April New Moms

[Krysia1031]

I'll start us off this month since I didn't get to post much in March.

Matthew: almost 7 mos.
DH: almost 30
Me: 26

Well, I will start off by saying we had an "incident" today that was just a nightmare! I was at work and DH was home with Matthew. He was in the middle of changing a pooppy diaper on the couch and turned to grab another paper towel and....splat! :eek: Matthew rolled over and fell off the couch sideways of the couch onto an area rug (under our hardwood floors). Can we say PANIC. So I rushed home & hopped in a cab to get from downtown, meanwhile DH took him to the ped office. He had a nasty bump of his head and carpet burn on the side of his face. They sent us to the hospital for a CT scan just to be on the safe side and luckily we got the ALL CLEAR! My poor DH is still so traumatized and looks like he's seen a ghost. What a way to start off April. :(

On the positive side, Matthew is crawling...except at this point he can only go backwards. As great as it is, I am starting to panic. Life seemed so much easier when I was able to put him down on the carpet in one spot and I know that he would stay there! I have started to move things or put things away, but the whole "he was just there a second ago, where did he go?" thing is making me worried. Alot of people have told me the backwards thing is normal and eventually he will learn to go forward.

Food wise we are doing o.k. Sometimes he is so finicky with his feedings. He loves the cereal and all the baby foods, well all except Squash. We did not realize that as quickly as in went in, it very quickly came out! :o He loves the baby food so much, sometimes he doesn't want his bottle! So I have to add some formula to the veggies or fruit and make them almost soupy. Aside from our episode today, things are going really well and we can't wait until spring comes!

Question for the group: does anyone have one of those aquababy bath rings? We have a tub, but he is so squirmy and keeps grabbing at the edges and trying to get out of the tub. We are considering buying something like this...

http://www.rightstart.com/global/store/product~item~6570~dept~bath+and+potty~cat~bath+tub +safety.html

Any thoughts or recs?

Hope everyone else is doing great and I loved all the pics from March. :)

Krysia

[veschke]

Question for the group: does anyone have one of those aquababy bath rings? We have a tub, but he is so squirmy and keeps grabbing at the edges and trying to get out of the tub. We are considering buying something like this...

http://www.rightstart.com/global/store/product~item~6570~dept~bath+and+potty~cat~bath+tub +safety.html


What's it supposed to do? When Lydia started taking tub baths we just put a bath towel in the bottom of the tub to make it more comfortable and stable for her to sit.

It is very scary when they fall off of things, but they generally come through fine. We're a pretty tough species. :)

JJ is coming along fine. He's a happy little kid, and he's discovering the joy of making faces at mommy. Eats like a horse - 14 lb 2 oz at three months - and his head is still flat as a board on the one side. We should be getting the x-ray results soon on that. He seems to be trying to grab things.

His sister has been in a jealous funk for a couple of days this week, which puts something of a strain on things at home, but next week she might actually (finally) have a play date with a girl they know from the library, and maybe that will help. If the weather would cooperate we could all go the park or something this weekend....

[ellery]

Hi Krysia. Can Matthew sit up on his own yet? Is he still in a "baby" bathtub? You may want to think about transitioning him to a bigger tub if he's super squirmy. Danny got super squirmy and I ended up buying this (http://www.onestepahead.com/catalog/product.jsp?productId=442787&parentCategoryId=85180&categoryId=85201&subCategoryId=86186) tub which he just loves. It's soft on the bottom and the sides, so he can't hurt himself if he stands and falls in it, and he loves having the extra room to stretch out and play. It made bathtime much more fun and less wiggly in our house.

http://content.onestepahead.com/assets/images/product/detail/11828.jpg

I'd looked at that bath ring that you found and it didn't get great reviews. (They have it in the One Step Ahead catalog and you can read parents' feedback). I opted to go with giving Danny more room as opposed to trying to reign him in and it worked for us, but maybe others have different feedback. Good luck!

[Delanl]

Hi all!

Me: 29 (but only for two more weeks) :(
DH: 29
Kylie: 8 weeks tomorrow!

Still dealing with a fussy Kylie at night. We had a few marathon crying jags that resulted in us bundling her up and taking her for a car ride. Which helped, thankfully, but its not something I want to be doing all the time. She is still fussy while breastfeeding too, but its only during the night time feedings. It starts at her 5:00 feeding like clock work. I still don't get it. And nothing seems to help. Sigh.

On the positive side she is doing awesome with tummy time. She holds her head up so well and she is cooing and smiling up a storm. So that kind of cancels out the nighttime drama. :p She has also been sleeping for 4-5 hour stretches at night, which I am eternally grateful for!

As for me, I am already fretting about going back to work (June 2nd) and what to do with breastfeeding. I really, really want to continue breastfeeding until she is at least 6 months (she will be 4 months when I go back to work) and I will only be working 3 days a week to start, but the pumping situation at work is less than ideal. I may e-mail my supervisor to see if she has any suggestions as to where I can go to pump. But, she doesn't have children and well, I am not sure she is going to understand or be too sympathetic. I was considering just nursing Kylie at night and in the morning and then supplementing with formula during the day. Has anyone done this? Is it possible to do both formula and BM? Any advice/suggestions would be great.

Krysia--sorry to hear about Matthew's fall! Glad he is ok though. :)

KimCL--sorry I can't be of help, but I am hoping someone will pop in as I will need advice on that topic too in a few months.

Hope everyone else is doing well!

Leigh

[ACooper]

Kim - I don't have any practical advice for you, really. But, the "What to Expect" book suggests that you start by scheduling the things you can control, like baths, outings, etc. so they are done at the same time each day. It also suggests trying to entertain between feedings to stretch the time longer between. It sounds easier said than done to me. :rolleyes:

Madeline is sleeping well at night - usually down by 10pm and up btwn 5-6am, but her days aren't scheduled at all as far as I can tell. She doesn't have a predictable daytime feeding or napping schedule. Some days sleeping much more than others. I'm not sure how to structure things because I can't *make* her go to sleep.

Does anyone have experience with nightmare/night terrors in infants? Madeline is 2.5 months & will often just shreik and start crying really hard from a sound sleep. Sometimes you wonder what is going on in those little minds.

[ellery]

This topic has probably been exhausted by now, but what books/techniques do you all recommend for getting a 3-month old on a schedule?

What kind of schedule do you mean? Sleeping schedule? Daytime schedule?

[Kerri]

De-lurking...

This topic has probably been exhausted by now, but what books/techniques do you all recommend for getting a 3-month old on a schedule?

I am not sure if this is what you mean, but when DS was 4 months old I read Healthy Sleep Habits, Happy Child and that did wonders for us putting him on a schedule. He didn't nap at all until then, and once we got the naps figured out, the eating and bedtime fell right into place. I think Babywise talks a lot about schedules, but that might be more for newborns.

[mst]

ACooper- I don't know if you know this, but night terrors are different than nightmares. This is a description I found online about night terrors.

When you hear how most experts describe night terrors, it is easy to see why parents find them distressing. Children who have night terrors are usually described as 'bolting upright' with their eyes wide open, with a look of fear and panic, and letting out a 'blood curdling scream'. These kids will usually also be sweating, breathing fast and have a rapid heart rate (autonomic signs). And although it will seem like they are awake, during a night terror, children will appear confused, will not be consolable and won't recognize you.
Typical night terrors last about 5 to 30 minutes and afterwards, children usually return to a regular sleep. If you are able to wake your child up during a night terror, he is likely to become scared and agitated, mostly because of your own reaction to the night terror, especially if you were shaking or yelling at him to wake up. Instead of trying to wake up a child having a night terror, it is usually better to just make sure he is safe, comfort him if you can, and help him return to sleep once it is over.

My DD has lots of nightmares, and the occasional night terror. She is two. When she was little, we would go in, and rub her back and tell her that everything is ok. Now that she is older, we wait to see how much she is crying. About half the time, she stops crying after one or two yells. If not, we go in, rub her back, tell her she is ok. Nowadays, she asks to come into bed with us. Depending on how scared she is, will depend on whether we let her come into our bed. Sometimes, her screams are so scared, I run as fast as I can in there, yelling to her that I am on my way.

If your daughter is having night terrors, you might want to change around her sleeping schedule. I would recommend telling your pediatrician, and see what s/he recommends.

I have also found that nightmares comes in cycles. Right now, DD is having a nightmare almost every night, but we certainly have gone at least a month without any.

Good luck!

[ACooper]

Just posting to bump the thread back up.

Madeline's Baptism was yesterday. She was so good. She didn't make a peep during the entire church service, including the ceremony. We were pleasantly surprised. :) It was a fun day with lots of family. She was completely worn out & had a very long nap in the afternoon. My little dear will be 3 mos old on Thursday.

So, how is everyone else?

[Delanl]

We are a quiet bunch this month, huh? ;)

Glad Madeline's baptism went well ACooper! Kylie's is planned for May 25th and I am eager to see how she will behave.

Not much else going on here, the night fussiness has gotten better, but now she just wants to nurse every hour on the hour from about 8-10pm. But hey, if it means no crying and a 5 hour stretch of sleep that usually follows, I will gladly do it!:D She gets her first round of shots tomorrow, though not all of them, we have decided to space them out a bit more. Not looking forward to that.

Does anyone have relatives that baby-sit there LO while at work? My MIL will be watching Kylie 3x a week when I return to work in June. My DH and I were thinking about writing up our expectations, how we would like the day structured, activities, such as no tv, lots of reading, etc. Has anyone done this or are we being way too controlling??:o

Hope everyone else is doing well..

[MinEaston]

Does anyone have relatives that baby-sit there LO while at work? My MIL will be watching Kylie 3x a week when I return to work in June. My DH and I were thinking about writing up our expectations, how we would like the day structured, activities, such as no tv, lots of reading, etc. Has anyone done this or are we being way too controlling??:o
delurking...

My parents watch Anna 1 or 2x week and have been doing so since she was 3 months old (she's 3 years old now).

I didn't write stuff up because I think my mother would have been very insulted. But, I did give her some sheets so she could record amount eaten & when (I was exclusively BFing and sending pumped Bmilk), diaper changes, and nap times. My parents tried to do as much as possible to make their routine similar to daycare's routine, with additional spoilage :D as they deemed appropriate.

I think writing up a schedule/structure with ground rules is a great idea, but that will depend on what your IL's are like and how receptive they will be to the idea. My own IL's, for example, welcome some instruction...

[Krysia1031]

ACooper - thanks for bumping us back up. Glad Madelibe was good during the baptism. I'm sure the group would love to see some pics if you have any. Matthew cried the whole ceremony (like bloody murder) but passed out later.

Delanl - My mom & MIL are my daycare. My DH is home 1 day a week, MIL does 1 day (not to thrilled about that) and my mom does the rest. I had big talks with each of them before I went back to work about all kinds of stuff. We also have a note pad on the fridge where they write down how much he eats and when. I still struggle sometimes because I know they probably do things "their way" and I hate the fact that I am not there, but I also know they love him to peices and as long as they stick to the "schedule" more or less we are o.k. I also gave specific instructions on play time (no tv), how I put him to sleep, naps, etc. So far its been working great (I have been back at work 4 months). I am also very close with my mom so we talk alot anyway. :D Hopefully your MIL will be respective to how you want things done, but you are definitely not being too controlling.

Things are going good here. Matthew is crawling although he can only go backwards still at this point. Its pretty hilarious because he seems to back himself into a corner...literally, quite often. He has also been trying to stand up on his own by pulling on things. Its pretty comical and scary at the same time. Clearly I am not ready for him to be walking any time soon! :eek:

Foodwise, he is doing great. He loves all the baby food and is always trying to grab at anything I am eating. I can't believe his is 7 mos. old (today actually). Where has the time gone???

DH & I have had some discussions on #2. I find myself asking...AM I CRAZY? :confused: Things are great but I can't imagine having another child around. YIKES! We'll see.

How is everyone else doing?

[RebeccaT]

I am not sure if this is what you mean, but when DS was 4 months old I read Healthy Sleep Habits, Happy Child and that did wonders for us putting him on a schedule. He didn't nap at all until then, and once we got the naps figured out, the eating and bedtime fell right into place. I think Babywise talks a lot about schedules, but that might be more for newborns.

Kim, I can vouch for Healthy Sleep Habits, Happy Child. It's really not terribly effective until about 4 months but once your son is that old, it's amazing how it helps everything fall into place. I have a lot of friends who have used Babywise, and who swear by it; I don't think it's just for newborns!

[ggs830]

Does anyone have relatives that baby-sit there LO while at work? My MIL will be watching Kylie 3x a week when I return to work in June. My DH and I were thinking about writing up our expectations, how we would like the day structured, activities, such as no tv, lots of reading, etc. Has anyone done this or are we being way too controlling??:o

Hope everyone else is doing well..

Before I became a SAHM, my mom and dad watched DD 4xs a week (from about 3 months until about 15 months). I didn't give them any written instructions, but we had several talks before hand about our parenting ideals, her schedule, our absolute no-nos, and general expectations. The main thing I made clear was that DH and I are the parents, so final parenting decisions belong to us. It worked out fairly well, and although my parents didn't do things exactly the way DH and I do them, I didn't have any major complaints.

My MIL, on the other hand, is a different story. We didn't leave DD with her until DD was about 9 months, and when I sent her an email with instructions and DD's schedule, she was offended and picked a fight w/me and DH. It's strained our relationship quite a bit, and we actually actively avoid having her watch the kids now because of it.

So, I guess it depends on your relationship with your ILs. Hopefully, you have a good one, and they won't be upset by you (naturally, IMO) wanting to make sure they follow your parenting decisions.

Good luck!

[Delanl]

Thanks for the feedback everyone! My relationship with my MIL is good and I *think* she will be open to hearing our requests and following our schedule. She has baby-sat my niece for the past two years, but I don't think my SIL did anything like this. My DH and I tend to approach things quite a bit differently then her.:D

So we are going out tonight for my birthday, just for dinner and then everyone is meeting back at my parent's for birthday cake. I am so nervous about leaving Kylie though! As I've mentioned before she gets fussy at night and absolutely HATES the bottle, soooo I think my parents are in for a few hours of crying. :o

Speaking of hating the bottle, anyone else have this issue? I have tried the Avent and Breastflow bottles and she just pushes them out of her mouth. An LC at my mom's gym suggested Preemie bottles. I need to get moving on this as I go back to work in June!

Hope everyone has a great weekend!

[veschke]

I think I need to whine. :) It's not that it was a bad weekend, I just need another one to recover from it.

On Saturday we went to ME to visit my in-laws. FIL broke his ankle a week ago, so we brought them some food and company, figured MIL could use a dose of her grandchildren to cheer her up what with working and taking care of her husband. Everything went fine, it was a good test of how the kids will do in a long car trip--2 1/2 hours or so to get there. Just a really long day.

Yesterday I spent the morning cleaning, since we didn't get anything done on Saturday and all of the dishes from my cooking spree were still sitting around (ick). Then I spent the afternoon shopping for a car, which is not something I really enjoy. In less than two weeks we're going on a long driving trip, and I'd like to have this all sorted out before then, since I'm getting of playing "what's that noise mean?" with our car. We've had an Accord for six years. I drove an Altima and enjoyed driving it more, and this one is practically new, but its reputation is less reliable, so I'm not sure how to decide what to get. The good news was that our car is worth considerably more than we expected for a trade-in, given how beat-up it is.

Last night Lydia came down with sniffles and woke up crying around midnight because she couldn't breathe well. We brought her into bed with us so she could prop up on our higher pillows, which kinda-sorta worked though she moves around a lot in her sleep! So it was not a very restful night.

This week I have two long days in the office due to meetings (which means I leave home at 5:30 and probably won't get home until 7), I have my annual performance review, we are going to try to figure out the car, finish planning this vacation, and constantly looming over my thoughts is the question of whether we'll be buying a house this year. As much as I am not particularly fond of Worcester and really hate my commute, which is getting more expensive by the day, the thought of moving again is stressful, especially since Lydia will be starting school next year so the stakes are higher.

And I do realize that lots of people have worse problems than this. Just feeling whiny today. :) I hope everyone else is doing okay?

Oh, JJ's x-rays came back fine. He's going back to the doctor in a week so she can see how he's doing. Flat spot aside, he's a charming little boy. We've gotten a couple of giggles out of him. It's funny to see the ways he's like and unlike his sister at this age.

[Krysia1031]

:oDelanl - Happy Belated Birthday! :) Hope your night out was good and Kylie was a trooper at home with the grandparents. Before I went back to work, we also tried a few bottles. Matthew hated the avent bottles & the playtex ones, so we went with the Dr. Browns. They worked like a charm and he really likes them. Just our experience.

Veschke - Let it all out. We all have days like that ;) so don't apologize. You must be exhausted from the travel and then not getting a very sleep filled night. Hopefully Lydia's congestion let sup over the next few days. Ugh. :( Sorry to hear about the long days at the office. Glad to hear the x-rays came out fine though. What are your top choices for cars? Are you considering moving to get more space or be closer to work, schools?

We had a really nice weekend and the weather cooperated so it was nice to get out of the house and be outside! Matthew is a riot these days, making the funniest sounds and of course picking up all the ladies at the grocery store. No wonder DH now offers to go shopping with him..:rolleyes: He is continually trying to pull himself up and stand. Its really cute because sometimes he only makes it to a kneeling position and then starts to make the funniest noises.

I am going to partially whine now too! :o My boss calls me into his office on Fri. and wants "to talk". Thats usually not a good sign, but he proceeds to tell me what a great job I am doing, etc. and how he really trusts me & depends on me, etc. Then he proceeds to tell me that the marketing dept. (made up of 5 people) is doing a very poor job (except for 1 person) & they have made a ton if mistakes. Basically over the next few weeks, he is going to fire the marketing team except 1 person and wants me to take over and manage the group. So GREAT opportunity. My job would be to rebuild a new team, make it self-sufficient and re-align the goals to our company's goals. Rebuild the dept.'s image both internally & externally. Sounds great right? Only one problem...I'm not a marketing person. I have an MBA in finance. I do numbers, calculations, spreadsheets, reporting. On top of that, the current team is in Newark, NJ, so I will have to travel there over the next few weeks (TBD) and have the current manager train me while she knows I am taking over her job (did I mention she is 10 yrs older than me) and she is being let go in 2 weeks. Think she will be just a little hostile towards me? :eek: So again awesome opportunity to show my boss I can adapt and really make a difference, but I have to leave my baby and do something totally new to me while making everyone try to like me. UGH!!!! This is going to be a long summer!!

OK, whine over. :p I am sure it won't be so bad. Hopefully everyone else is doing good. How are all of the new, new moms out there doing??

[Delanl]

Hi Krysia! Thank you for the birthday wishes! My birthday is actually today, so you are not late. :) We just celebrated this weekend. Kylie did very well with my parents! I fed her right before we left so she didn't end up needing a bottle, not that she would've taken it anyway! Thanks for the Dr. Brown's info, I am up for trying anything! I got a set of Born Free bottles at my shower, so I am going to try those next. We'll see...

Good luck with work, that sounds very challenging! It sounds like your boss has a lot of confidence in you which is awesome. I am sure you will do great.

Veschke--whine away! Sorry things have been so hectic and Lydia isn't feeling well. As for car shopping and Nissan Altimas, I have a 2002 that I got "gently" used 5 years ago. Love the car, but I got it with 32,000 miles on it and by 67,000 the engine completely blew. Don't know if I got a lemon or what, and probably should've pursued the lemon law, but didn't and instead spent $3400 on a new engine!! :mad: My DH is driving it now and we just bought a 2008 Hyundai Santa Fe, which I absolutely love and the warranty is excellent.

Not much going on here with us, my birthday weekend was really nice. It was so, so nice to go out to dinner alone with my DH. We got to relax and take our time, instead of shoveling our food in while holding a fussy baby! And I even treated myself to a glass of wine, which tasted so very very good. Its been awhile! Only drank half though since I am BF-ing, but it was still good.

Hope everyone else's week is going well!

[veschke]

Oh, hey, happy birthday. :) Last night was much better, sleepwise. She's still got some sniffles, but no fever or anything. Krysia--holy challenge! That's scary-sounding, but it could be good... I bet you can handle it.

As far as cars, we have mainly been thinking about getting another Accord. I tested the Altima because, well, they had it, and it was in our price range. I thought it was worth looking at. It's an 06, at which point Nissan had supposedly fixed a lot of problems with the earlier generation. I liked the way it drove, but DH didn't care for it as much. This would be much easier if we didn't have to find a car that we can *both* use. :) I'd like to buy from this dealership--they were very nice, and most of the dealers have such a horrific reputation--but they only have one other car we'd consider right now and I hate the color on that one. Always something.

We want to move closer to my job (and any likely future jobs, really). I have a 50-mile commute right now, and even though I work from home twice a week it costs a lot and take a lot of time, and I'm sick of doing it. We've never owned a home and thought of the commitment is kinda scary.

EDIT: Icing on the cake! My windshield got hit by a stone last night, and now it needs to be fixed. Lovely.

[Delanl]

Kim--I registered for and got Born Free bottles because of the whole BPA issue. They are def a little more pricey, but worth it IMHO. I plan to try them this week as I need to get DD on the bottle! I think Dr. Brown's just came out with a glass bottle and Playtex has some that are BPA free as well.

Leigh

[Krysia1031]

Veschke - 50 mile commute :eek::eek: My commute is about 25 miles so I feel your pain. I travel to downtown Chicago everyday for work and I wish we lived closer, but its just not do-able. I love our home/community and we could never afford what we have to something comparable in the city. I agree, the commitment is kind of scary, but IMHO well worth it! Cars...I really liked Nissan and Hondas. The Altimas are nice, but so are the Accords. I am a little biased because DH is a finance manager for a dealership and used to wqork for Nissan, but now works for Honda/Hyundai dealer. Good luck with the car shopping!

KimCL - We were somewhat inconsistent too with naps and sleep schedule. It was hard because I get home from work at 6:15'ish and I wanted spend time with him. Now that Matthew is getting older, we seemed to have developed a schedule more or less without trying to develop a schedule. He defintiely goes to sleep earlier now (7:30 - 8:00 pm) and it seems to be working out for now.

On the BPA issue, we have been using Dr. Brown's when I stopped BF when I came back to work, so Matthew has been using the bottles for the past 4 mos. We are thinking of switching to either the glass Dr. Brown's bottle or the Born Free. Its so hard to know. I talked to my ped about it and she said not to be concerned, but I think we will switch for my piece of mind. I also read somewhwere recently that Nursery Water is bad too, which we use to mix Matthew's formula. Ugh! It never ends. :(

Leigh - glad your birthday was nice! :) its funny how you appreciate the nice little things (having a glass of wine, quiet dinner). Sounds like fun! Are you planning a big baptism celebration for Kylie?

We are doing good here. I am happy to report that I have started making Matthew's baby purees. Its pretty easy to steam up the veggies and puree it although now I am wondering what the easiest way to freeze/store it in? Any thoughts, recs?

We are getting some nice weather here (FINALLY) so we are able to go outside & not have to wear 50 layers of clothing! :p

[TLee4]

We are doing good here. I am happy to report that I have started making Matthew's baby purees. Its pretty easy to steam up the veggies and puree it although now I am wondering what the easiest way to freeze/store it in? Any thoughts, recs?



I just freeze it in ice cube trays. When it is frozen, I pop out 2-3 "cubes" and put them in a zip-lock sandwich bag. Then I put all of the sandwich bags into a bigger ziplock.

Terri

[Krysia1031]

Terri - Thanks for the tip. It worked great! I made a batch of cauliflower & squash last night. The squash tasted so good...I was even eating some myself :p! I froze it in the ice cube trays and packed it away in baggies!

Kim - I was considering buying a similar machine, but opted against it because I wasn't sure how "committed" I was to making all of DS's baby food. It really is so easy to make & I know the produce is fresh, so I will continue to make it. I just steam/bake the veggies/fruit and then puree in my mini food processor. I have been trying to rationalize buying a regular size food processor. I think now I have a good case to bring to DH since he already thinks I have way too many gadgets in the kitchen! ;)

I am happy to report that Matthew has made progress on the crawling front and is now going forward. He seems to be getting better eveyday and faster! :eek: I guess it is time to put up the safety gates. :o

Have a great weekend everyone!!

[ACooper]

Delanl: Happy Belated Birthday! I hope it was a good one.

Krysia: Congrats to Matthew on crawling forward.

We had been using Playtex bottles with Madeline, but I pitched them and picked up some Evenflow ones. They were handily labled "BPA Free."

We're off to hubby's 10 year college reunion this weekend. Convenient since we went to the same school. :p I'm looking forward to catching up with old friends.

Hope you all have a good weekend!

[TLee4]

Krysia, glad it worked well for the baby food!

As long as i'm jumping into the thread, I might as well stay a minute. :)

Me: Terri, 36
DH: Dan, 38
DS: Joey, 22 mos
DS: John-Paul, 8 mos

Are you guys doing any finger foods yet? JP is great with Gerber Puffs and Cheerios. But I haven't tried anything else. It hasn't been that long, but I can't really remember when/what we started with in terms of finger foods with Joey.

JP also just started crawling forward. He is a very happy baby and a good sleeper, so I have no complaints!

Thanks!

[veschke]

Y'know, I don't think I ever did the customary introduction here.

Me: Rebecca (34-year-old technical writer at a software company)
Hubby: Dave (34-year-old SAHD)
Daughter: Lydia (nearly 4)
Son: James/JJ (4 mo)

It has been quite a week!! I had my performance review and "exceed expectations," got a bit of a raise, so I immediately bought shoes. We bought a car ('05 Accord in pretty good shape). And perhaps most importantly - I am back in my pre-baby jeans! :D I gained 40 lb while I was pregnant with JJ, but thanks to him eating like a horse, it's nearly all gone. (Of course, I have 15 to go before I'm at what I'd like to weigh, but I'll take what I can get!)

I am feeling a little giddy this morning. Barring disaster, we're going to pay off a couple of the credit cards next month, and we had to borrow less than we had budgeted for the car. We might actually (finally) be in decent budgetary shape.

Which leads me to a question: What's everyone doing to save for college? Boston College is up to $50,000/year now. :eek: The older I get, the more I envy my friends who didn't have to go into debt for school.

[Delanl]

Hi all. Good news! Kylie drank about 2oz. from a bottle yesterday! Yay! Dr. Brown's by the way, thank you Krysia! Now we just have to keep it up. My MIL and mom plan to come over during the week and give her one. So hopefully she will get used to it.

Veschke--like Kim mentioned, we are setting up a 529 plan for Kylie. We have been encouraging our family to contribute to her college fund rather than give gifts of toys since she's so young still and has no idea what she's getting anyway. Congrats on the raise, new car and getting back into the pre-preggo jeans! I too gained about 40 lbs. and I have 5lbs. to lose still and they are coming off very slooowly.:rolleyes:

My director's son goes to Boston College. Wow. Fifty thousand dollars a year is just insane! I can't imagine what it will be 20 years from now.:eek:

Krysia--glad to hear making homemade baby food is going well. I had planned to do that but was worried I wouldn't have enough time. Hopefully I can do a lot of it on the weekends. My DH got me a really good book that has lots of recipes, its called First Meals by Annabel Karmel.

ACooper--hope you had fun at the reunion!

Thank you everyone for the birthday wishes!

[Krysia1031]

ACooper - How was the reunion? Hope you had a great time catching up with old friends and you got to show off pics Madeline. :)

Terri - I have been really tempted to start Matthew off on those Geber puffs or something. He is just the little curios fellow. He is a pretty good eater and I would like to start on finger foods. When I talked to my ped last time, she said we could start around 8/9 months, so I think I'll wait a few weeks. She recommended that we start with the Geber puffs, toast, cheese cut up into small pieces, pasta, or teething crackers. I am also a little worried because Matthew has no teeth yet! (Not one, although by his behavior, some nights I thought they were all coming in ;)). Does John Paul have a lot of teeth? Does he like the Geber puffs?

Rebecca - Great news about the performance review & raise! :D Glad you got the car issues resolved and the pre-baby jeans....you must be smiling from ear to ear!!! We started looking into the 529 plans as well. Not sure exactly wha we are going to decide, but we wrote down on our "list of goals for 2008" to put a certain amount of money way this year for Matthew's college. Our local bank also has a college saver CD, (which is not paying too much interest now), but it guaranteed something because everytime I look at my 401K statement, I am cringing on the losses. :mad: I think we will probably do a combination of the 529, plus maybe even some bonds or a CD. My DH keeps telling eveyone to buy DS books so he will become very smart and get a full scholarship to any school he wants. (Uh..wishful thinking...:rolleyes:).

Kim - Great links, thanks for the info. The food processor is working out great and I am really having fun making the food. I made homemade applesauce this weekend and it was so easy and tasty.

Delanl - Glad the bottle thing worked out. :) Not sure if you already knew this, but Dr. Browns' makes glass bottles now just in case your concerned about the BPA issue. We switched over to the glass ones. I like Anabel Karmel. We just got her book "Top 100 Baby Purees: 100 Quick and Easy Meals for a Healthy and Happy Baby". I make batches on the weekends when DH is home or late at night when DS is sleeping. Last week one night, I was up till 11:30 pm making squash (clearly I am nuts :p), but it came out so great and now with my new freezing system (THANKS TERRI) I don't have to worry during the week.

We had a pretty good weekend although our weather has gone from nice 60-70's to today, rainy and 50's. There is a frost advisory and chance of snow tonight. :mad: I thought winter was over. UGH! DS is really going at it with the crawling so DH put up the gates this weekend. He also fell a bunch of times & cut his upper lip slightly since the toy he was standing with fell backwards on top of him. Apparently this is only the beginning. We have also lowered the crib all the way to the bottom because clearly he is not interested in sleep anymore. All he wants to do is stand in his crib (much to his mom's dismay!). My DH told me this is my fault that he is so active and clearly with #2 I will not be permitted to work out or exercise at all. He wipes us out! Those with 2, how do you do it with 2?

OK...sorry for the novel. Hopefully everyone else's weekend was good and your weather is better than mine.

[TLee4]

Terri - I have been really tempted to start Matthew off on those Geber puffs or something. He is just the little curios fellow. He is a pretty good eater and I would like to start on finger foods. When I talked to my ped last time, she said we could start around 8/9 months, so I think I'll wait a few weeks. She recommended that we start with the Geber puffs, toast, cheese cut up into small pieces, pasta, or teething crackers. I am also a little worried because Matthew has no teeth yet! (Not one, although by his behavior, some nights I thought they were all coming in ;)). Does John Paul have a lot of teeth? Does he like the Geber puffs?


(Our weather is back to winter too, btw..ugh!)
No, JP has only two teeth. (His brother had a mouthful at this age!) Yes, he is wild for the Puffs and the Cheerios. I don't think they really need teeth. Their gums work great, as you may know if he has tried to chomp on YOU! Oh, he also loves the Gerber biter biscuits and that Zwiebak (sp?) toast. I was thinking of trying him on regular toast next..thanks.
JP was born 8/2. When was Matthew born?

Terri

p.s. I think that 2 is practically as easy as one..you are already in the baby groove! Plus, they are just starting to play together, so it will be even easier as they do that more and more. I say go for it..starting planning #2! : )

[Krysia1031]

(Our weather is back to winter too, btw..ugh!)
No, JP has only two teeth. (His brother had a mouthful at this age!) Yes, he is wild for the Puffs and the Cheerios. I don't think they really need teeth. Their gums work great, as you may know if he has tried to chomp on YOU! Oh, he also loves the Gerber biter biscuits and that Zwiebak (sp?) toast. I was thinking of trying him on regular toast next..thanks.
JP was born 8/2. When was Matthew born?

Terri

Matthew was born 9/15, so he's a little more than a month younger than JP. I swore I thought he was "teething" when he was 3 mos. old. Sometimes I think he'll be running around before he has any teeth, but yes, his gums are very effective. When did you start on the Cheerios/Puffs?

[TLee4]

Hmm...I think he's been on the Puffs and the biscuits for about 2 mos...Cheerios just in the past month. So Matthew should be ready to go..he'll be happy! :)

[ACooper]

I think I neglected the intro this time too.

Me: Angie 33, Insurance
DH: Brian SAHD, self employed Home Inspector
Madeline: 3.5 mo, happy baby

We had a good time at the reunion. The turn out was a little light. We were hoping there would be more of the people that we had lost track of over time there, but that wasn't the case. We have a core group that gets together a few times a year so it was fun hanging out with those friends. It was a casual affair, so we got to show Madeline off in person. :D

Delanl: Glad to hear that Kylie is adapting to the bottle. Hopefully she will keep it up.

Rebecca: It sounds like everything is falling into place for you. That's all great news.

We are looking at 529 plans and I think there is also an Education IRA. We need to compare and make a decision soon on what we are going to do. College costs are through the roof.

What is a normal supper/dinner time for your family? I'm usually starving when I get home so I start cooking early and try to eat around 6:30-6:45. I'd like to start walking again in the evenings, so I think I may have to pack an extra snack to eat on my way home and push supper back a little. I all ready feel like I'm not spending much time with Madeline, so I am trying to figure out how to fit everything in for the evening. Does anyone have an evening routine that really works? Thanks for any tips.

[veschke]

Glad to hear that the reunion went well.

Things are going swimmingly. :) Of course now we're juggling, trying to figure out when we can get the paperwork done in between work and before we have to go on vacation. I guess I will look at a 529 after we get back, then.

As for schedules... I usually get home around 5:30, and on weeknights when I'm driving I only make things that take very little time, so we're eating by 6:15 or thereabouts. Lydia's afternoon snack doesn't keep her going much longer than that. :) After dinner is my time with the kids while Dave does the dishes and has some "me time." Since he's a night owl, their schedules tend to be later than I think most people call normal - she goes to bed around 8:30 or 9 (I'm not far behind, since I get up at 4:30). JJ might fall asleep while I nurse him after dinner, but he'll usually be up again for a little while before he goes off for the night (he sleeps well, bless him).