December New Moms

[ggs830]

Thought I'd get us started for the month.

Me: Gouri, 31
DH: 31
DD: Shaelyn (2 years old on 12/30!!)
DS: 8 months

Lots of fun things going on around here. In the last few days, Jahan has mastered going from his belly to sitting up, which is really nice since I no longer have to prop him up everytime he wants to play with a new toy. He's really developing a personality as well-- he absolutely LOVES DH, and everytime he leaves a room, Jahan will get upset (he doesn't do this for me). He's extremely curious about EVERYTHING. Unfortunately/fortunately (depending on your perspective ;) ), he's discovered our dog, and is constantly scooting after her, trying to pull on her ears, tail, or whatever doggy part happens to be near. Poor thing has taken to hiding whenever he's on the prowl. He's babbling quite a bit-- in addition to "mamamama", he's started saying "dadadada", which pleases DH to no end. :rolleyes:

As usual, the only negative is our lack of sleep. Things just seem to go from bad to worse every few weeks. I'm at an absolute loss with him--he just cannot sleep longer than 2 hours at a time w/o needing either milk or to be held/rocked. The frustrating part is that he falls back asleep easily, but wakes up immediately if I put him back down. What should take 5-10 minutes usually takes closer to 45-60 minutes b/c he refuses to stay asleep in his crib. The whole thing is so incredibly frustrating.

The worst part is that I find myself resenting him and getting angry that he is so difficult. I feel so horribly guilty about it, but at times, I have a hard time just enjoying him and letting go of his craziness. Don't get me wrong-- I love him to pieces (he's my baby!), but sometimes I don't like him very much, and it's killing me that I feel this way. Especially b/c I never really felt like this with DD. :( :( :(

Anyways, sorry for the downer post. I guess I'm just in a low place right now. :(

Hope everyone else is doing better!

[Krysia1031]

Thanks for getting us started Gouri. :) Sorry to hear about the sleep issues. I can understand your frustration and am hoping things get better for you guys. Don't feel bad about having down moments either. I know I have had moments like that and then when things are great and he does someting so cute, I feel bad. Things will get better. On the positive end, it must be so exciting to hear him start to make out words and sit up.

Me: Krysia, 26
DH: 29
DS: Matthew almost 3 months


Things around here are starting to get better. Matthew is doing a better job at burping and we tried some different positions and it seems to be working. We have also got him back in the crib the whole night for the past week (yeah!!) and he seems to be pretty good. He gets a little fussy at the beginning but he loves to be "tied up" as my DH says (swaddled to the rest of us) and he will go for 6-7 hour stretches at a time.

Yesterday was a big day for us, Matthew was baptized. It was so crazy with all the people and his schedule for all off. He cried throughout the whole ceremony (30 min.) which was so painful for me...but we made it through and we had a nice dinner reception. I fed him as soon as we got there and then he passed out (the poor guy :o ) and slept for the next 4 hours. In one way, it was kind of nice because we got to sit around, enjoy the dinner & catch up with our family and friends. We were all pretty exhausted when we got home, and we put him to bed around 9:00'ish and he slept till 3:30, ate and went right back to sleep till around 8:00. :D :D :D

Now my goal is to get all of our holiday stuff out and get our home deocrated and cherish all my moments with him before I go back to work (in 2 weeks from today).

Hope everyone else is doing good and Happy December to us all. We almost made it through this year! :p

[LA98]

Hugs, Gouri. I totally understand what you're saying. Brian was a very difficult baby and I had a lot of the same feelings, especially because it seemed that everyone around me had easy babies. I think the lack of sleep is what's really getting you. When you're rested it's so much easier to shrug stuff off or look on the bright side or whatever. Being in a constant state of exhaustion just makes everything feel so much worse....

Cute that Jahan has noticed your dog! Jason had just started noticing and taking a huge interest in our cat (really, he nearly dove out of my arms one time to follow her as she walked away!) Unfortunately, we had to put her to sleep just a couple of weeks ago when she very suddenly got ill. We were so sad to start with, and I feel extra bad that he didn't get to know her...

I think Jason's top teeth are very close to coming in. He's been irritable and jamming things in his mouth more than usual, and the gums look very red and swollen to me. I hope they hurry up!

And as for sleep, just to prove that there's always, and I mean ALWAYS, a catch: Ever since Jason started sleeping pretty well at night, his naps have gone straight out the window. It's like he can do one or the other, but not both. :rolleyes: So he is STILL one tired, cranky baby.... We just can't win!

ETA: Oops, must have had the window open on my screen for a long time, I never saw Krysia's post. Congratulations on Matthew's baptism! Glad you enjoyed it (well, after the ceremony and crying was over! :) )

Lori

[ellery]

Thanks for getting us started off this month Gouri. :)

Me: 37
H: 38
Danny: 8 months

Oh, I can feel everyone's pain on the sleeping stuff. Just when Danny was doing better with sleep, he got hit with that horrible cough, and teething, so who knows when we'll sleep again. I took him to the dr (again!) last week and he prescribed Amoxicillin (finally) saying that a cough that's getting worse and has been going on for 5 weeks probably has an element of an infection to it, hence the antibiotics. The dr also pointed out something interesting, saying that Danny's acid reflux makes him more susceptible to these things, and has probably made the cough and congestion worse, so he doubled his Prevacid doseage. So for the past 2 days or so, Danny seems to be doing better. He even slept well Friday night - he ate at 6:30, went to bed, woke up at 11 and 5 am to eat and was up for the day around 7. Woo hoo! That's the best he's slept, um... ever. Then a tooth decided to push through, so he was up every hour (it seems) Saturday and last night. :eek: It seemed to have finally broken the skin last night, so maybe tonight will be better? Who knows. On the bright side, H. and I have been doing better (with 2 months of marriage counseling under our belts) and may be reconciling sometime soon.

Someone had asked about Christmas presents from the babies. I was going to make H. a photo album of him and Danny of their first year together - I thought it would be kind of cool to do one yearly. I started with ultrasound pics, the birth, and then pics of the two of them as Danny has grown this past year. I was going to do captions and stuff too, you know, things Danny would say to his dad if he knew what words were. ;)

Gouri, I'm sorry Jahan is giving you such a hard time. Believe me, I can relate. There have been many nights that I contemplated putting Danny outside in a basket with a note pinned to his onesie. Not really, but you know what I mean.

Uh oh, I've got to finish quicker than I thought. I'll do more personals later - sorry! Hi Lori and Krysia! :)

Leah

[LA98]

Quick question for anyone reading, including you lurkers ;) :) Does anyone know the sign for "all done"? I've starting signing with Jason and can't remember this one for the life of me. It's fun to be doing it again; I signed with Brian just thinking that it would be a fun thing to do; as things turned out he was speech delayed and his being able to tell me what he wanted avoided *lots* of tantrums... :)

[ellery]

Hi Lori. :) I don't have an answer, but you did just answer my question as to whether anyone else was going to do signing with their little ones. I haven't ordered the DVD yet, but keep meaning to.

I just popped in to post a pic of Danny in his Santa suit. I don't know if it will post, but I'm procrastinating at work and thought I'd see if I could post it. He was not happy that day, and for whatever reason is obsessed with his dad's shoelaces these days... hence he looks like Santa just got busted. ;)

http://im1.shutterfly.com/procserv/47b7cc22b3127cceb161249e7a9400000025100AcNGbNk1ZuW Ng

[MinEaston]

Quick question for anyone reading, including you lurkers ;) :) Does anyone know the sign for "all done"?

I think the real sign is hands out in front, palms facing out, shaking hands. But in our family, it's hands out in front, palms down, waving back and forth, because that's how my nephew and niece started it!

[PoppyJ]

Happy Hoildays to everyone.

Me: 32
DH: 37
DD: Avery, 7 moths

Avery is changing by leaps and bounds lately. She really started babbiling last night and said both "mama" and "dada". She also is trying to stand on her own. She let go with both hands on Sunday and you should have seen the look on her face...it was like "holy @#$- what did I do?" She also learned how to open her drawers in her room. She is going to be so much trouble!!!!:p

We took her to see Santa on Saturday. I was sure she was going to cry because she is starting her stranger danger phase, but she was so good. I have some cute pictures I will post soon.

And she loves my dogs. She smiles at them, crawls towards them, and pulls on everything. They are great with her too. It is so cute.

Gouri, I understand you feelings because there have been times when I have felt the same way and it is all because of exhaustion. Exhaustaion really does take its toll. I am sorry that you are feeling that way.

LA98, "all done" is shaking your hand like saying "so-so." Understand?

Krysia, congratulations on Matthew's baptism. It is nice when they sleep and you can actually socialize.

Lori, I am sorry that Jason is not napping. I have been fighting with Avery to take that last nap of the day. If she does not get it, it sure is not fun.

Leah, I am happy to hear that things are getting better between you and DH. I hope things continue to progress. It is good that the doctor finally decided to do something about Danny's cough....and bad that he tooth decided to come in....You must have been posting the same time as me. Danny looks so cute.

[TLee4]

Hi, I guess I'll jump in this month!
Me: Terri, 36
DH: Dan, 38
DS: Joseph, 18 mos
DS: John-Paul, 4 mos

Krysia, JP got baptized on Sunday as well. He was such a trooper..didn't even cry when they poured the water on him. His brother cried his head off last year! Here is a picture..poor kid won't love this picture of himself in lace someday, I bet!

http://images.kodakgallery.com/photos4195/2/8/19/88/87/8/887881908207_0_ALB.jpg

Things are going well with eating and pretty well with sleeping also. He normally eats once in the night, and on GOOD nights he sleeps through. However, he still is not in love with his crib. He still sleeps half the time in his carseat. :rolleyes: I learned with the first one though, sleep is good wherever it happens!

JP is very smiley and has just started laughing. I LOVE that part.

Terri

[ggs830]

Thanks for the thoughts, ladies. I actually feel better today. DH took over the night shift last night so I got about 5 hours of uninterrupted sleep until DD crawled into bed around 5:30. Then, when I saw Jahan this morning after not seeing him all night, he gave me the biggest smile and reached his arms out to me. :D It felt so good to see that.

Signing-- we just started watching the Signing Time DVDs w/Jahan. He's only slightly interested right now, but I'm sure that will change soon. We started w/Shaelyn around 1 and she was more than ready for it then.

Cute pics!! I need to get both my kids in front of the tree very soon and try to get a decent Christmas picture (we are doing professional pictures next week).

[jphilg]

HI guys! I'm so sorry I've not participated much lately....I'm just still really overwhelmed.

Zach will be 9 months next week, and, overall, is jsut a great little kid. He's super physical, cruising and crawling everywhere and, like Avery, experimenting with "letting go". He's really coordinated, too, compared with his sister at this age. Verbally, not as much.....there's a "ha!" that I think he means to be "hi" based on the times he uses it, but no mama or dada yet. Or anything close.

Eating is going very well since we did sleep training to get him off the bottle-to-nap cycle. He's getting only 3 bottles a day and eating 3 big solids meals. The self-feeding is going great; he eats whole meals of cubed stuff, and actually is working on using a spoon by himself (!). After several months of just 2 teeth, he's gotten 4 new ones in the past 2 weeks, with 2 more about to break through. It's been a constant run of drool and Oragel, and it has made him a little less charming than usual lately.

Sleep, eh. I shouldn't complain. I get two good naps during the day, and he goes down well at 7 every night. But since traveling at Thanksgiving, with the teething and a little sniffle, we can't get him back sleeping through the night. And sometimes he is up for hours. I pretty much hit my breaking point yesterday, so DH took pm duty last night and offered to get up with the kids. Wouldn't you know, Zach slept through the night.

So, today things feel really manageable. But yesterday, before I caught up on a little sleep, I really felt despondent. Gouri, I really understand where you are, and hope that things continue to get better.

Take care, everyone!

Jen

[fci5767]

I just got a nine-month-old foster child last weekend. She's great. Didn't sleep much the first two nights- woke up and stayed awake for three hours each night. Now, she's sleeping great- not to brag but... a two hour morning nap, a three hour afternoon nap and asleep by 7 at the latest. She's only got two teeth so teething should hit soon and change everything.

Big brother C. loves the baby. Unless she's crying for food or because she's tired. Then he yells at her to stop crying. Hasn't figured out that it isn't the best solution. He likes to go into her room in the mornings. Yesterday, I went in and he was sitting on the floor next to her crib. He was "reading" her The Polar Express and she was lying on her tummy looking down at him.

We celebrate both Chanukah and Christmas so tonight should be a fun one for us. I'm not sure I'll be able to keep C. from blowing out the candles on the menorah.

I got a great picture of the two of them taken yesterday. I've got a million copies since the $9.95 promo package is huge. But I absolutely love it. It's a picture of the two of them laying on their tummies and C is reading to P. I made the photographer take that shot. Good thing because it's the only one of the two together that I liked.

Anyway, I look forward to keeping up with this thread. I'll be adopting C this winter (fingers crossed) and I'll finally be able to post his name and picture.

My info:

Me: 20/20 (40 to the rest of the world :eek:)
C: 3 years 5 months
P: 9 months

[ellery]

Sorry to be so slow to reply...

Welcome Beth! and congratulations on your new little one! How exciting!

:)

Leah

[fci5767]

Sorry to be so slow to reply...

Welcome Beth! and congratulations on your new little one! How exciting!

:)

Leah

Thanks for the welcome Leah. It's been great so far, although it's crazy now that we're in the Hannukah/Christmas/birthdays for family members month.

[ggs830]

I had to pop in to post that Jahan cut his first tooth!! Yay!!

I know, I know, it's not that big a deal, and the teething/drooling is a PAIN, but Shaelyn didn't get her first tooth (teeth, really-- she cut 4 at the same time!:eek: ) until she was 13.5 months. So I'm thrilled that Jahan is getting a head start, tooth-wise. Although, I must say, I am a little sad that he's going to be losing his gummy grin.

Welcome Beth!

Jen, wow, Zach sounds like he's doing great in developing his motor skills. That's fantastic. Jahan is nowhere near as developed as Shaelyn was at this age. A few days ago, I put a piece of cheese on his highchair tray to see what he would do with it, but he couldn't even pick it up. He's still doing the full-handed grab, and hasn't yet mastered the pincer grip. I'm still going to try the sippy in a few weeks, but I think we'll have a long way to go before he gets the hang of it.

[RebeccaT]

Hi all!

Me: Rebecca, 33
DH: Charles, 33
DD: Julia, almost 2.5
DS: Ben, 5 months on Sunday

He's huge! 17.5 lbs at the doctor this week! :eek:


Things are good around here, we're in that wonderful stage of "I smile at everything and everyone and I can't go anywhere yet." :D I love that phase! Ben is a happy baby, rarely cries except when he's hungry. Poor guy - his sister demands, and gets, so much attention compared to him! His big milestone recently is rolling over, he's really been doing a lot of back-to-belly rolling (and then he forgets how to get back, so he gets mad and cries).

Actually, we've had a couple of other big milestones recently... first solids (rice cereal) a week or two ago, and that's going pretty well. He takes a few minutes to remember that he knows how to eat from a spoon, but then he gets going and he starts enjoying it. His other big milestone is that he's got his first ear infection. Just like his big sister, who also had her first ear infection at 4 months, so I am already bracing myself for a rough winter. :(

Sleep is going ok, he can go through most nights without eating (8:30-9:00 until 6:30 or 7) but our problem is that he gets cranky about halfway through the night and needs his paci replaced (the one he spits out about 15 minutes after he first falls asleep, he suddenly needs after being without it for 6-7 hours :rolleyes:). Sometimes it's just once in the night, but most of the time I have to spend anywhere from 20 minutes to an hour replacing the paci everytime he fusses, and then he'll go back to sleep for the rest of the night. It stinks to get back in bed and get comfortable, only to have to get up again 5 minutes later! I know you all know what I am talking about. I don't want to let him CIO, because he's actually fussing in his sleep and not fully awake, but if he cries for too long he wakes himself up. Not to mention the fact that his room shares a very thin wall with DD's, and I'm desparate to keep her asleep. I don't know whether to ride this out until he can find and replace his own paci, or try to wean him off it and pray that he figures out how to settle himself back down. Advice welcome. :o

Hooray for Jahan's tooth! Gouri, I really hope you get some sleep soon.

Jen, I really hope you get some good rest as well. I totally know what you and Gouri are talking about to feel at the end of your rope after nights of so little sleep - this paci thing with Ben has done the same thing to me one more than one occasion.

Leah, I am really glad that things are improving a little with H. I am thinking of you.

Welcome Terri and Beth!

Oh, does anyone know a good site to upload photos for posting? I'd always used Imagestation, but they shut it down last month!

[ellery]

Rebecca, I used shutterfly to post the one of Danny the other day. I *think* everyone was able to see it. I know when others use other sites I usually can't see them (so if anyone ever wonders why I don't comment on your gorgeous babies - that's why ;) ). And yay for Ben being so great! Now that I've recommended a site, you have to post pics. And um, no advice from this camp on sleeping. ;)

Gouri, congratulations to Jahan! I just wish there was a non-painful way for them to cut teeth, you know?

Jen, that's so exciting about all the milestones Zach is hitting! Glad to hear you're getting a little more sleep.

I think that's everyone who posted since I last did. My brain is a little foggy today, sorry. I got up this morning thinking "Dead Mom Walking." ;) Danny is trying to get all his teeth this week, I think. One top one popped through a few days ago, and it looks (although he won't really let me look at his mouth for more than about a second) like he's got at least one or two more coming in too. At least I hope that's the explanation for why he's slept so terribly all week, and last night especially - I'm pretty sure he was up every hour or two. I brought him into bed with me at around 11, so I'm not sure. Ugh!

It's so interesting to hear all the different stages our babies are in. I'm trying really hard not to compare and just be okay with whatever Danny's doing, but it's hard because all the babies his age and younger in his daycare class (and here) are doing things he's not. So far he hasn't figured out finger foods. He's sort of starting to think about scooting, but spends most of his time grabbing on to our hands or pants legs trying to pull himself up to standing. When he really needs to get somewhere he either rolls or changes his mind and sits contentedly. I don't think he's anywhere near babbling, although he can express quite a lot with just sounds. The other day he was quite emphatic in telling me that he was too cool to wear snowman socks, that I never feed him, and that all his other friends' moms let them drive the car. ;)

I just keep telling myself that he'll crawl one of these days, and that I'm secretly glad that he isn't, because that would mean the end of being able to plop him down on the carpet while I brush my teeth, etc. and expect that he stays put. And I'd have to baby proof the house, which I haven't even thought about.

Okay, I'm just rambling. One day he'll sleep again. I just know it!

:)

Leah

[sugarbaby]

Welcome Beth! Congratulations on your little one!

me: 20-11
DH: 31:p
DSs: David & Jonathan, 11 months

New tricks: Jonathan can wave, pull himself to standing, and say "Ba-ba-ba." David says every babble word in the book non-stop, and they both like to steal each other's toys.

And Leah, on the whole crawling thing, don't be secretly glad - come out in the open with it!!!:p As glad as I am that my boys are crawling, sometimes I just want them to stay put! Nothing is safe anymore - the other day Jonathan found a piece of dog food that had fallen to the floor and was munching happily, and David was eating a piece of lint. Had they just stayed put, I wouldn't have been doing the finger sweep! (Or maybe I just need to vacuum more regularly??? :rolleyes: )

I wouldn't worry about comparing Danny to other kids - each kid does his own thing in his own time. My boys will be eleven months tomorrow, and Jonathan just started to babble last week, whereas David has been doing it for a couple of months. Jonathan can pull himself to standing, but David doesn't even pull himself to kneeling. Brothers born at the same time, but completely different kids and timetables!

Oops! Gotta go! Have a great weekend!

[ellery]

Thanks for the reassurance Sugarbaby (and the visual of the "finger sweep"). ;) I can only imagine what Danny will find in our house to eat in the corners and nooks and crannies that I'm too lazy to vacuum.

Um, so after enough time on this thread I should be more than well aware of the jinx factor of worrying or bragging (usually about the little one's sleep). So after me worrying about his lack of mobility and verbalizations, Danny decided to spend the weekend working really hard at scooting. So hard, in fact, that last night between 1:30 and 4:30 for whatever reason seemed especially ideal to him as times to practice, in addition to his daytime practice sessions. :eek: And he's expanded his repertoire of sounds to include some high pitched squeaks and squeals to express his delight at whatever.

Fast forward to 3 am, me standing over his crib this morning with hands on hips, trying to look stern, as he looked up at me with a huge grin as he worked to get up to all fours, squealing with delight at his accomplishment. He's just so darned thrilled with himself and so thrilled to see me at these wee hours that it's really guilt inducing to not feel the same way. Oy.

It's been a week now of his completely crappy sleeping. Hopefully the rest of his teeth will push through SOON and he'll lose his joy at scooting past midnight and I'll sleep again soon.

Okay, vent over. :)

Hope everyone else is doing okay. :)

Leah

[fci5767]

The baby started crawling this weekend. A whole new world has opened up for her. I need to make the house more baby proof and C is still getting used to having to keep his things out of her reach. She hasn't noticed the stairs yet, which is a good thing since I haven't gotten gates yet. She's actually made a lot of progress in the past few days since she wasn't able to pull herself into a sitting position until after she started crawling :confused:.

Until this weekend, she was like a doll when I put her in her crib. When I would lay her down with her paci, she would automatically close her eyes and quickly fall asleep. Those days are now over, I think. Since she's able to sit up now, she's more mobile in her crib. The paci falls out and then she gets upset and takes a lot longer to fall asleep. I really would like to wean her away from the pacifier (she only uses it in her crib) but she's had so many changes since going into her first foster home two months ago.

We're going to take a walk around the botanical gardens when C is finished school tomorrow. It's going to be about 76 degrees again, which is crazy for this time of year. I've got to battle the WIC office tomorrow morning but it's required and will save me a ton of money on formula. So a walk in the gardens will be nice. I'll have to get some sort of baby carrier so we can walk on the hiking trails but that will have to wait for a while. She's pretty heavy so it will take some getting used to, I think.

Thanks for the welcomes!

[LHBryan]

Hi everyone! Life has been busy, and I've missed "chatting." I quickly pop in to see how everyone's doing, but haven't had time to post.

Me: Laura, 35
DH: 44
DD: Hannah, 6 months!!

Hannah has had a busy past 2 weekends, with my family visiting from NC and then a trip to visit DH's family last weekend. She did great on the 8-hour car trip. I sat in the back seat with her though, so I'm not sure she would have done so well on her own. Other than not knowing she was supposed to sleep in the pack-n-play.:rolleyes:, she was a terrific traveler. She LOVED all the attention from her relatives. She has 5 1st cousins ranging from age 4 to 14, and I've never seen her so excited to play and show off her moves. She also let everyone hold her with almost no protest (even when it was way past her bedtime), which I did not expect at all. When we left her aunt and uncle's house Saturday evening after spending all day with 5 adult relatives and 5 kids, she was cooing and squealing with delight in the car as if she were saying, "Mommy and Daddy, that was the most fun I've ever had!":) It was too cute. I feel bad we waited so long to take her to meet her family, but I had to get my nerve up for the long trip.

Hannah is so incredibly mobile and strong these days. Still not crawling, but oh so close and constantly practicing by rocking on all fours. Everyone was laughing at her "yoga" moves. She does the plank/push-up pose (and holds it longer than I ever could), then lies on her back and arches so she's in a back-bend with just the top of her head and feet touching the floor. All while smiling and squealing at the world upside-down. She also often looks like she's practicing for the luge, which is appropriate give how much snow is on the ground! Our LO has abs of steel.:D

She had her 6-month appt. last week and was 15 lbs 12 oz, 48th%ile. We started rice cereal last week, and she seems ok with it. Still prefers nursing, but she knows exactly what to do with the spoon and is constantly reaching for our food and drinks. I think she'll really enjoy fruits and vegs, so I need to bite the bullet and figure out our strategy. I have done absolutely no reading on this and need to get my act together. The rice cereal seems to bind her up a bit. Did anyone else switch to oatmeal fairly soon after introducing solids? We desperately need to buy a high chair this weekend. Did any of you decide to forgo the big high chair and just use one of those booster seats w/ tray? I'm feeling so indecisive. How long do they use a high chair?

As for sleep, I hate to jinx us, but Hannah is so much better than she used to be. The Sleepeasy Solution helped us tremendously. I'm happy to post details if anyone's interested. She's still eating a couple of times during the night, but that's mostly b/c I fear she's still not getting quite enough to eat during the day due to her distractibility and insatiable curiosity about the world. Last night she went to bed at 7pm, then I did "dream feeds" at 10pm and 2am, and she got up at 7am. She cried out a few times here and there, but only briefly and not requiring my "intervention." It's a dramatic difference from her hourly waking and having to be nursed back to sleep. Where I see the most progress is in her ability to soothe herself back to sleep after waking up. She can now cry for a few minutes--typically under 5--and miraculously fall back to sleep on her own. This morning she cried a little at 5:50am, but then fell back asleep after about 1 minute. This NEVER would have happened 3 weeks ago. Our challenges now are how to consolidate the two dream feeds into one and eventually weaning the one remaining feed, then how to wean from the swaddle. We also have a new development of pooping during the night, which requires a diaper change if we want to avoid a huge mess by morning. Last night's diaper change also required a pj change, which then made DD feisty and ready to play. One thing at a time, I suppose.

Beth, welcome! Does the baby know how to re-insert the pacifier? Maybe start working with her on that, then scatter several in her crib so she can find one in the dark. Hannah has started taking hers out, inspecting it, then trying to put it back in. She's been somewhat successful a few times, so maybe your little one can learn how to re-insert. I know the sleep book I used most recently lists the pacifier (and swaddling, night noshing, music, etc. etc.) as "sleep steelers" if they require our intervention during the night, but I personally can't deal with too much weaning all at once!

Oops. Gotta run prep for a meeting. No time for personals, but I love reading about your little ones!

-Laura

[jphilg]

Hi all-

Wow, this is a busy time of year. With DD old enough to "get" Christmas just a little, I've been working really hard to create holiday traditions. Probably too hard. But it is fun.....jsut hectic.

Just got back from Zach's 9-mo appointment. He continues to ride the top of the growth curve at 30 inches and 24.5 pounds. Everything looks good, he's just a growing boy! I don't want to jinx it either, but since that last post about Zach's sleep, he's slept through the night, 7-7, every night. There's nothing linear in parenting, so I'm riding this trend with everything I've got, and I'm starting to feel remotely human again.

Happy Holidays, everyone!

[Krysia1031]

Beth, welcome!:)

Hello everyone. We just got back from Matthew's 3 month appointment...and I am balling my eyes out. His weight was way down and he's almost off the progress chart. He only gained 9 ounces from last month. I thought we were doing really good, but the doc said we really need to ramp up is feedings. On top of that, he favors his right side so much that is has caused his head to flatten on that side. :( :( I always knew he liked the one said but I never really thought it was that big of a deal. He wants us to go see a physical therapist and work on his o stimulate him to look to the left.

I am feeling like a total failure right now. I mean I thought I was doing so great and today I find out I'm not only starving my kid but he has a partially flat head because I let him sleep on the right side. :( :( I guess I'm just feeling really down. DH was really supportive but I don't know. I know the feeding can be fixed hopefully pretty easily, but I am worried about his head! Has anyone else had this problem?

Ugh! Today is just being such a crappy day and I feel like crap. Thank God DH has the day off so he can take care of him while I go and sulk. UGH!!! Hope everyone else is having a better day than me.

Sorry for the down post. Krysia

[LA98]

Oh, Krysia... :( :( I'm so sorry. I can imagine how terrible you're feeling... When I found out Jason was still losing weight after we were discharged from the hospital, I felt so horrible, like I'd been starving him. :( How are you supposed to ramp up his feedings? I don't have any experience with head flatness. I remembering turning Jason's head in a different direction each time I put him down, and every time I'd check on him, he had moved it back to one side. Matthew should be rolling over fairly shortly, I would think that would take care of the issue? Unless it's become such a habit that the therapist will have to help him break it.

I know you're feeling so awful, but do try not to (easier said than done, I know!). Parenting is full of hurdles like these, just attack the problem and move ahead.

Jen, glad to hear everything's going so well. That's quite a big boy you've got there!

Laura, glad things have been improving with Hannah. Cute about the yoga poses! As for rice cereal, once Jason had eaten it for a few weeks I switched right over to oatmeal. The rice is way too binding, as you're finding out. And I wish I had gotten a booster seat instead of the big highchair I had registered for the first time around. My friends' kids ate in their highchairs for close to three years, but Brian used it for a very short time. Both of my boys seem to think it's some kind of torture device. :rolleyes:

Leah, Danny still doing his nighttime workouts? :) Hope not, for your sake!

Doing okay here. Jason's top teeth are making him a wreck. After the gums being very red and swollen seemingly forever now, I finally spotted a little pinhole last week. The hole has progressed into a slit now, but still no tooth! He's really miserable. He's also had some trouble falling asleep and getting himself back to sleep the last few nights. :( Hope it's not a trend, I've become quite spoiled having gotten some good sleep the last few weeks!

Here's the requisite picture with Santa :)

http://im1.shutterfly.com/procserv/47b7cc33b3127cceb2d95bb59bcb00000035118QctGbVu1ba

[ellery]

Krysia, I know almost exactly how you feel. Hugs to you. Danny gaining weight was my major worry the first probably 5 months of his life (if not longer than that). I know for me personally I got sucked into all the books that talk about scheduling, babies being on 3-4 hour feeding schedules, etc. and tried to do that, versus feeding on demand, which in retrospect I should have done (listening to my gut versus the stupid books), as Danny was a very slow gainer the first few months. Danny has acid reflux too, so he spit up a lot and that interfered with his gaining. Does the pediatrician have any ideas why Matthew isn't gaining? How exactly are you supposed to ramp up the feedings? Are you nursing? Formula feeding?

Lori - great Santa pic! As usual I'm struck by what a big boy Jason is - so grown up! Of course, I say the same thing about Danny when I see pics of him... what happened to our babies?

Jen, yay for a good checkup for Zach and yay (nope, not jealous here, not at all, nope, not me) for him sleeping through the night!

Laura, good to hear from you too. That's funny about Hannah's yoga moves - Danny's got the plank and a few others down pat too. He makes it look so easy! I kinda checked out the Sleepeasy stuff on Amazon - it's a milder form of CIO, isn't it? Any good tips besides the crying ones? (Danny still can't do CIO because of the whole throwing up when he cries too much thing)

Beth - congratulations on the little one crawling. What's your next step towards making her adoption official?

Okay, I think that's everyone who's posted since I last did.

As for us, nope, no more 2 am scooting sessions (although, now that I type that, we'll have one tonight), but sleep is still disrupted because of teething. He won't let me poke around his mouth anymore :o but from what I can tell, Danny's trying to get that whole top row of teeth. Maybe he figures he might as well get it all over with at once? Other than his nighttime discomfort though, he's so totally fun these days. He's started to get excited when he sees me in the afternoons when I walk into his daycare room and reaches for me to pick him up (warm fuzzy), and it's so fun to watch him growing ever more mobile because he just seems so pleased with himself as well. And he's just insanely curious - wants to see and investigate everything. Every stage that he hits, I swear it's the best one so far. :D

Leah

[Krysia1031]

Thanks for your thoughts guys. I was trying to do the scheduling thing too, and with him sleeping pretty good throughout the night, I thought he was doing o.k., but the doc told me to feed on demand even if he's hungry 2 hours after he just ate. I am formula feeding. He also suggested to keep a log of how much he's eating. We'll see, I mean I can't expect him to eat 10 ounces more a day overnight, but he has been eating more frequently and he seems to be better these past 2 days (less cranky). We have been trying to play with him more so he looks to the left and when I put him to bed I try to position his head to the left or middle, but when I wake up at night to go to the bathroom, his head is usually back to the right. We'll see. We try to work on it alot during the day and we're doing much more tummy time (which the doc said would help). We are going to the theapist soon so we'll see what they say.

On top of all of this, I have been so bummed because I am going back to work tomm! :eek: :eek: I want to cry when I think of leaving him, but I am kind of excited to get back to work. Good news is that my hubby works late so he'll be with him until the afternoon, and then my mom will take over until I get home from work, so I have it pretty good. I already prepared a whole bunch of pictues to bring into my office (which I plan to plaster his face all around) :p so I am sure it will be o.k. somehow.

Lori - Love the santa pic. The boys are getting so big! Hooefully the teeth are making their way through and you are getting back to more sleep at night!

Leah - Glad to hear Danny's doing so well, and wouldn't it be great if the teeth all just came in at once? BTW I love the pic in the santa suit. Adorable. I know how you mean about stages. Matthew is really starting to become more aware of things, me, DH, our dog and he's even starting grabbing some of the toys, etc. Its so amazing to see how fast they grow up!

Thanks again for your support. Now I have to go get ready for my big return tomm. ( Hopefully I can fit into something...:o :o )
Krysia
Well

[RebeccaT]

Krysia, it sounds like you are doing everything you can! Hang in there. Something to try as far as your little guy's head position... and you're probably already doing this. Babies tend to turn their head so that it faces out, towards the room, so maybe if you switched him and put his head at the foot of the bed, it would encourage him to turn his head in the other direction. Just something to try if you haven't already!

[steph456]

wow, this must be a good time for you, especially christmas is coming

[sugarbaby]

A gross funny to brighten your day...

I'm sure this happens any time you have more than one child, not just with twins, but the other day Jonathan was coughing and gagging as he was crawling around on the floor, and gagged so hard he spit up. I picked him up, did the finger sweep, and removed a large piece of dried grass from his mouth. As I was cleaning him off, I noticed David crawling toward the spit up, and before I could get to him he was smearing it everywhere with his hands. YUCK!!!! :eek:

Merry Christmas everyone! Hope that wasn't too gross!

[LHBryan]

Happy Holidays! I hope everyone is having fun with their little ones!

Illnesses, insane amounts of work, and holiday madness have prevented me from posting lately, but I think of you guys often.

Krysia--Hope you're feeling better about things and that your return to work wasn't too traumatic. I remember all to well how difficult that was! Hannah showed a very strong preference for looking/sleeping with her head to one side. We put her crib mirror on the less favored side and positioned her in the crib so the doorway was also on the less favored side. More tummy time helped too, and now at daycare she's the only baby that actually loves to play on her tummy.

Sugarbaby--That is icky. I witnessed something very similar at daycare. Ewwww. Hannah knows how to unfasten her diaper, so I fear we'll be experiencing some not-so-funny grossness any day now.

We had a very nice low-key Christmas. Perhaps our last quiet holiday. Hannah knew exactly how to rip open the packages.:D Of course her favorite "toys" are the non-toys--wrapping paper, the cap for her bottle, the cardboard a toy came packaged in, etc. I don't know why we bother buying stuff.:p

She's too cute and too much fun these days. Such a ham and oh so curious. She's still getting up on all fours and rocking, but not quite crawling thankfully. Still no teeth either, although lots of drool, red cheeks, and gnawing on everything. She really likes rice cereal, sort of likes oatmeal, and we just tried her first veggie--green beans--this morning. She didn't seem to mind them, but looked perplexed the first few bites and grimaced a couple of times. Sleep is going pretty well. I need to bite the bullet and wean her of night feedings and swaddling. She's in bed by 7pm, gets a dream feed around 10pm, then eats one other time during the night, and gets up at 7am. The last feeding during the night is usually to calm her down after she breaks out of her swaddle. No matter how tight and no matter what blanket formation/combo, she can get both arms out in the middle of the night. Once they're out, she'll either play and squeal or cry (mostly cry) for a loooong time if I don't intervene. She's also wising up to the dream feeds and is starting to fully wake up to grin and "talk" to Mommy. It's so hard to not indulge! I think she's ready to go all night, but I dread the process.

Here's the photo we included in our cards this year. (Hannah at 6 months. After agreeing this was a fun photo to send, DH now claims it makes her look like a boy.:rolleyes: I suppose next year's photo will have to feature a smocked dress and matching hair bow!)

Hope everyone else is doing well!

-Laura

http://i240.photobucket.com/albums/ff58/bugmuse/xmashifimage.jpg

[LA98]

Hi Laura, what a great picture of Hannah! FWIW, I don't think she looks like a boy. :) Glad sleep is going well. I know what you mean, it's hard to resist them when they're so happy to see you at 3 am!

Krysia, hope your return to work was okay. I remember my first day back at work after Brian, I was fairly traumatized but Brian was just fine. :)

We had a nice Christmas too (even though I had to endure the endless comparisons once again to Jason's same-age cousin). Both boys were so overstimulated with all the guests, noise, presents, etc, that they had a very hard time sleeping Christmas Eve and Christmas night. But it was so much fun watching them play with their new toys, and such a nice feeling to see our family finally complete.

Jason's doing well at 8.5 months. His two top front teeth *finally* broke through (just in time for Christmas, and yes, we've been singing him the appropriate song :D ), although they're moving down very slowly. He's eating 3 jars of food (and sometimes half of a fourth!) plus a little less than a quarter cup of oatmeal at each meal. I've been giving him the Gerber puff things, and he's gotten the hang of eating them without gagging. :) He absolutely loves the little mesh feeder, gets so excited when I hand it to him. I've been peeling grapes and stuffing them in there. Tried avocado a couple of times and he was not thrilled... He's in size 4 diapers now, and since I've been having trouble finding 9-month clothing in stores (no idea why! anyone else notice this?), I tried him in some 12-month clothes and found they fit pretty well. He's crawling super fast these days, and although not cruising yet like I thought he would be, he's been letting go of whatever he's holding onto and can stand for a second before plopping down! :eek:

As for sleep, he's doing fairly well. He either sleeps straight through or wakes once, although he's been having more trouble falling back to sleep by himself. And he still has to cry before falling asleep, but most nights it's a merciful couple of minutes. He's been waking up starving around 5 or 5:30 am, but usually will go back to sleep after his bottle for another hour and a half or two hours. Naps are still 30 minutes twice a day. :( :( He is EVIL every evening by 5 or 6:00, he's so exhausted. It's just awful and it doesn't seem there's anything I can do about it....

Hope everyone else is doing well.

Lori

[Krysia1031]

Sugarbaby - too funny! Talk about a kodak moment...twins are double the fun but also double the trouble! :p

Laura - Hannah looks so cute and how big she is already! I don't think she looks like a boy at all. I was at the store with Matthew yesterday (he had a blue jacket, blue hat and a blue blanket with trucks on it) and the woman at the store told me I have a beautiful daughter. :confused: No worries. I'm glad to hear Hannah is eating well. I can't wait to try feeding Matthew some cereals, fruit, etc. DH thinks I'm crazy but I think it will be fun.

Lori - All I want for Christmas is my 2 front teeth huh...How fitting. The whole clothing thing is so frustrating for us too! Matthew is not even 4 months old and we're almost out of the 6 mo. sleepers. A few more weeks in these and we'll have to switch to 9 mos outfits so they are long enough on him! I hope the sleep thing gets better for you guys. It sounds like you're making steps in the right direction.

As for us, thanks for all your good wishes. Going back to work was kind of difficult (for me more than him) but it was nice to get dressed up again and talk business again. Plus the fact that he's with DH and my mom makes it much easier to swallow (although I still wish I was with him everyday).

We seem to be doing better on the feeding front. He is definitely happier and I think (hopefully) at the next visit he will have gained some weight and will get back on the curve.

As for the head thing, I think we have made some pretty good strides on that front too. We saw the physical therapist yesterday and she confirmed that he does have torticollis, but not a severe case and she thinks we can totally fix it. She was stretching him every which way yesteday (at one point I thought she was going to pop his head off :eek: ). She told us to put him on his tummy as mush as possible & to stimulate his left side. We also have to stretch out his head & neck on the one side and he screams like bloody murder when we do it, but if its going to help him we'll do it.

Christmas Eve was great!!! We were with my family. My grandma does a big dinner with close to 40 people and he held up pretty well. He slept so good that night (the poor thing was exhausted! :D ) My dad dressed up as Santa and we go some awesome pics. I'll try to post later.

Christmas Day was horrible on the other hand. Its a very long story and I don't even want to talk about it because I am sick to my stomach. We host Christmas day at our house and we both our families over. Dh's father made a huge scene, got into it with us and his mom and left the dinner,:( totally embarrasing me in front of my family and pretty much ruined Christmas for eveyone we had over (around 15 people). We tried to make the best out of it after but it was so awkward. He ruined Matthew's first Christmas and I am so angry and hurt by my inlaws. :mad: O.k. off my soapbox, at least Christmas Eve was a blast.

Hope everyone else is doing good and had a better holiday than we had. :o
Take care and Happy New year to all the new moms!!!
Krysia :D

[LA98]

OMG, I had to pop back in here and say I just figured out why Jason's been so tortured by those top teeth coming in -- the tooth right next to the right front one has broken through and the one next to the left is just below the surface! :eek: 4 teeth pushing all at once! Poor baby. There should be a rule against that. :(

Krysia, glad to hear your return to work went okay. And great too that he's started therapy and the problem is fixable! Sorry to hear about your Christmas disaster -- I'm sad to say we've had a holiday or two like that with my family too. Maybe next year your inlaws will visit some other relatives. ;)

[ggs830]

Hi all.

We've had a busy few days over here as well. Christmas this year turned into an endless 4-day event. We celebrated w/MIL and SIL/BIL on the 22nd. The 23rd, we were at SFIL's family Christmas. Christmas Eve we went to GMIL's for a huge Christmas extravaganza, and then Christmas Day at our house in the a.m., and then my family in the afternoon. The kids did surprisingly well, considering they were missing naps and/or going to bed pretty late. On Christmas night, we made sure to put them down a little early, and both kids were out in minutes. They seemed to enjoy themselves, so I guess Christmas was a success.

Lori, we are in the same boat re: teeth. After my last post about Jahan cutting his first tooth, he proceeded to cut 3 more, all within a couple of days of each other. So, he's got the top and bottom two. I felt around tonight to see if anymore were coming in, and it looks like he might be getting another one on top. Poor baby, he's been drooling like mad, and his chin is bright red and bumpy. We've been putting vaseline on it to keep it protected, but it doesn't seem to be getting any better.

Jahan had his 9 month appt. last week, and despite how heavy he feels to me, he's still a fairly little guy. 28 inches and 18 lbs 14 oz, just the 25th percentile. Regardless of his relative littleness, he's rather fearless when it comes to exploring his environment. He's started cruising along the couch, and has unfortunately taken several tumbles. He actually bruised his ear yesterday, and today I noticed a scab in his hairline. I don't know what that's from!

Anyways, glad to hear everyone's doing okay!