruit or vegetable in the afternoon for the last few weeks and we just started giving him something (cereal or fruit or a vegetable) in the morning, too. We're hoping that if we load him up with calories in the daytime that he might sleep through the night. He still wakes up at least twice and it really does seem to be hunger-related.

He's been hit or miss with the solids, too. Some days he gobbles it all up, and other days he shivers/shudders and sometimes gags. When he does that, I just give up for the day. It doesn't seem to be related to what the food is, either. One day he loves sweet potatoes; the next he gives that reaction. I just chalk it up to him learning about taste and texture and hope that someday he'll just eat and that will be that.

As far as crib bumpers go, we never had one because of the safety concerns. Once Eli got more mobile, we put this mesh CribShield on:

http://i.walmart.com/i/p/00/83/71/66/00/0083716600501_215X215.jpg

He kept getting his hands and feet stuck between the crib slats and waking himself up. Though it's ugly and doesn't exactly fit our crib very well, this solved that problem.

A date sounds absolutely wonderful! We've got no hope of it until Eli will take a sippy cup. Our hopes of him taking a bottle are long gone. But I'll live vicariously through all of you, so tell more date stories! Please! :)

Lizzie Beth

07-11-2005, 05:56 PM

Good Lord, I turn around and there's like 2 pages of new posts!!! :D

Hi, Monica - so glad you've found us!! Most everything is similar to the old WC - posting pics is the same (only you click on the little icon with the mountains to add a pic to your post) For your icon thingy, go into "User CP", then "Edit Avatar". You put the pic in there much the same, only you have to type out [ / img ] then the pic location [ img ]... Just don't put any spaces in there. (I did because that's the only way I can get the code to you without the boards thinking I'm trying to post a picture and giving me the red x)

Glad to hear Isaac is doing great!! How did you get started with the sippy cup? I bought one for Susannah just today...

As to the solids discussion, I was just going to add a couple of ideas.. (Bearing in mind, of course, that Susannah was just dying for solids and has gobbled up pretty much anything (except banannas) with great gusto since we started cereal at 4 mos and single-ingredient foods at 5 mos..) I feed her from the side of the spoon, so that I don't accidentally get the front of the spoon too far back - I think that may trigger the tongue reflex sometimes.. Also, I leave the spoon in there a little while, so she kind of chews on it a little bit. I also feed from an angle slightly above her little mouth, so gravity helps her out a little bit. But like I said, Susie is an eating MACHINE, so everything with a grain of salt. These days she's taking about 4 oz. of baby oatmeal in the am, then three containers of stage 2 babyfood, with bottles in between. She eats only a bottle and the oatmeal in the hours between 7:30 am and noon (evidently, she's not that much of a breakfast person) then from noon until 7:30 she eats every hour - a solid, wait an hour, a bottle, wait an hour, a solid, and so on.

Twinny - I just got that float that Becca tried out the other day at your Mom's pool... We seem to be spending at least one day of each weekend in the pool, and I'm getting tired of supporting all the squiggles and wiggles of my slippery baby in the pool, so I can't wait to try it out!! I think it's great everybody's getting some pooltime - makes it much less intimidating when they're moving on to swimming lessons later if they're well-aquainted with the pool early on!!

lokahi

07-11-2005, 06:44 PM

romansluv
Glad to see you here :) Congrats & best wishes on your new job! I'm sure Roman will enjoy swimming.
--------------------------------------
Feeding timing-Andrew drinks 6-8oz every 3-4 hours. He's not on solids yet. Will start after his 6 mos appointment.

I can't remember who BF/FF, but if you're FF what formula do you use? I realize that Carnation Good Start is cheaper than Enfamil and Similac. Would you recommend it? TIA!

Sleep positions-Andrew sleeps on his back and then in the morning he's sleeping on his stomach. I'm not worried b/c he seems comfortable. We took the crib bumper off, so my concern is sometimes his arms/legs get stuck in between the crib.

asilversun
Where did you purchase the CribShield? Thanks!

asilversun

07-11-2005, 07:20 PM

lokahi - I couldn't find the CribShield in any store, anywhere. We eventually bought it at Walmart.com, but now their site says it's out of stock. (They have a bumper, but we bought the larger version, figuring we'd still need it when we lower the mattress. They do have the bumper in stock: Mesh Bumper Here (http://www.walmart.com/catalog/product.gsp?product_id=2233935&sourceid=08755994743083631063). It looks like this site (http://store.yahoo.com/barebabies-store/trlabcrshsy.html) has the larger size in stock for just a few dollars more than WalMart. Also, I just saw that Baby Universe (http://www.babyuniverse.com/kit.asp?rc=715151981516&id=2105) has the same product but with decorative trim. It's a little more money but it might coordinate a little better, too (if that matters to you). I should warn you that because it doesn't fit the crib well, it would be hard to make this thing look pretty. It's definitely function over form!

Hope that helps!

SaphirimalMei

07-11-2005, 07:39 PM

Lokahi - Jilly is FF and we use Enfamil Lipil. She did fine on the Goodstart, but seems to like the Enfamil better. The Goodstart made her have alarmingly blue/green poop, but it was otherwise ok :)

~~~~~

Swimming
I want to take Jilly swimming and when I do I'm going to get one of those floaties that have the little canopy attached overhead. I saw one at target for like $12. I think it will be perfect for my pale little lady :)

twinnyme

07-12-2005, 02:45 AM

if you're FF what formula do you use? I realize that Carnation Good Start is cheaper than Enfamil and Similac. Would you recommend it?

We use Similac Alimentum (a hypoallergenic one). Though it's more expensive we get a full prescription for it, with no-copay. Our last pediatrician gave us the prescription for through 9 months; I spoke with our new ped. at Becca's last WBV last Friday and he'll extend it to 12 months at our 9 month WBV.

Thanks for all the ideas re: solids and bumper/mesh shield. I'll have to check out that shield, though I may just take the bumper off and try nothing first.

Becca woke up particularly early this morning and it's been a struggle to get her back to sleep (I was about to give up but jumped online for a couple of minutes and now she seems to be asleep again. So here I go, sneeeakkkkinngg out of her room.....)

marchfamily

07-12-2005, 09:44 AM

I'm so behind...

Feeding: E has fruit in the morning (one ice cube size, approx one ounce) and veggie at night (same size). She nurses at 6am, once or twice in the evening and still once in the middle of the night. During the day, she does 2-3, 6 ounce bottles of EBM.

We've stopped doing the rice cereal due to BM issues. She's tried: bananas, applesauce, carrots, sweet potatoes, beets, peaches, apricots, mangoes, green beans, peas, & oatmeal. Loves sweet potatoes and apricots.

Who's babies are sitting up? E is getting so close - I really want her to do it before her pictures on Monday.

In sleep news - she is a persistant bugger. She's still getting up once. She went from 7:30-4am one night over the weekend...that's the closest we've come to STTN. argh.

P.S. Had my first PP/AF a couple of weeks ago. Guess 6 months is nothing to sneeze at. Fertility doesn't seem to be returning to my old cycles yet.

AusAshMommy

07-12-2005, 11:11 AM

OMG I go away for a day or so and there's about a zillion new posts...my goodness how this board jumps exponentially!

Anyhew to answer some of the QOTD's:

Hospital Bills Still trickling in...there's a $500 co-pay for my inpatient stay and that's about it that I can tell...we're still trying to balance all of our medical bills between Jimmy and myself before we can figure out paying them all

Eating Ashley's on a wierd sort of schedule...6:20am she nurses, 8:00 am she gets her cereal and fruit (about 3.5 ozs of cereal and a full container of phase 2 fruit) She then conks out for 2-2.5 hrs, wakes up nurses, has a full container of stage 2 veggies for lunch and then takes another 2-2.5 hr nap. Wakes up nurses again, plays then has more cereal and this time veggies @ dinner time, nurses on more time before bed. During the week those nursing sessions during the day are replaced by bottles. I pump twice a day and that seems to be sufficient enough for her as she doesn't take much during the day...sleeps through the night like a champ

Formula ~ We aren't using any w/Ashley, but with Austin we used the Enfamil Lipil with Iron and Similac w/Iron. Eventually moving him to the Stage 2 formula when he got closer to his 1st B-Day.

Nocturnal Crib Surfing Big time just started here...I put her down on her back at the top of her crib under her mobile where she's slept for the past three months and I'll find her sometimes on the whole other end of the crib, in the middle sideways, you name it. She did wake up in the middle of the night the other night on her belly and NOT happy about it, so I flipped her over and she went right back to sleep.

Now when Austin was her age he did the same thing only he would normally sleep with his legs and arms up underneath of him and his butt in the air with his head wedged into the bumper...go figure. As for problems w/the bumper, never had any issues because they figure if a baby can move around and has strong head control they can move themselves in such a way that will get them out of a tight spot w/the bumper. They like sleeping against the bumper (so I've been told) because it reminds them of being in utero...so we never much worried about the bumper with Austin. And, actually didn't even take it out until he was using it to climb out of his crib...and we'll do the same w/Ashley.

Mobility Um yeah she's not quite crawling (she's trying) but she's a champ roller, rolls everywhere she wants to go...sometimes gets herself stuck against the couch and gets frustrated but we move her and off she goes again!

Professional Pics not until her 1st B-day...tradition in our house to have portraits done @ the birthday instead of the milestone months that others use...cheaper that way for us...

*********
That about does it! Not too much happening here...Austin's FINALLY napping again, after a 5 day stretch of him not napping and then hitting a brick wall at night he napped for Antoinette yesterday, WIHOO!! So he wasn't too much of a handful lastnight! :D

I'm starting Grad School in two weeks...I must've lost my mind...Univ of Phoenix online's 16 mos program. 6 week classes w/a day or so break in between...fun stuff...

Jimmy's working everyday this week 9-8 so I'm gonna have the kids by myself everynight this week until after their bedtime...oy! Talk about me being frazzled come Friday. Thank goodness he's off tomorrow and I can sleep a little in the morning, right?? Ashley's been up between 6 and 6:10 all week...

Anyhew, gots to scoot! TTFN!

romansluv

07-12-2005, 01:16 PM

Feeding We have just switched Isaac to Good Start from Isomil about two weeks ago. He has had no problems with this formula and absolutely loves it. I must say, he has had less gas with this formula.

Sitting Up Isaac is sitting up by himself and has been for about three weeks now. Before it was a few seconds to a minute here and there but now he is consistent. He loves sitting in his high chair during feeding time and does not care to lie down if he is awake. He either has to be sitting or standing.

Lizzie Beth

07-12-2005, 05:34 PM

Hey, y'all-

As to the QOTD's -

Formula - We've used the Similac Advance from day 1, first just to supplement, then all the time starting at 2 mos. Susie seems to be pretty happy with it.

Sitting up - Susannah started sitting unassisted on her 6-month birthday. I took some pics literally as she figured it out, and the beaming pride on her face was precious.

I am so exhausted today and it's only Tuesday. Susie's woken up the past 2 nights running - Sun nt. with a little diaharrea, then last night because her tummy apparently had a tiny hole that needed to be filled. But I got a full bottle into her just before bedtime tonight, so if I'm lucky, we'll all sleep the night...

lokahi

07-12-2005, 09:00 PM

Good news: We qualify for WIC :) We got formula/cereal checks for Andrew. And milk, cheese, eggs, juice, cereal, and beans/legume checks for Elton.
-----
Thanks again for all your info re: formula!

SaphirimalMe-
We actually tried the Nestle Goodstart (purple can) and like you stated Andrew's BM was alarmingly green. Yuck! It maybe cheap but I think we'll stick with the Enfamil Lipil.

asilversun-
Thanks for the info about the CribShield. I'm gonna try get it for Andrew.

Sitting up
Andrew's not quite there. When Andrew's laying down, if you hold his hands he will pull himself up to a sitting position; then he will pull himself up to a standing position.

Teething
Noticed that Andrew's bottom tooth is cutting at the gum!

AusAshMommy

07-13-2005, 05:38 AM

Lokahi ~ WIHOO!! Good for ya'll! One less thing to worry about right?

**********
Well we have a mess on our hands @ home...Austin's got diarrhea, so that meant a HUGE mess lastnight @ home to clean up...in my kitchen, eww. So I took him upstairs and plopped him right into the bathtub and undressed him there instead of in the kitchen. Thank goodness because it went everywhere...hosed him down, bathed him and got him dressed in his PJ's. Just gotta watch him closely today and stick to bland foods...poor thing!

Nothing new to report...just got loads of work to do...so TTFN!

Jenzen01

07-13-2005, 06:36 AM

Wow ... I'm so far behind. I was in meetings all day yesterday, so I didn't have a chance to read anything.

News from here is that Gabe is Mr. Crankypants. I'm pretty sure he's teething. He's got the sniffles, a cough and a red rash on his cheeks. He refused bottles on Monday, but was much better yesterday. The cold is such a mild one that he's having no problems breathing. However, he's been waking up at night a LOT more. Ugh. Will we ever SLTN consistently?

Gabe is crawling everywhere, and now, he's started pulling himself up. Nothing, I repeat, nothing, in our house is safe. And he usually draws a bead on whatever he's not supposed to have. If I set my coffee mug on the floor, he's after it and you can't stop him from trying to get it unless you move it.

By the way, whoever is looking for that mesh crib bumper, it's also in the One Step Ahead catalog. I'm sure you can get it at their online store.

Foods: We're trying lots of finger foods these days. Gabe still gags a little, but he's getting it. His pincher grasp is almost there. He's had carrots, sweet potatoes, green beens, peas, peaches, apples, bananas, pears, blueberries, cantalope, watermelon, and lots of other stuff. I started giving him Cheerios, and I break apart biscuits or pancakes and let him play with that, too.

I really like the Gerber Organic line ... fun combinations.

That's all for now ... I'll be back later.

ttfn,
Jen

twinnyme

07-14-2005, 05:03 AM

Wow, I haven't been on in about a day and there's so many new posts. Great to hear from everyone, though I don't think I can catch up! I'm very cognizant at my new job to NEVER be on here - although at the beginning I didn't like that the email notifications repeated the message (because I wanted to COME to the site to see the message, plus then maybe surf around a bit) I now kind of enjoy it, because every once in a while I can at least get on email and sneak a peek!

Becca is not sitting up yet, though she's inching closer. Now when I sit her up and put her hands on the floor in front of her she can balance herself for a tad longer than she used to be able to (say, five seconds instead of one!). It seems like she's really getting close, though, to crawling. She's definitely rolling from her back to her tummy consistently now and then trying to push herself up. It's making me a little nervous but I'm also excited for her, of course!

Am I missing something, or are the smiley icons missing now? I can't find them to use in the last couple of messages I've posted.

Becca is SIX MONTHS today! Where has the time gone?

Oh, and I got a call yesterday from one of the proofreading jobs I applied for on Tuesday! So happy, relieved, and excited. I didn't get it until 7:30 p.m. so I'm going to call this morning.

And we watched a 9 month old on Tuesday night - the bartering babysitting we're doing with that other couple. Went VERY smoothly for the first time. Becca was asleep at 6:30 when they arrived. I played with their little girl for about an hour - they said she'd eat between 7 and 8 when she got cranky - gave her her bottle and put her in the pac n play. They said she'd cry for about 5 minutes and that she has a good set of lungs (she sure does; she cried for about 5 minutes straight, then off and on for 5 minutes. This had a domino effect on Becca who woke up - the other baby was outside her door - and cried, too. But within 5 minutes, they were both back asleep for the rest of the night.) The hardest part for us was staying up late! Our friends got back at 10:30 - which was fine with us - but we're usually in bed by 9 these days, so we were both half-asleep. Oh, and Dave was running late, so he wasn't home when they arrived (arrggh - I was very upset because I'd asked him specifically to be on time) and the little girl was scared of him when he got home and every time he tried to play with her she'd cringe back from him and cuddle into me! Which of course I loved, but felt bad for Dave. Maybe next time he'll now be home when her parents drop her off. Our turn is next and I can't wait - though we still have to pick a date, I think it'll be within the next two weeks, for my birthday!

alisong

07-15-2005, 09:41 AM

It's funny how this group goes in waves - there'll be a flurry of posts, then nothing!

Melissa - Are you using the "Quick Reply" option? Because I don't think there are smilies there, but there are if you click "Go Advanced."

Really not much new to report here. Felix' latest trick is poking out his tongue. At this point, if I had to describe the personality of my baby, I'd say "silly."

http://im1.shutterfly.com/procserv/47b5d935b3127cce92b8f5901c9800000015108Aat2rdyzbM_

We have an action-packed weekend planned - tonight I'm going to the symphony with a friend, and we'll have the first try at Daddy putting Felix to bed. Tomorrow I need to get a pedicure (see! action packed), then go to a BBQ, then go to a going away party. Sunday I think a friend and I (and the babes) will go visit my sister in Napa, do some light wine tasting, have a picnic, and perhaps stop in at the Coach outlet. Not that I need anything. ;)

QOTD - How would you describe your baby's personality?

alisong

07-15-2005, 09:48 AM

Posting again because I keep forgetting to subscribe. :rolleyes:

SaphirimalMei

07-15-2005, 10:13 AM

QOTD: I'd say Jilly's primary mode is "inquisitive". When playing with a toy or something she explores it fully with her hands, mouths it, plays with it some more, then tastes it again. Also, she has perfected the look of "What exactly ARE you doing and WHY are you doing it?" when DH or I are being silly. Her alternate modes are "Mellow", "Happy", and "Cranked".

Percentage wise it breaks down about like so:
5% Cranked
15% Mellow/Hangin out
20% Happy/Silly
65% Inquisitive/Playing
(sleep not included)

~~~~~~~~~~~

We have a big weekend planned to, but I am SO not up for any of it. I am so sick of having someplace to be at specified times. (Of course if there's nothing to do I'm bored, but STILL :p) The next 2 weekends are FULL of too much to do and the weekend after that the girls are coming to visit for 2 weeks and we really need to prepare for their visit.

Lately I am feeling so very overextended. If my hubby actually helped around the house, that would help SO MUCH! Oh well...didn't mean to gripe so much. :p

asilversun

07-15-2005, 10:30 AM

Melissa - Your babysitting arrangement sounds great! Have fun planning your big outing! :)

Jen - I didn't realize Gerber had organics - I'll have to take a look. I've been driving all the way to Whole Foods for Earth's Best. BTW, I think the mesh bumper is a lot more expensive at One Step Ahead (for the exact same thing). But it's good to know they carry it.

Ali - Great picture!

SaphirimalMei - Jilly's a complex little creature! ;) I know exactly how you feel about being overextended. I'm not feeling that right now, but I'm there all too often.

QOTD - I think I'd call Eli "goofy," or maybe "cheeky." He gets this look in his eye like he's about to do something devilish and then he just cracks up. I get the feeling that he's going to have a great sense of humor (or he already does and it's just a matter of time before I can get in on the jokes). Actually, now that I think about it, independent trumps them all. He's happiest when no adult is holding him, when he can just bounce or spin or roll all on his own. He's so frustrated when he tries to crawl, I'm sure he wants to go go go. Sadly, this means he's not a cuddler (much to my dismay...). Oh well - maybe the next baby!
http://jarsky.com/photos/images/eli/pictures/IMG_0882.jpg

SaphirimalMei

07-15-2005, 11:01 AM

Jilly's a complex little creature! Or maybe I'm overanalizing her and give too much credit to her little baby brain :p

twinnyme

07-15-2005, 12:04 PM

Ali - thanks for the hint. I couldn't find "Go Advanced" but I finally went to "Edit Options" and figured it out. Your weekend sounds heavenly - Napa, shopping, and friends - a perfect combination. Dave's and my last vacation (last May, for our first anniversary) before Becca was to Silicon Valley (Mountain View) to visit a friend and her fiance, and then we went to Sonoma Valley for a few days. Of course we'd planned it before I found out I was pregnant so I couldn't drink! But Dave bought a bottle of wine for us to share once Becca was born - and we enjoyed it very much in January!

Marisa - I love your percentages of Jilly - it's amazing that you can quantify it that way. For the QOTD I'm kind of stuck. The first word that came to mind was definitely "curious" and then "frustrated" - like Eli, Becca gets VERY frustrated (has a special noise for it) when she's trying to crawl - the same noise she used to do when she was trying to roll. :rolleyes: Maybe also "intense." While she laughs and giggles when provoked she hardly ever does it on her own. Hmmm, this is interesting to hear everyone's perceptions on their baby's personalities - good question, ali!!

Gripe away, Marisa! I know how you feel, and I don't even have additional children! It seems like we see DH's family almost every weekend, and it's driving me crazy. Luckily, we get a break this weekend - but his sister tried to invite herself over for Saturday; luckily, DH and I both have plans - separately! He's going to the Red Sox vs. Yankees game tomorrow and Becca and I are visiting a friend - who has a cat named "Peanut" (EVERYONE, from strangers on the street to relatives, call Becca "peanut" because she's so small - I'd never really seen it til our last WBV when her weight was so low). What are you planning for the girls' visit? Day trips and stuff?

Actually, speaking of "independence" (i.e. Eli), Becca reached out for and held her own bottle today (for a few seconds, anyway). SO sad - though I know it's good for her!

SaphirimalMei

07-15-2005, 02:26 PM

The %s are just guesstimates, but I thought it was funny. I need to make her a onesie that says "Hi, My name is Jillian...I'm 5% Cranked" on it :D I definitely should have made room for "frustrated" as well. She gets pissy when making crawling attempts. The process is as follows #1) get up on 3 points (2 arms and 1 leg) let other leg just hang there #2) discover you can't actually move anywhere #2) flop back down again and smoosh face into the floor #3) grunt #4) repeat til totally pissed.

My step-daughters, unfortunately, do not live with us, but with their mother in Ohio. We talk to them on the phone several times each week, but only get to see them once per year :( We have plans to move closer to them in 1-2 years depending on how the job market is faring out there.

Before DH and I were married, I was going to move out to Ohio, but the job market out there was TERRIBLE. DH had just been layed off from his third temporary position that was only paying him $6/hour and he was forced into a position of not being able to support himself, let alone pay child support, so instead of me moving to Ohio, he moved here.

Not only was the job market super bad out there, but the ex wife was making things really hard on him by not letting him see the girls when she was supposed to and bad mouthing him to the girls, his friends, etc. and DH was in a really dark place, so he thought is was the best thing for him to get out of Ohio.

Now we're trying to save money for a down-payment on a house (or a rental depending on our credit position at the time we move) and for a couple of months salaries before we can move out to Ohio. It's been really hard since we pay so much in rent PLUS 2 car payments PLUS $800+ in daycare PLUS $700/month in child support...you get the picture.

It's been really hard on DH for obvious reasons being away from Gaelyn and Lizza. It's also been awkward for me being a stepmother from 1100 miles away. I dont like their mother and I question the way she is raising the girls, but I have no right to step in.

<phew!> sorry this is so long!